Hygienic design is an
absolute must
Schmersal also offer ready-to-connect
NBG mounting housings for the man-
machine interfaces of food machines.
Manufacturing and operating food
production machines involves complying
not only with norms and guidelines on
machine safety, but also with very strict
hygiene and design requirements. This is
why the Schmersal Group has developed
a whole range of Hygienic Design safety
products for this sector - from control
elements and safety sensors to opto-
electronic safety light grids.
The Schmersal Group has developed the
N-range specially for the food industry
and other hygiene-sensitive applications,
with the abbreviation “N” standing
for the German for food industry. This
product range consists of a wide portfolio
of control and signalling devices and
a large number of accessories which
comply with the principles of Hygienic
Design. These include emergency stop
buttons, mushroom push-buttons,
push buttons, illuminated push-
buttons and lamp indicators, selector
62 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
switches, main switches and much more.
Hygiene-compliant design means: The
operating devices are designed so that
no contamination can settle; as their
geometry has no corners and edges, which
allows them to be cleaned easily. As well
as the aspect of geometry, the colouring of
open sealing parts is also relevant. On the
one hand, this allows contamination to be
seen, while on the other hand, any parts of
the seals which break off and get into the
flow of food can be easily filtered out.
Schmersal covers this requirement using
the three colours of black, white and blue
for virtually all foodstuffs to be produced.
Based on the strict hygiene standards,
especially for parts of food machines
and peripherals which come into contact
with the products, there are very strict
requirements in terms of the degree
of protection and cleanability of safety
sensors, light grids, command devices
and control elements. These ranges are
therefore at least IP69K and sometimes
even higher.
These switchgear devices must
withstand a water jet of at least 80 bar
and a temperature of 80 °C. The control
elements of the N-range are also fitted
with a special sealing system which is not
only resistant to water jets and high-
pressure water in combination with high
temperatures, it is also resistant to the
particularly aggressive detergents used
during the cleaning process.
Schmersal is constantly expanding its
N-range. Among the new additions are,
for example, the 3-colour LED module
ELDE.N, which provides the conditions for
displaying three different notifications or
control commands with a single standard
signalling device.
This enabled the designer to reduce the
operating unit. The number of surfaces