Switch assembly for Linde forklift trucks

Acid test in steelworks and timber yards

Linde AG is one of the most important manufacturers of forklift trucks in the world, and its products are active day in and day out in a wide range of application areas. The product range includes stacker trucks with internal combustion engines or electric motors, transverse stackers or container stackers, pick-and-place machines, tractors, shelf stackers and reach stackers. Every day and under the hardest conditions, absolute reliability is demanded of each of these vehicles, which at the same time is an ergonomically and functionally designed workplace.

It is obvious that the extreme environmental conditions of this application played a central role when Linde gave Saia-Burgess the task of developing a new switch assembly for forklift trucks. High technology has long since been part of this vehicle sector too, and the latest electronics monitors many functions starting with the brakes right down to the electronic seat adjustment. The new switch assembly to be developed was to take over several functionsin the vehicle. Furthermore, it had to befully backwards compatible with the switch types previously used but, at the same time, provide significant performance improvements.

This meant exactly reproducing the actuating characteristics of the switches previously used, but at the same time incorporating different switching mechanisms in order to comply with the technical requirements as defined in Linde's latest specifications.

When, after a few months, this problem had been solved and the prototype had been tabled, the tantalising question was posed as to whether the result would stand up to hard everyday practice. No one wanted to rely on theoretical calculations alone. The first prototypes were therefore fitted to forklift trucks that were deployed in steelworks and timber yards, the absolutely most demanding areas of application.

When the switch assemblies were removed from the vehicles after a few weeks, they showed not the slightest signs of wear - the switches worked just as well as on the first day. This was achieved not only by the special IP67 protection of the fully sealed switch, but also by the use of specially selected materials, which are insensitive to widely varying environmental influences - vibration, impacts, different temperatures and humidities - and are unaffected even by aggressive substances such as battery acid and oil.

Now that the first manufacturing orders have recently been received from Linde, delivery of the switch assemblies will begin in the coming weeks.

The name Saia-Burgess stands for robust, reliable and high-performance microswitch technology - the Linde example shows why this is the case.

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