Month: October 2015

October 23, 2015

Draw Wire Sensors for Harsh Duty?

Here at CPI we’ve developed a name for ourselves when it comes to precision engineered draw wire sensors, made for harsh duty applications. Sensors like our SL1200 draw wire position sensor get the job when other sensors just don’t survive.

But “harsh duty” appears to be an overused term, at least in the hydraulic linear position sensor industry. Recently some of our competitors have touted their “harsh duty” sensors in a variety of really scary(?) applications.

  1. Elevator hydraulics – Yes its really frightening in an elevator shaft where there is no exposure to the outdoors, a huge fan provides abundant air flow, and rain and moisture exposure is all but a distant memory.
  2. Industrial Forklift – Well the weights may be heavy but other than the danger presented by bad driving, how is that harsh duty exactly?
  3. Drawbridge Hydraulics – Well at least here you may get rained on… but the size and stability of a drawbridge, and the linearity of motion preclude some of the most serious durability challenges like vibration, submersion, and in-cylinder deployment.

Other manufacturers tout their “heavy duty” draw wire sensors because the cable is coated with plastic. Or because their enclosure is waterproof. In another case the entire sensor wire length had to be enclosed in telescopically sealed stainless steel housing.   How is that “heavy duty exactly”

On the other hand, when CPI says it has a harsh duty position sensor, we have some very specific ideas about what that means.

  1. Completely Submersible. In seawater. To 5000ft in mining at the sea floor. Go ahead try it, we have.
  2. Completely waterproof. We don’t have any sealed volumes in our assembly and our LVDT is encased in a watertight forming material.
  3. Pressure immune – Our all stainless construction means we can withstand almost any hydraulic pressure. That means we can be deployed internally on hydraulic cylinders on the gas or the oil side
  4. EMI resistant – Our LVDT and signal conditioning electronics are simpler and less susceptible to EMI distortions which affect accuracy.
  5. Accuracy – Our measurement technology is accurate down to 1mm over a 10m stroke length. Let the guy with the plastic coated cable and the rotary encoder try to beat that.
  6. Non-contacting – We think anyone using a potentiometer based measurement electronics has no business calling their sensor “harsh duty”. Yet surprisingly many do.

Whether you are exploring for gas and oil on the ocean floor, or making sure your 100 ton mining shovel is operating correctly, we have a real harsh duty linear position sensor for you.

Call us today to discuss your application.

This blog originally posted at https://www.cpi-nj.com/draw-wire-sensor-heavy-duty

October 3, 2015

Racing To the Finish With CPI Momentary Switches

If you’re at all into racing of any kind, chances are you’ve been watching a CPI momentary switch run around the track right in front of your very eyes.

CPI pendant style momentary contact switches are a fairly common fixture on the racing circuit and our newest application includes some racers who are tearing it up on ATV and snowmobile tracks across the country.

Nitrous Oxide Racing with ATV’s and Snow Mobiles

Momentary Switches for Racing VehiclesNitrous kits are actually a common fixture on many racing circuits. Maybe their most well-known use is on the drag racing circuit, where the power of compressed Nitric Oxide can add some serious horsepower to a drag rig allowing those vehicles to get from 0 to 60 in ridiculous times like 1.6 seconds.

In the ATV circuit, a well-placed and carefully utilized nitrous kit is a staple of racing, meant to provide rapid acceleration and deceleration under driver control. For this application the folks at Straightline Performance selected the CPI B7151 Momentary Pendant Switch.

A Momentary Switch Designed with Humans in Mind

Momentary Contact SwitchOne of the many reasons CPI switches are choosen for demanding performance applications goes beyond just waterproof reliability. The B7151 momentary contact switch is a low force, high activation button variant of our standard switch, allowing operators a definite tactile feel, even when they are wearing gloves! As part of their e-tek nitrous kit, Straightline chose the B7151 for these ergonomic factors as well as its ability to perform as a completely sealed waterproof momentary switch. The B7151 is completely sealed in santoprene and can be ordered with custom lead lengths, and electrical specifications.

On the snowmobile racing circuit, the racing is chillier, but the goal is the same. Give your machine that nitrous boost in the wide open straightway. Our momentary switch is typically mounted to the steering wheel and is normally open until depressed, providing added horsepower until released. And it doesn’t matter how wet or cold it gets, our santoprene sealed switch is 100% waterproof and temperature certified down to -20F.

CPI Momentary Switches in “Push To Talk” Applications

When racing around a track at high rates of speed, talking to your team is critical whether you’re NASCAR, Formula 1, or driving your restored VW in the demolition derby. While racing teams like to keep their choices in technology pretty close to the vest, we can tell you for certain that a few of these folks that you watch on TV are using our B7151 momentary contact switch to keep in touch with the pit crew. Again this switch has been chosen because it provides a large tactile footprint for a gloved hand and extremely reliable operation. It is mounted to the steering wheel where the driver can easily interact with it with their thumb without moving his hands from the wheel.

Finding our Momentary Switches.

If you believe one of our Momentary Switches might be right for your racing application give us a call. We have many off the shelf variations of this switch to meet most needs. Small quantities of switches are available immediately through distributors like McMaster and Grainger.

Typical CPI Momentary Switch variations include:

  1. Lead length
  2. Electrical parameters (normally open/closed)
  3. Temperature range (mil-spec ranges available)
  4. Switch footprint and button size.
  5. Momentary Switch or maintained contact switch.
  6. Switch tactile feel (high button, low button)
  7. Switch activation Force

Call us today for further information on our full line of Momentary Switches. Or see our full product line at http://www.cpi-nj.com/waterproof-switches.

 

This content was originally posted at https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/racing-to-the-finish-with-cpi-momentary-switches/