Conventional Switchgear now “Radio-Compatible” with steute’s I/O-Box

steute Schaltgeräte GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) - The Wireless business division from steute has launched an I/O unit enabling existing mechanical switching devices, e.g. cam switches in machine tools, to be integrated in wireless systems.

Up to four such switching devices can be connected to the new I/O-Box. Power is supplied by battery or 24V DC connector. The wireless system in particular facilitates signal transmission to and from moving parts, such as grabbers, tools, etc., without the need for sensitive signal lines. This increases the availability of the overall machine or plant, and also simplifies construction.

The I/O-Box collects the signals from up to four mechanical switching devices, which can be from any manufacturer. The only prerequisite is that these devices do not need their own power supply. With the battery version, an alternative option is to connect steute inductive sensors– e.g. from our RF IS M8 – M 30 series. They have been developed especially for operation in battery-based wireless networks and require a voltage of 3.6 V. The 24V DC version of the I/O-Box can also process signals from all commercially available 24V PNP sensors.

With this new development, steute aims to assist applications which to date have been using cabled switching devices on moving machine components, requiring a costly power supply which is then susceptible to wear and tear. Another potential field is for very compact machines (or machine parts) where cable ducts are inconvenient.

The new solution with wireless signal transmission via RF I/O-Box is also efficient because up to four switches or sensors can transmit and receive signals via a shared wireless protocol.

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