// Pressebericht
Conventional safety switchgear is very »hydrophobic« - unlike steute’s new BZ 16 IP 69K: this is a safety sensor which actually looks forward to being cleaned. It was designed specifically for such applications. The basic unit, the BZ 16, is very frequently implemented on machines in the foodstuffs industry: the non-contact principles of this device are an excellent alternative to conventional electro-mechanical safety switchgear because it does without mechanical actuators and actuating head - often with slots and grooves in which impurities can collect.
There are some areas of food production, e.g. in meat and fish processing, which have even stricter requirements and specifications for hygiene: these machines require regular cleaning using high pressure cleaners to satisfy stringent hygiene levels and standards.
steute has revised the enclosure and the seals used on this sensor to reflect these extreme treatments and environments. The result is a novel unit which can be treated and withstand high pressure cleaning activities. The design and construction of this sensor means steute can guarantee that no water will penetrate to the inside of this unit even when subjected to hydraulic pressures of up to 100 bar and fluid temperatures of up to 80 °C coming from any direction and distances as small as 10 cm. This has been confirmed in thorough tests executed by a neutral laboratory.
The BZ 16 IP 69K therefore complies with even the strictest hygiene requirements and specifications and is also suitable to comply with even the highest safety demands. The switch uses two different kinds of signal transmissions to communicate with its actuator, providing redundancy as specified for guard door protection systems in complex applications. As an additional feature, the switch automatically monitors its own safety-relevant functions. In terms of machine safety standards, this means the BZ 16 also is suitable for applications subject to the regulations of EN954-1 control category 4 and PDF-M as per 60947-5-3.
