Steute offers not only switchgear ready for serial production from its business divisions Automation, Extreme and Wireless; the company shall also be addressing the question of which tasks switching devices will have to assume in the industrial production of tomorrow, i.e. after the fourth industrial revolution.
At the last edition of SPS IPC Drives, a demonstrator has been built especially for this purpose and will be at the heart of the exhibition. An "e-Kanban system" for assembly work stations automatically registers when an operator removes a container from a moving shelf. When this happens, a rocker switch is actuated in a wireless position switch powered by a long-life battery.
Wireless switches like this are already state of the art. What is fundamentally new is the way in which signals are processed. The switching devices are equipped with a software platform, developed by steute, which permits integration in customer-specific communication networks. This facilitates the greatest possible flexibility when assigning functionalities and providing information.
The user can decide whether the wireless switching devices using this technology should communicate in the "Internet of Things" via their own IP address, per Wi-Fi or via other local networks. Here the software platform is fundamentally versatile. The demonstrator will be visualising the integration of wireless switchgear in "Industry 4.0" production plants.
