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Safety in system: Protection for man and machine - under this motto, the Schmersal Group develops and produces safety switching appliances and systems for the entire machinery and plant construction for decennia already. In some industries, special and additional requirements are applicable.
As customer-focussed company, who intensively deals with the wishes of the manufacturer and users of machines, Schmersal has taken up these challenges from the start. As a result, specific products and solutions were developped for many industries and for some of them, an own portfolio has been developped as well.

Versatile requirements

Harvesting, drying, filleting, heating, shredding and crushing, mixing, filling, packing: The food-processing industry includes many, usually mechanically performed process steps. During these process steps, the standards and directives with regard to machinery safety must be observed. Moreover, the food-processing industry in particular has other fields of activity as well, where the selection of switchgear or command devices at the manmachine interface is highly important.

Hygiene

Hygiene is a key issue in the food-processing industry. Four hygienic zones can be distinguished, for which strictly defined constructive details of the "hygienic design" are applicable:

• Dry zone (non-contact area; protection against soiling required)
• Splashing zone (foodstuff can splash;the operators touch the foodstuff and the machines; risk of contamination or crosscontamination)
• Wet zone (high risk of bacterial contaminations; low-pressure cleaning with chemicals or hot cleaning)
• Aggressive zone (even higher risk of contamination; frequent hot steam cleaning or high-pressure cleaning with aggressive detergents)

The Hygienic Design also influences the choice of safety switchgear. An example: the food-processing industry was the first branch, which used safety sensors instead of the conventional electromechanical safety switches. These non-contact operating safety switchgear can be smoothly cleaned due to the smooth surfaces of the sensor and the actuator and moreover provide for concealed mounting.

Humidity, moisture and detergents

Stringent hygienic standards are applicable to those components or periphery of foodprocessing machinery, which are in contact with the product; as a result, the safety switchgear and actuating elements must meet the highest requirements as their protection class is regarded. Many series therefore are IP69K. These switchgear must be able withstanding a water jet of at least 80 bar with a temperature of 80°C.

Temperature resistance

In frozen storage or in case of shock freezing - to name two examples - automated processes take place at temperatures below the freezing point. Even more frequent are the processes, for which high temperatures are inevitable, e.g. evaporation, homogenisation, drying, condensation, distillation. Switchgear, which are used for these processes, must be accordingly highand low-temperature resistent.

Branch-specific certifications

The specific characteristics to be featured by machinery and plants destined to the foodprocessing industry are laid down in different regulations, which also concern the individual machinery and plant components and which are in part very demanding. This includes, amongst others, the following standards and approvals according to the following standards:

• EN 1672-1 and EN 1672-2
• 3A Sanitary
• Ecolab
• EHEDG
• FDA
• HACCP

Switchgear from Schmersal is approved and certified in accordance with these regulations depending on the requirements.

Long lifetime and availability

In food production, machinery and plants often operate with short cycles and in a three-shift operation in interlinked plants. The expected availability is accordingly high. Schmersal switchgear meet these requirements. They stand the test in various applications, even under unfavorable ambient conditions.

Explosion protection

When mixed to air in a particular proportion, all organic dusts are inflammable. Therefore, the regulations of the dust explosion directive must be observed e.g. when filling/bottling and storing powdered food products and their primary products (flour, baking mixtures, pudding powder, coffee and cacao powder). The Schmersal Group offers a comprehensive range of switchgear for automation and machine safety, which is approved and certified to the ATEX and IECEx Directives.

Branch-related knowledge on call

The Schmersal Group furthermore aims at establishing good contacts and exchanging experiences with food-processing machinery builders, so that new switchgear is developped and the individual consultancy is provided with the highest level of practice-orientation. T o that effect, Schmersal is, amongst others, member of the "Packaging Excellence Center" (PEC). This Centre of Competence for packaging and automation technology reunites many companies manufacturing machinery and plants for the food packaging industry.

