Collision Control Monitor

The company announces its CMS collision control monitor for CNC (computer numerical control) manufacturing equipment. The Brankamp CMS is said to be an effective and inexpensive safety device for protecting and safeguarding the value of machine tools. Designed to be easily retrofitted on any CNC machine, the collision control monitor prevents damage following a collision caused by program, setup or user error, according to the company. Its features include a counter that tracks every collision event, which the company says makes it relatively easily to calculate how much money the unit has saved in terms of eliminating major machine tool damage. According to the company, many customers have been able to reduce tool and die repair costs and machine downtime by installing these collision monitoring systems. These cost savings by themselves, says the company, are usually enough to justify the purchase of a system. Using magnetic, force or acoustic sensors to detect a collision within the working area of a machine tool, the collision control monitor sends a signal to shut down the monitored process in 3 milliseconds. This immediately interrupts the control circuit power and stops the machine, which is said to keep consequential damage low and minimize the costs from tool damage, production scrap and downtime for repairs. According to the company, its collision control monitor features easy-to-set limits and text status LCD display that shows the actual force, maximum force and switch-off limits and does not require an interface to the machine controller.