Electromechanica designed and installed a custom AICS system for Shocktube Systems,Inc. This system provides protection against an accidental ignition of the shocktube propagating back to the loading point in the extrusion line. The system uses a triple redundant electro-optical detector array to sense the pulse of light associated with an ignition event. If an ignition is detected a set of fail-safe force guided shears cut and isolate the tube to prevent propagation of the explosion. Most other systems rely on a squib or cartridge actuated cutter to shear the tube. These cannot be tested without requiring replacement and are not failsafe as they require a positive signal to actuate.
 Electromechanica overcame these deficiencies by designing an electromagnetically controlled spring driven shear. The electromagnet holds the shear armed and releases it to drive the shear pin when the current to the electromagnet is interrupted by the sensor controls or a fault.The core design of the system involves triple redundant, fault tolerant sensors and shear assemblies. The system is failsafe and includes a test mode that provides true system function verification including testing the optical path. An uninterruptible power supply provides ride through during utility loss.
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