Today most engineers are worried about the durability of their switch in a hostile and demanding operation environment. This is because of typically poor electromechanical switch endurance.

In applications such as safety interlock switches, temperature limit switch, door open/close switches, and so forth, failure of the switch can result in massive downtime, safety hazards or damage of expensive equipment that are not easily replaced. Electromechanical switch endurance is nothing but the ability to perform for a long time in spite of extended duty cycles and conditions of dirt, ice, water, oil, sand, vibration, shock and salt spray. Moreover extremes of high and low temperatures, and submersible requirements.

The best thing about electromechanical switches is that they can run anywhere from 1 to 5 million cycles despite the aforementioned hazards, through tight specifications related to travel parameters and electrical requirements.

The Part of CPI in Making Electromechanical Switches Reliable

From 50 years, CPI has been satisfying operational switch requirements at the absolute limit. Key to being able to design for electro mechanical switch endurance of over 5,000,000 cycles is an extensive knowledge of how every switch design parameter affects operational reliability. In addition, we also learned the way to prevent contact freezing at low temperature using electrical configuration, prevent contact chatter in vibrational environments and the method to handle startup electrical loads that contribute to early switch failure.

One can solve these problems utilizing the broad array of actuator, travel and mounting configurations that we have deployed over the years. We have deployed almost 2000 configurations. After selecting and designing the combination of elements, our engineers field test it in the application. Time and time again we have seen that no amount of bench testing can duplicate field trials where unforeseen (and often unspecified) requirements are imposed on the design. Solving these problems finally leads to better more reliable switch operation and informs our production testing leading to more reproducable parts.

It is the reliable manufacturing and testing of custom parts in production quantities which is another key to delivering robust electromechanical switches. While CPI manufactures and produces many standard parts, it is in custom manufacturing that we really excel. All our design and manufacturing is done in the USA, we do not outsource design or primary manufacturing. Our 50 years of experience in building switches allowed us to master the techniques that keep us cost competitive and insure higher quality and consistency.

At CPI we’re proud of the engineering tradition we’ve built. We are committed to remaining a “Made in the USA” company.

Please contact us or click www.cpi-nj.com to discuss your application for one of our high performance, high reliability, electromechanical switches.