The Touchswitch is an electro-mechanical limit switch with no moving parts, which detects tracking and misalignment problems on bucket elevators and conveyors. When a belt misaligns or a pulley moves over and contacts the sensor, the built in solid-state electronic circuitry detects the lateral force of the belt or pulley and activates a voltage free solid state relay output. This output signal is used to immediately alarm and ultimately shutdown the machine.
The face of the sensor is made from hardened and annealed stainless steel, not soft brass or aluminium, so wear life is longer when a belt contacts it. The Touchswitch is not affected by dust or material build up and will still work when completely covered by material. An external test wheel allows for quick and simple sensor/system testing. The sensors are usually installed in pairs on opposite sides of the machine. The sensors can be connected directly to a PLC input, or for greater safety, to a central independent monitoring system, such as Watchdog Super Elite, IE-Node or the T500 Hotbus system.