The Hall Company has been providing collision sensors to devices where safety is critical since the early 1980’s. Whether you are trying to stop a device before and injury can occur, avoid a pinch point, or avoid a collision altogether, The Hall Company has the experience and knowledge to design and manufacture a custom solution for your product. The Hall Company’s collision sensors have been used in a variety of industries, but primarily serve the medical industry. The Hall Company’s solutions have been widely adopted by the leading health solutions providers globally, and have been approved by the FDA as a safety solution on many different types of devices for decades. When you need a critical to safety sensor to stop a device before an injury can occur, The Hall Company has the experience to make your application work.
What is a collision sensor?
A collision sensor is a device to detect or avoid a collision with another object. Typically used in medical applications, collision sensors can protect patients, operators, and equipment from sustaining damage or avoiding a Collison altogether. In a lot of applications, the sensor is used to stop a moving device as it would come into contact with a patient to prevent injury. Collision sensors can be pressure sensitive panels, capacitive proximity sensors, or a combination system using multiple technologies.
The Hall Company’s Big SwitchTM is an oversized touch surface that can range from 1 square inch to multiple square feet of active surface area. The Big SwitchTM is designed to stop a device upon contact with an object to minimize injury or damage and limit liability. Using proprietary technologies developed over decades of product offerings, The Hall Company can ensure exact activation pressures from a few ounces to several pounds maintained consistently over the entire active area. These solutions can be applied to a variety of surfaces and to complex curves. Multiple mounting options are also available to work in any environment. The Big SwitchTM can be a single or multizone sensor allowing very complex sensor arrays for any product shape, size, or dimensions.
Proximity sensors are capacitive sensors that utilize the human bodies natural capacitance properties to detect a body prior to a collision In essence, Capacitive sensors use the electrical properties of the human body to detect it is there. These sensors can detect a collision with a device prior to the collision, allowing the opportunity to avoid the collision altogether. The distance range variations are customizable to your application, and the system can also be used to gage distance from an object. In addition to avoiding a collision altogether, a device can also use this type of sensor to slow a machine down as it comes closer to a patient. Another option would be the ability to follow the contour of a body while staying at a consistent distance range.
Collision Sensor Design Options Big SwitchTM
- Can be single zone or multizone sensors
- EMI, RFI, & ESD Shielding Available
- Fail Safe System Check Switch Circuits Available
- Can work with a multitude of electrical connections
- Can be produced with or without a backplate
- Cover Graphics can have a multitude of colors and designs to match your products design requirements
Capacitive Proximity Sensor Design Options
- Can be single zone or multizone sensors
- Can be on a flexible printed circuit or a rigid PCB
- EMI, RFI, & ESD Shielding Available.
- Customizable Rage & Distance Specifications
- Multi-Level Detection Possible
- Cover Graphics can have a multitude of colors and designs to match your products design requirements
- Can be applied to complex curves and radius as small as .500”
- Can have embedded backlighting to visual show when a an objects is in proximity to the Sensor