drives & controls - Industrial Technology Magazine

ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENTKeyboards & SwitchesDistinctive styling coupledwith essential functionalityWhat goes on inside your control panel is critical, but how it lookson the outside can be just as important. Idec now has both basescovered, with the introduction of the LW Silhouette SeriesWe’d all like sharp lines andstunning colours on ourmachines, helping to makea statement about style,especially in these highly competitive dayswhere distinctive styling can be one ofyour key advantages. But how often haveyou seen a switch product that offered youjust the attractive styling you wanted, onlyto find that the overall range was solimited that most of your control panelwould still have to be populated bytraditional switch products?Idec, though, has the ideal solution inthe form of its LW Silhouette Series whichcovers a full range of pushbuttons, pilotlights, key switches and selector switches.Perfect for industries requiring a hygienicfinish, they are flush mounted and projectjust 2mm from the front of the panel.Flush mounting eliminates the need foraccessories or additional parts,and the smooth design cuts downon surface area, preventing dust andother particles from accumulating on themachine. And the switches are sealed toIP65 for operation in challengingindustrial environments.The switches are availablewith PCB, solder tab or screw terminals,with gold or silver contacts, and withmetal or plastic bezels (including plasticwith guards). Colour options cover red,green, amber, yellow, blue and white.Illuminated key switchesParticularly novel in the range is theilluminated key switch offering, with theincorporation of a two-way splitillumination ring. While a two positionswitch would typically have the ringillumination off in one switch position,and either a solid blue or solid green inthe second position, the three positionswitch provides the option to split theleft and right halves of the illuminationring, to shine red in the left half in thesecond switch position and green in theright half in the third switch position.Across the range of pushbutton andkey switches, all the expected operatingfunctions are provided, with options forSPDT, DPDT and 3PDT contact blocks,and with the choice of momentary ormaintained switching actions in thepushbutton switches, and maintained orspring return actions in the key switchesand selector switches.Idec has over 60 years experience inindustrial switch design, so you’dexpect the highest levels ofreliability and quality. Reliabilityfor theLW SilhouetteSeries is assuredby a string of internationalapprovals from the likes of UL, CSA andTUV Rheinland, with the switchesthemselves tested well beyond thenumber of operation cycles required byinternational standards.Idec sees a host of applications forthe LW Silhouette Series, including foodprocessing, the semiconductor industry,medical equipment, chemical processplants, elevators, biomedical facilities,robotic cell work stations, yachts,transportation, audio/visual equipmentand many more.MORE INFORMATION:Enter J185 or visit ‘latest issue stories’ atwww.industrialtechnology.co.uk for furtherdetails from Idec18More details: Write in 180 on the free information cardINDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • October 2008