Emergency stop for integration with membrane keyboards

6 April 2005 Switches, Relays & Keypads IT in Manufacturing

The new RAFIX FS emergency stop switch from Rafi has a mounting depth of only 9,7 mm, which makes it suitable for combinations with short-travel keys on the same PCB. In contrast with arrangements using conventional emergency stop switches the depth behind panel of the complete system can be drastically reduced.

The new Rafi emergency stop switch consists of an actuator and a contact block. The actuator is fastened in the front panel using a ring nut - panel cut-out 22,3 mm - making it water-jet proof (IP65). The contact block is soldered on to the same PCB which also accommodates the short-travel keys, LEDs and displays of the keyboard. The PCB is mounted to the front panel with bolts. The advantage is that the PCB does not require a cut-out for the emergency stop switch, the separate emergency stop connection is eliminated and the overall system is very flat. The contact system provides two NC gold contacts for low voltages (100 mA/42 V max) or silver contacts for mains voltage (5 A/250 V max).

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