Sensor Technology

Construction sites are dangerous places. Even when work is being carried out responsibly, unpredictable factors can easily give rise to risky situations. The potential consequences are very serious given the powerful forces that tradespeople deal with.

That is why blue tools from Bosch Professional have been designed with maximum safety in mind. In particular, the drills and angle grinders in the Bosch Professional range take safety to a whole new level. The advanced sensor technology helps to prevent three dangers associated with power tool use: kickback, dropping and overheating.

Kickback occurs when the blade or drill bit of your power tool suddenly gets stuck in the material you are working on. This could happen when there are hidden structures within the item you are working on – for example metal ties in a brick wall. When the bit or blade stops moving, the tool itself will suddenly try to flip over, driven by the motor. If this rapid revolving movement is not stopped in some way, it can easily cause a serious injury to the person's hand and wrist whilst holding the tool or any other body part that gets in the way.

Holding the power tool correctly – bracing yourself against a possible rotating movement – is one measure you can take, but Bosch Professional also brings high-tech sensor technology to the problem.

The automatic kickback control that appears on over 40 different Bosch blue tools makes use of an electronic movement sensor called an accelerometer, which detects any rapid revolving movement. As soon as it is detected, a signal is sent to cut off the motor. All this happens so rapidly that the user may not even realise a potential kickback has occurred. So, should the motor suddenly cut out for this reason, a white light will start flashing on the tool.

A more familiar danger associated with power tool use is the risk of dropping. There are all sorts of reasons why this could happen in spite of the tool user’s best efforts to work carefully. Falling objects knocking the tool from your hands or sudden ill health are just two possibilities. If the cutting parts of a drill or angle grinder were to continue revolving after the tool has been dropped, the potential for personal injury or damage is all too apparent. However, drills and angle grinders in the Bosch Professional power tool range will not allow this to happen.

Once again, an electronic sensor is used to stop the revolving bit or blade. This is similar to the technology that triggers air bags in a car crash. As soon as the tool hits the ground, the sensor sends a signal to apply braking to the blade or drill bit. Like air-bag inflation, the response is almost instantaneous..

Although Bosch blue power tools are designed to deal with the heavy use handed out by a busy professional, every piece of equipment with moving parts has its limits. If a user were allowed to exceed those limits, it could result in serious damage to the motor, the battery or both.

To prevent overheating from happening, power tools in the Bosch Professional range have a built-in heat sensor which will shut down the motor when the temperature gets too high. Normally, all that is required is to wait for the tool to cool down. It will then be possible to resume work. However, it is bad practice to repeatedly allow this to happen. The cumulative effect will be harmful to motor and battery.

To help prevent your tools from reaching the point where the heat sensor is triggered, Bosch Professional designers have developed a neat way of giving you an advance warning. To take advantage of it, you will need to install the Bosch Professional Toolbox App on your phone. This utility has a wealth of great features for easier tool control. Having connected your Bosch Professional power tool to the app via Bluetooth, you will receive an alert on your phone if the tool reaches a potentially dangerous temperature.