Safety guards on conventional machinery and plants frequently have a structure consisting of commercially available modular profile systems. For some machine types however, more sophisticated doors are used, for instance when a special sound insulation or noise control must be realized. Another particularity are the laser machining plants, where penetration of a strayed laser beam through the door gap must be prevented. To this effect, the frames or the profiles of these safety guards must feature an overlapping.

For these and other applications, the Schmersal Group has developed a new variant of the AZM 200 solenoid interlock. This innovative solenoid interlock monitors the position of the safety guard and the interlocking device through the CSS technology developed by Schmersal. In addition to that, the door-handle and an emergency release are directly integrated in the system.

To enable the mechanical engineer installing these ergonomic and mounting-friendly solenoid interlocks on safety guards with overlapping as well, the Schmersal engineers now have designed an actuator with a larger door plate. This actuator, called B 40, bridged the additional distance resulting from the overlapping of the safety guard and the machine enclosure.

The new solenoid interlock, which will be presented at Automatica (Hall A 2 Booth 303), can be smoothly mounted. The system also includes an emergency release with red “panic handle”. This enables persons, who are inadvertently enclosed in the hazardous area, to open the safety guard from inside, literally with one grip.

The B 40 extends the product range of safety switches and solenoid interlocks of the AZ 200 / AZM 200 type from the Schmersal Group. Just like all safety switchgear with CSS sensor technology, the new models can be wired in series, which means that up to 31 devices can be evaluated through a common safety-monitoring module. For the evaluation of the non-safety-related signals, Gateways for the conventional field bus systems are available.