In lieu of a stacklight, what types of applications can benefit from an illuminated pushbutton or indicator??
Danny Weiss, senior product manager, Newark element14:One indicating light can show machine run, ready or fault, as well as a really good example demonstrating a heating element coming up to temperature. As we all know, pushing a button is what workers do to tell the machine how to operate while indicating lights tell the worker what the machine is doing or failing to do. To save space and money, you can combine pushbuttons with indicating lights, so that if you push the button a light inside the button turns on.
Tom Rosenberg, vice president of marketing and engineering, Balluff: This is all about process efficiency. Operators and other personnel need real-time information at the point of use. Attention must be focused on the task, not looking outside of the work envelope for guidance. This creates the need for machine-mounted indicators and pushbuttons. A central or even decentralized enclosure is not adequate. Indicators and pushbuttons need to be mounted within the machine, inside the work envelope, where guidance is required.
Carter Williams, product manager, Siemens: Pilot device opportunities are everywhere. Any application that requires a motor can use a pilot device to control the motor. Adding illumination to the pushbuttons or using indicator lights also provides a visual indicator that allows the operator to monitor the status of the motor/machine from the control panel. These devices are often used to show when a machine is powered on, running, off or overload tripped. Emergency-stop pushbuttons can be illuminated to give a visual indicator when the pushbutton has been actuated. This is particularly useful in locating the source of an emergency shutdown when there are multiple emergency stop pushbuttons on the same production line. The addition of Profinet, AS-Interface or IO-Link to a pushbutton provides digital feedback. For critical processes and applications, pushbuttons with communication offer visibility down to the lowest level when incorporated into the manufacturer's network.
Peter B. Gasparini, sales manager, Werma-USA: Manual workstations, self-checkout kiosks, forklifts, and escalation—for example, a Werma client escalates four times for one call for action from their manual workstations; every 5 minutes—three times—and, if after 20 minutes the problem is not resolved, the fourth-escalation automation turns on a 105 dB sounder outside the GM’s office. This was our client’s idea. Since deployment, I don’t believe the alarm has gone off.
With safety circuits, an illuminated reset button is a good way to initialize manual resets of safety controls. Illuminated e-stop buttons provide a means of identifying which e-stops are activated when there are more than one on a machine. Stacklights augment the safety circuits by providing visual indication at a distance of e-stop and potentially reset state.
Lyon Lee, product marketing manager, IDEC: If 360° visibility is not required, certain applications can use LED indicators or illuminated buzzers in place of stacklights to save space and cost without compromising functionality. Also typically LED indicators or illuminated buzzers have higher IP ratings than stacklights’, making them more suitable for applications in challenging environments.
