North America Safety Relay and Timers Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The North America Safety Relay and Timers market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period. The upsurge in the need for flexible modular designs with integrated functional requirements is significantly driving the market growth in the region.

Key Highlights

• Safety relays are critical for monitoring safety-related inputs and for protecting machines and operators by enabling equipment via outputs only when normal and safe conditions are confirmed. But traditional hardwired safety relays have limited functionality, leading many to search for upgraded solutions.
• In February 2021, IDEC Corporation announced the release of its new HR6S safety relay module. The microcomputer-based device supports various connections, input devices, and operating modes and adds convenient diagnostic and status monitoring important for the growing number of manufacturing sites relying on important internet of things (IoT) data.
• Safety relays and timers are employed in applications like controlling, starting, and protecting circuits in the oil and gas sector. Industrial timers are employed for material handling, machine tools, and process control in various process machines. According to EIA (Energy Information Administration), in 2021, crude oil production in Texas totaled to1.7 billion barrels. New Mexico produced around 459.8 million barrels in the same year.
• According to Baker Hughes, the Permian basin is the region with the largest number of oil rigs in the United States. As of the end of May 2022, there were 341 active rigs in the basin. The number of operational U.S. oil and gas rigs has increased from a pandemic-induced slump on the back of tighter fuel supplies due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The deployment of process machines has increased due to the considerable rise in offshore oil and gas exploration activities in the region. Offshore oil and gas exploration activities require complex drilling operations, making it challenging in terms of logistics and operations, hence driving the need for safety relays.
• However, due to the volatility in raw material prices, designing and manufacturing safety relays could be an expensive task. The global supply chains have also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has added to the volatility in raw material costs, doubling as a significant restraint to the market growth.

Key Market Trends

The Automotive Segment is Expected to Drive the Market's Growth

• Automotive relays are utilized in harnesses and box modules throughout a vehicle, including rear and front, passenger and engine areas, body control, powertrain, roof, seat, door, and fan modules. The automotive relay types include plug-in, PCB, high-current, high-voltage, and automotive contactors.
• North America is witnessing robust growth in its automotive industry. According to OICA (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles), in 2021, North American vehicle manufacturers assembled approximately 2.56 million passenger cars, and the United States remained North America's largest producer with about 1.5 million units. Further, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation, the electric vehicle market in the United States has grown from a few thousand vehicles in 2010 to more than 315,000 vehicles sold annually from 2018 to 2020. In 2020, the electric share of new vehicle sales was approximately 2.4%, an increase from about 2% in 2019.
• Additionally, according to the US Department of Energy, in the United States, the sales of new light-duty plug-in electric vehicles, including all-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), nearly doubled from 308,000 in 2020 to 608,000 in 2021. EV sales accounted for 73% of all plug-in electric vehicle sales in 2021. EV sales grew by 85% from 2020 to 2021, while sales of PHEVs more than doubled, with an increase of 138% over the previous year.
• High-voltage systems are becoming more prevalent, especially with the increased adoption of Evs in the region. Numerous market players are focused on finding new ways for system designers to solve complex isolation challenges, like ensuring reliable and safe vehicle operation as the industry transitions to 800-V batteries while also reducing solution size and cost. Advanced solid-state relays can disconnect and connect loads through a single isolation barrier in microseconds, compared to milliseconds for electromechanical relays to enable the safer operation of high-voltage automotive systems.
• To cater to this requirement, in May 2022, Texas Instruments (TI) introduced a new portfolio of solid-state relays, including automotive-qualified isolated drivers and switches, that deliver enhanced reliability to help make electric vehicles (EVs) safer. The new isolated solid-state relays also offer a very small solution size while reducing the bill-of-materials (BOM) cost of powertrain and 800-V battery-management systems.
• In September 2021, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation began shipping test samples of "TB9083FTG," a pre-driver IC for automotive applications that include brushless motors for electric power steering systems and electric brakes. Toshiba shipped its final samples in January 2022 and will start mass production in December 2022. TB9083FTG is a three-phase pre-driver that controls and drives external N-channel power MOSFETs for driving a three-phase brushless DC motor. It supports ASIL-D functional safety, and its compliance with ISO 26262 2nd edition allows use for highly safety-critical automotive systems. The new IC has a built-in three-channel pre-driver for the safety relays that control and drive the relays for motors and power supply. This eliminates the need for external components and helps reduce the part count. Such innovations would drive the growth of the studied market by offering lucrative opportunities for expansion.

