BinMaster: Diaphragm Switch

In the 1960s a seed corn company called Garner Industries with an annoying problem.
They kept overfilling their bins … making a mess and wasting valuable seed.

They asked Garner to design a system to alert when bins were full.

The result … the company’s first diaphragm switch …

And the birth of the BinMaster brand of level sensors.

Engineers kept the principal of operation simple. When material in the bin rose to the level of the switch, a relay sent an alert.

Now, a diaphragm switch can do even more.

The diaphragm switch is versatile enough to be used as a high, medium or low level indicator in grains, aggregates, sand, feed ingredients, wood chips and pellets.

A notification can be activated via a visual alert such as a light, or an audible alert, such as a horn.

It can also be wired to start or stop a process, such as an auger filling the bin.

A standard BM 45 diaphragm switch is suited for bins containing non-hazardous materials.

The BM 65 model is for hazardous environments with a risk of combustible dust. It features UL Class II, Groups, E, F and G certifications.

The switch can also be built with a heavy spring and rugged diaphragm material and used for plugged chute detection.

Standard neoprene, heavy duty neoprene, neoprene with nylon mesh, and heavy-duty silicon diaphragms make these switches adaptable to many different materials.

R series diaphragm switches are designed to be mounted inside the bin, making them very easy to install.

While the F series mounts externally, which requires cutting a hole in the bin. However, this makes the operating mechanism accessible from outside the bin.

After more than 55 years, the BinMaster diaphragm switch remains a popular level detector that’s super affordable and still preventing annoying overfills.