Our products

• Metal parts with hygiene-compliant surface coating
• Suitable for use with food
• Solid design and excellent resistance to abrasion
• Excellent resistance to corrosion
• Excellent anti-adherence features
• Fine-adjustment through slotted holes
• Power to lock
• The safety sensor must be used as mechanical backstop
• Holding force 300 N
• Variably adjustable latching
• Sensor technology permits an offset between actuator and interlock of ± 5 mm vertically and horizontal ± 3 mm horizontally
• Intelligent diagnostic indication of failures and errors
• 3 LED's to indicate operating modes
• Up to 31 components can be wired in series
• Protection class IP69K
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Sicherheits-Sensor CSS 30S

• Stainless steel enclosure M30
• 2 short-circuit proof PNP safety outputs (24 VDC, 250 mA each)
• up to 31 safety sensors can be wired in series, self-monitoring
• Max. length of the sensor chain 200 m
• integrated cross-wire short and external voltage monitoring of the safety outputs
• Integrated connector
• Protection class IP69K
• Concealed mounting behind stainless steel possible
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Sicherheits-Sensor BNS 40S

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• Stainless steel enclosure
• with coding
• Rectangular design
• long life, no mechanical wear
• Protection class IP69K
• Actuation only poss ble with BPS 40S
• Insensitive to transverse misalignment
• Concealed mounting possible
• Insensitive to soiling
• Connecting cable suitable for the food-processing industry

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SLC/SLG 220/420 IP69K safety light curtains and safety light grids

• Safety light curtain
• Type 2 and type 4 to IEC/EN 61496-1, -2
• Resolution 14, 30 and 80 mm
• Protection field heights from 170 - 1450 mm
• Protection class IP69K
• Integrated start/restart interlock
• Integrated contactor control
• Integrated blanking function
• Diagnostic and parametrization interface by PC
• Range from 0.3 - 14 m
• Fail-safe transistor outputs
• Optical synchronisation
• Status display
• Signalling output
• Safety light grid
• 2-, 3- or 4-beam light grid
• Range from 0.3 - 30 m

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CleanSIGN LED signal column

• Ease of cleaning and disinfection by easy-to-clean and hygienecompliant design"
• Use of food-safe, detergent-resistent material (approval to FDA)
• EHEDG and Fraunhof IPA approval
• Protection class IP67 and IP69K
• Complies with air cleanliness class 2 to DIN EN ISO 14644
• Maintenance-free through LED technology with long lifetime of up to 50,000 hours
• Pine Tree Clip® (fastener) enables quick and smooth assembly
• Easy assembly and wiring
• Electronic modularity of the individual stages
• Integrated buzzer

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WDG 58V encoder

• Incremental shaft encoder
• Extremely robust execution: high bearing loads up to 100N
• Stainless steel execution 1.4401 (V4A)
• EHEDG: Approved hygiene-compliant construction/design (Hygienic Design)
• Ecolab: Certificate regarding the resistance to detergents and disinfectants
• High-grade electronics: up to 25000 impulses
• Protection class IP67 and IP69K
• Radial shaft seal without dead zones (PTFE)
• Full connection protection at 10 - 30 VDC
• optional: −40 °C - +80 °C

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HYGIENEFENCE safety fence

The HYGIENEFENCE fence system is an economical safety fence system, which meets the especially high requirements and the legal safety and quality prescriptions, which are applicable in the food-processing industry.

High-grade stainless steel guarantees cleanliness and long lifetime. A HACCP/GMP-compliant design with water- and dirt-resistant construction enables cleaning without traces and residues. The long lifetime, the smooth maintenance and the robustness of the protective device guarantee an ecomical price/performance ratio.

• Useful length of the element 500, 1000 and 1500 mm
• Door widths 1-leaf hinged door: 1000 mm
• 2-leaved hinged door: 1900 mm
• System height 2,000 mm
• Surface finish stainless steel 1.4301 stained, optionally additionally electropolished

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Hygiene-compliant control devices and indicator lights range N

• Special sealing measures prevent the penetration of dirt and bacteria in the gaps between the stationary and rotary elements of the components. The special component geometries facilitate cleaning without traces and residues of the command and signalling elements.
• Mounting holes 22.3 mm
• Protection class IP67 and IP69K
• Pushbutton
• Illuminated pushbutton with LED's
• Selector switch with 2 and 3 positions and short and long knob
• Emergency-stop pushbuttons
• Domed and flat indicator lights with LED’s
• Emergency-stop command devices
• Main switches
• Blanking plug
• Lockable mounting frame for maintained selector switch
• D-30/D-22 mm adapter
• Screw terminals, spade connector, cage clamp terminals or PCB connection

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