The Energy & Power Segment is Expected to Witness a High Market Growth

• The increasing manufacturing, and mining activities, coupled with rising power generation and consumption in the region, are expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the safety relays and timers market.
• For instance, according to the United States Energy Information Administration, Energy in the United States comes in a wide variety of forms and sources, which can be broadly divided into primary and secondary, renewable and nonrenewable, and fossil fuels. The total primary energy used in the United States in 2021 was equivalent to 97 quadrillions Btu. Such huge consumption will significantly create an opportunity for the studied market to grow.
• Furthermore, the amount of dry gas produced (34.15 trillion cubic feet, or 93.57 billion cubic feet per day, or Bcf/day) in 2021 was a record high. In 2021, the United States consumed roughly 82.97 Bcf/day of natural gas, or 31.34 quads, or about 32% of all energy. Since 2017, the volume and heat content of the United States' annual dry natural gas output has surpassed the country's annual natural gas consumption.
• To cater to the upsurge in energy and power production, several companies in the region are working towards offering comprehensive solutions that promote sustainability. For instance, in July 2021, OMRON's electronic and mechanical component business division announced the global launch of its high-power PCB relay - G9KA. It improves the power generation efficiency of PV generation systems by minimizing energy loss caused by the heat generated by power conditioners, power supply equipment, and related equipment used in solar power generation systems. According to the company, the ultra-low contact resistance of 0.2 mW (initial contact resistance value under the condition of 200A, 30 minutes) suppresses the heat generated by the relay and improves the power generation efficiency of solar power generation systems, thereby accelerating renewable energy deployment and contributing to the realization of a decarbonized society.
• Further, in October 2021, With home energy use constantly on the rise, managing demand has become more important to potential homebuyers than ever before, in turn giving builders an opportunity to increase the value of their new builds by offering energy management technology. To cater to the idea, in October 2021, Schneider Electric, a prominent player in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, announced the development of a remote-control relay for launch in Q1 2022. When wired to the QO Plug-On Neutral breaker, this offer is claimed to provide efficient monitoring and control of the homeowner's power loads, including configurations to maximize backup power during an outage. This innovation, designed in partnership with Savant Power, adds a new level of control at the branch level to address evolving customer needs quickly while enhancing safety.

Competitive Landscape

The North America Safety Relay and Timers Market is a moderately fragmented market with the presence of significant players like Rockwell Automation, TE Connectivity, OMRON Industrial Automation, etc. To stay competitive, the market players are innovating comprehensive and configurable safety relays.

• December 2021 - TE Connectivity acquired Phoenix Contact's force-guided narrow safety relay (NSR) technology as part of a long-term partnership agreement between the companies. TE would assume responsibility for manufacturing and marketing the PSRminisingle-pole NSR relays, as part of its focus on bringing miniaturized systems and advanced safety technologies to the market, especially for robots, PLCs, elevators, and servo drive applications.
• November 2021 - K.A. Schmersal GmbH & Co. KG launched two new safety modules: the safety relay module SRB-E-302ST and the output expansion SRB-E-402EM are efficient and space-saving solutions for safe signal evaluation. The SRB-E-302ST safety relay module enables monitoring of common electromechanical and electronic safety switches, safety sensors, and active optoelectronic protective devices (AOPDs). Depending on the application, the module switches with the fail-safe relay contacts or wear-free with a fail-safe semiconductor output. The module allows the realization of applications up to category 4/PL e (EN ISO 13849-1) and SIL 3 (IEC 61508).

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