In various branches of industry, tools have to be tightened, stop positions clamped and heavy loads lifted. For tasks such as these, it is essential to have reliable, direct monitoring of the defined forces so as to avoid damage to workpieces, machinery or equipment. SIKO has taken on this challenge and offers the KS01 and KS11 force switches as simple but effective elements for increasing machine safety. Thanks to their variable design, these safety elements can be integrated effortlessly into existing machinery and equipment concepts for direct force monitoring.

With force switch KS01, the force absorption is created by means of standard locking levers or cylinder head screws in sizes M6, M8 or M10. This version is designed for hand-tight bolting and can monitor forces of up to 20 kN.
By contrast, force switch KS11 is a general-purpose force transducer for pneumatic cylinders with a stiff or a self-aligning coupling. The compressed air supply is via customary 6 bar operating pressure and allows monitoring of forces up to 1500 N. This force switch is available with or without a cylinder, which means it can also be integrated into existing systems.
With both variants, the force is defined via disk springs, whereby the spring deflection is limited mechanically. If a defined force is exceeded or undercut, a contact closes and the limit switch passes this information on to the machinery or equipment. The process starts or stops accordingly.

Both variants are force safety modules with universal application possibilities, e.g. for load monitoring on lift platforms, cylinder applications with linear guides or as a safety module on machines with safety devices.