Nowadays, when technology is being improved very quickly and new and modern industrial equipment is being created, the problem of an expedient approach to numerous measuring and control instruments becomes essential. Showing gauges are perhaps the oldest used measuring instruments, including electrocontact gauges. Despite a rather long history from the moment of their creation and seeming simplicity, the possibilities of improving these devices and expanding their application are not diminished.
Principle of operation
An electrical contact pressure gauge is an electro-mechanical contact device used to measure and control the excess and vacuum pressure of a liquid, steam or gas. Its main difference from a mechanical pressure gauge is the possibility of influencing the pressure in a controlled environment by opening and closing contacts, which activate automation circuits, alarms, and blocking devices.
The principle of its operation is very simple. The device is equipped with three arrows, each of which is connected to its contact. And the showing arrow has a connection with both contacts. Thus, it can interact with any of the arrows. The arrow indicates the current pressure. The remaining two are manually adjustable and correspond to the lower and upper limits of permissible pressure. When the pressure drops (increases) to a critical level, the indicating arrow comes into contact with the boundary, which leads to the closure of the electrical contact. As a result, the circuit corresponding to the closed group is triggered, which either signals that a critical point has been reached, or turns on automation that brings pressure to normal.
Types of devices used
Most often, an electric contact pressure gauge with a prefix is used. It consists of two main parts: a mechanical head and an electronic set-top box. The latter is powered by a standard two-phase electrical circuit with an operating voltage of 220V. More reliable and accurate is the electrical contact pressure gauge with microswitches that are mounted on additional sectors. Each of them has its own arrow on the scale. The accuracy of operation of such a device is several times higher than that of a conventional one.
Due to its simplicity and reliability, the electrical contact pressure gauge is widespread. They are used in communal communication chains, at food, machine-building, oil refining and other enterprises. This device is also capable of working in aggressive environments that do not chemically interact with copper and alloys based on it. Explosion-proof versions of this device exist that allow you to register and control explosive pressure. And due to the massive use and large-scale production, the price of an electrical contact pressure gauge is very low.