PIN SETTERS

Our innovative Switch® Box Chassis has been designed and developed to provide you with control, both manually and automatically, for each pair of lanes in your center. The four PC Boards within the Chassis bring you the most innovative technology available for the management and maintenance of each machine. 

Design and Safety Measures

The Switch® Box has a luminous display on the PC board that is visible to the operator through the transparent rear cover. The status of each input and output circuit is constantly displayed to diagnose and identify the source of any alarm condition. When an anomaly occurs, the LED light assigned to the circuit generating the alarm will turn red.

The design of the Chassis reflects the commitment of Switch® to the total safety of both the bowling center staff and their clientele. The safety measures incorporated in the Switch® Chassis ensure that both regular maintenance and impromptu emergency interventions will be carried out under the safest conditions in the industry. 

In the event of an emergency situation, the voltage supply to all motor control circuits in the Chassis are automatically disconnected. This prevents both a cycle start from any source, as well as any attempted manual operation of any of the motors in the ST1 Pinsetter.

Interfacing with other bowling systems

To ensure that the Switch® Box can be interfaced with scoring systems in the market today, each pinsetter comes equipped with the following command signals – Pinsetter On/Off, ball status (1st/2nd ball instant changeover without cycling the pinsetter), cycle start, sweep reverse, short strike cycle, foul cycle, continuous cycle, integrated bumper and glow light control circuits, fully automatic pin sensing (APS) interface and internally/externally polarized inputs. The Chassis is also capable of handling pinsetters equipped with motor encoders as well as those with cam switch systems. 

In addition to the features above, the inclusion of the innovative CAN Bus (Bosch 2.0 standard) system ensures that the control of bowling games on each and every lane benefit from the high levels of reliability, efficiency, speed and security of the information transmitted and received from the Switch® scoring system. The CAN Bus ensures that individual systems and sensors communicate on a single or dual-wire networked data bus up to one megabit per second. The inclusion of the CAN Bus saves overall cost and time due to less and simpler wiring in combination with flash programming, and can automatically retransmit any of the lost messages.

To ensure connections to other scoring systems is possible, the Chassis is supplied with comprehensive input and output circuitry. Unlimited software updates and customization is available through the provision of these dedicated connectors on the Chassis. The process to include optional add-ons, such as customized safety guards, are also simplified due to the ease with which the Chassis can be re-programmed.

The Switch® Box comes complete with a web server that provides for the connection of an Ethernet line. This gives total access to all functions including lane administration data, current and energy monitoring, as well as other data useful to a bowling center. 

Continuous Monitoring


The Chassis continuously monitors the status of the pinsetter and the position of the Table and Sweep motors. The Chassis will go into alarm mode immediately following the identification of any anomaly in the normal operational sequence of the pinsetter motors.

Once the anomaly has been identified and rectified, the normal operation of the pinsetter must be manually restored. The safety of the pinsetter itself is also continuously monitored by sampling the current absorbed by each component part of the ST1 pinsetter. When any value exceeds the preset limit, the Chassis protects itself, and the electrical parts connected to it, by shutting down and entering into alarm mode.

Three-Phase Technology

Presently 3-ø AC system is very popular and is being used worldwide for power generation, power transmission, distribution and for electric motors. 

The three-phase system has the following advantages as compared to single phase system:

• Alternator: Power to weight ratio of the 3-ø alternator is high as compared to 1-ø alternator. Being that the 3-ø alternator is smaller, the overall cost of the alternator is reduced as it generates the same amount of power. Due to reduction in weight, transportation and installation, the alternator becomes convenient as less space is required to accommodate the alternator in power houses. 
  
  
• Power Transmission: requirement of necessary conductor materials is less in the 3-ø system as it compares to the 1-ø system.
  
  
• Motor: Power to weight ratio of three phase induction motor is higher than that of the single phase induction motor. The size of the three phase induction motor is significantly smaller than that of the single-phase induction motor, making it less expensive. Furthermore, due to the reduction in weight, transportation and installation of the indiction motor is more convenient. Less space is also required to accommodate the induction motor.
  
  The three-phase induction motor is also self-started, as the magnetic flux produced by 3-phase supply is rotating in nature with constant magnitude. The 1-ø induction motor is not self-started, as the magnetic flux produced by 1-ø supply is pulsating in nature. In order to get the 1-ø supply to function properly and efficiently, we have to alter the 1-ø induction motor to make it self-starting, further increasing the cost of 1-ø induction motor.

3-phase motor has better power and is more efficient as compared to 1-ø motor.
  
  
• Transformer: The power to weight ratio of the three-phase transformer is higher as it compares to the 1-ø transformer. This means for same amount of electric power, the size of 3-phase transformer is small as compared to 1-ø transformer, which in turn means the overall cost of transformer is reduced. due to the reduction in weight, transportation and installation of the indiction motor is more convenient and less space is required to accommodate the alternator in power houses.
  
  If fault occurs in any winding of 3-phase transformer, the rest of two windings can be used in open delta to serve the 3-phase load which is not possible in 1-ø transformer. This ability further increases the reliability of 3-phase transformer.
  
  A 3-phase system can be used to feed a 1-ø load, whereas the opposite is not possible.

Energy Efficiency

The Switch® Box has been developed with paying particular attention to energy efficiency and the reduction of mechanical wear and tear on all of it’s components. The use of inverters permits for the total control of both speed and torque, enabling the motors to reach their peak efficiency while reducing wear and tear to the moving parts driven by them. Electrical values are constantly monitored allowing the sophisticated central control system to intervene immediately when any irregularity is identified.