CKP/Solo - The Integrally Monitored Safety Mat

The CKP/Solo safety mat is based on the highly successful Tapeswitch CKP/S1 safety mat, which has been used throughout industry for many years. The major difference between the CKP/Solo mat and any other safety mat is that it has a Category 3 fail-safe monitoring function built into the mat.

Safety mat systems normally consist of a safety mat as the sensor and a separate control unit to carry out the safety monitoring function and to provide high current, normally closed output contacts and a restart interlock. Although this is ideal for most applications it can be unnecessarily expensive when dealing with modern safety bus systems such as the ASi-Safe interface.

Safety mat sensors are usually normally open devices. They usually have open contacts when the mat is clear and are closed by the weight of someone standing on the mat. This orientation is not suitable for safety circuits and so an additional control unit is necessary to provide the normally closed outputs. The external control unit also usually carries out the essential function of checking for short circuits and open circuits in the wiring and sensor.

The CKP/Solo has built-in electronic circuits to carry out these safety functions and also provides two volt-free outputs that are closed when the mat is clear and open when someone stands on the mat.

This configuration is ideal for use with ASi-interface systems, which connect sensors and actuators to remote control systems through only a 2-wire cable. The mats can connect directly to the same kind of standard ASi-Safe I/O connection modules that are used to connect E-Stop switches over the ASi interface. This is much more convenient than the alternative of having an additional control unit close to the mat so that it can provide the volt-free, normally-closed connections to the ASi I/O module.

The design of the switching element of the safety mat is identical to that of the CKP/S1 mat. An array of Tapeswitch ribbon switches, wired to form a single continuous switch, is sandwiched between two layers of very heavy-duty PVC-based material. The result is a very durable fail-safe switching mat, which is guaranteed to detect anyone who steps on it.

For more information on Tapeswitch Safety Mats, visit our Safety Mat page. For further information or assistance in any way or please contact us.