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Friday, March 29, 2024

Overview of Contactors, Their Uses and Features

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A contactor refers to an electrical switching device, and is popularly used for application in turning on and off an electrical switch. These devices are compact in nature and can be mounted easefully. These devices are used in situations where high electricity carrying capacity is required and they can come in different sets of features, types and capacities. Read more about this electronically-controlled switch, their uses and wide-ranging benefits.  Generally speaking, a contactor is made up of three core components, namely contacts, coil or electromagnet, and enclosure. The contact is the part that carries the current, the coil fetches the force to close the contacts, and the enclosure is the frame that has the contacts and the electromagnet. Contactors can handle currents of over 5000 amperes. And thus are frequently used for carrying high-current loads.

Contactor devices can be different types based on their usability and needs. For example, the knife blade switch used in the late 1800s to control electric motors had a lever that was needed to pull the switch down and then to switch it up. The manual effort needed to operate the switch caused the contacts to wear out easily and posed serious safety concerns. 

The manual controller which was introduced later was safe to operate

Had a non-exposed, adequately enclosed unit, and was smaller in size. Magnetic contactor is another variant that eliminates the need of human intervention and can be functional electromechanically. Since it can be used remotely, a lot of safety risks, especially those associated with people who operated it manually, were diminished. This is popularly used in industrial control applications. 

Contactors can be used in a number of applications including for lighting installations, to power electric motors etc. Simply put, contactors are used for high power applications. When it comes to the cost, since they have higher efficiency, sizing variants, and functionality, contactors are generally costlier than relays. 

When it comes to the advantages

The electrical switching device has several benefits. Its operation is simple, it can carry high loads. The contactors can be found in different ratings, and it can be found in compact variants. The maintenance is low, and it can operate in different temperature conditions. The installation time is short and its lifespan is long. It;s power consumption is also low. These are just some of the many benefits associated with contractors. 

However, it may not have high ingress ratings, and the aging of components can lead to corrosion, and it does not have any protective feature like that of a circuit breaker. When it comes to choosing a contactor, few things that need to be considered include coil, main contacts and auxiliary contacts. Also, environment and ambient conditions and design choices may need to be taken into account when choosing a contactor. 

Although contactors

Have high electrical life and they need low maintenance, they may still face failures. Some of the reasons for contactor failures include overcurrent in the main contacts, over or under voltage in the coil, selection of wrong product, drop of voltage during the starting period of the motor, high temperature, selection of wrong cables, connection and or mounting errors, low maintenance, environmental conditions etc. 

Buy Contactor switch


When looking for a contactor switch, always prefer choosing branded products for higher efficiency and maximum benefits. Learn more about contactor switch, 3 phase contactor, 2 pole contactor etc., by following this weblink now.

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