Self-Monitoring Contact Blocks Improve Plant Floor Safety

Introduced as part of the company's Allen-Bradley line of products, the Bulletin 800T and 800E self-monitoring contact blocks (SMCB) are designed to provide improved E-Stop reliability in critical process control applications. Promising to prevent the potentially dangerous situation that can arise if standard normally-closed contacts are separated from the E-Stop operator, these patented SMCB monitors are installed on the E-Stop operator to ensure that normally-closed contacts will open when the E-Stop is actuated. Should the SMCB become separated from the E-Stop operator, its monitoring circuit will automatically open and shut down the process.
An additional safety feature is IPX2 finger-safe protection that allows users to access the wiring terminal but prevents them from coming into contact with the electrical current. Other features of the contact block include yellow color coding for easy identification and terminals identified with IEC style markings.