Breakaway Protective Collar for Emergency Stop Switches
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing protective collars for emergency stop switches and similar actuating elements often fail to adequately protect against inadvertent actuation and lateral loads while also risking damage to the switch and increased static charging, which can lead to operational interruptions and safety hazards.
Innovation Solution
A protective collar design featuring a base with a central through-opening and a first circumferential collar with cut-outs forming wings that have predetermined breaking points, allowing for deflection or breakage under force, thereby distributing and absorbing impact without transmitting excessive force to the housing, and optionally including additional collars for enhanced protection and sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a protective collar is provided for the emergency stop switch, then protection against lateral loads and inadvertent actuations is improved, but the load on the switch housing increases and can lead to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The protective collar is divided into a base and a collar portion with cut-outs forming segments. This segmentation allows the collar to absorb and distribute impact forces through controlled deformation at the breaking points, preventing force concentration on the switch housing while maintaining protective coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The collar is designed with predetermined breaking points that act as energy-absorbing elements before impacts reach the switch housing. These breaking points deflect or break under excessive force, cushioning the housing from direct impact loads while still providing protection during normal operation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a protective collar is provided for the emergency stop switch, then protection against lateral loads is improved, but the functionality of actuation may be impaired
Solution Approach 1:
The protective collar features localized thin-walled regions at the breaking points that are designed to deform under specific force conditions. These localized weak points allow the collar to differentiate between lateral impact forces (which should be blocked) and axial actuation forces (which should be transmitted to enable switch operation).
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a protective collar is provided for the emergency stop switch, then protection against damage is improved, but static charging increases
Solution Approach 1:
The collar incorporates cut-outs creating a porous or open-structure design that reduces the continuous surface area available for static charge accumulation. This porous structure allows for better charge dissipation while maintaining the protective function against lateral loads and inadvertent actuations.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a protective collar for at least partially receiving an actuating element which extends through a housing of a control unit and projects beyond an outer side of the housing. The protective collar has a base with a through-opening and a first circumferential collar radially spaced from the through-opening and extending from an upper surface of the base in a first direction. The first collar has at least two cut-outs such that the first collar forms at least two wings, wherein at least one of the wings has at least one predetermined breaking point extending in the circumferential direction.