As 2019 comes to a close, the team at CPI like many industrial businesses around the world, are inclined to review not only our own progress and well-being, but the progress of our industry (Electro-mechanical Switches and Sensors), related industries, and in some ways the progress of technology as a global whole.
Waterproof Switches
It might be easy to say that a proven technology like our waterproof switches really doesn’t change much year to year. You wouldn’t be entirely wrong about that of course, but you’re not entirely right either.
While we don’t generally make any design compromises to the quality and robustness of our switches, new application opportunities present an endless pressure to produce the same kind of quality switch, at a lower price point. In 2019 advances in material science and manufacturing techniques made the reinvention of the simple switch possible, and in 2019 CPI produced a lower cost version of our J4 ball switch that meets all the robustness requirements of the original while opening up new markets for a reduced cost version of the worlds most reliable, small form factor, waterproof ball and plunger switch design.
Linear Position Sensors
Despite the geopolitical pressure on the Oil & Gas industry, the need for fossil fuel and natural gas shows no signs of abating. The pressure serves only to push development and use of more sophisticated technology in the discovery and harvesting of fuel and natural resources, in an environmentally sensitive way. In the area of large scale hydraulic cylinders and accumulators used in mining equipment and on or below drilling platforms, CPI sensors have become known around the world as perhaps the only reliable solution to harsh duty, long stroke applications. Deployed in hydraulic accumulators almost a mile down in the Gulf or deployed in rig raiser applications above the sea or land, CPI linear position sensors have become synonymous with robustness. For the toughest applications in the world there simply is no other reliable solution that is both subsea capable and intrinsic safety rated for both North America and European markets.
In 2019, CPI introduced the SL6000. This sensor behemoth boasts a stroke length capability of up to 50 meters while still being fully subsea capable and intrinsic safety rated. For the kinds of long stroke, uber powerful hydraulics used in the Oil & Gas industry as well as industrial mining, the sensor is an ideally positioned unique hydraulic position sensor.
Technology Trends for 2020
It’s a wireless world and with breakthroughs in AI, automation, and the overall democratization of technology, you could say that more and more folks will have technology that performs time and labor saving work for them. In my house, the internet of things is already out of control, with everything from my doorbell to my thermostat to my refrigerator available to me online or through a mobile app.
The creep of automation removes some human activity but overall the creation of new and challenging applications for automation will also create new opportunities for companies like CPI who have their eye on the ball and deliver products that are unique in the world.
The best of luck to us all in 2020.
CPI’s line of waterproof switches see’s usage in a variety of crane applications where a critical safety limit switch is needed that is potentially exposed to the elements. Because of the small form factor, sealed switch and leads, and high vibration immunity, our switches combined with one of our many mounting bracket options, demonstrate some of the highest electromechanical endurance to be found, up to 1 million cycles.
Control Products, INC 