diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index 07e07f209..3e25edcd5 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ None
 
 ### New Features
 - support for Zaber (linear) motorized stages (in hardware/motor/zaber_motion)
+- Added mixin `qudi.interface.mixins.process_control_switch.ProcessControlSwitchMixin` to provide 
+optional default implementation satisfying the `SwitchInterface` for process control hardware 
+modules implementing any of the interfaces contained in `qudi.interface.process_control_interface`
 
 ### Other
 None
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/qudi/default.cfg b/src/qudi/default.cfg
index b6eafb2e4..9c9ffee7c 100644
--- a/src/qudi/default.cfg
+++ b/src/qudi/default.cfg
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ hardware:
             extend_hardware_name: True
         connect:
             switch1: 'switch1_dummy'
-            switch2: 'switch2_dummy'
+            switch2: 'process_control_dummy'
 
 
     switch1_dummy:
@@ -305,16 +305,6 @@ hardware:
                 two: ['down', 'up']
                 three: ['low', 'middle', 'high']
 
-    switch2_dummy:
-        module.Class: 'dummy.switch_dummy.SwitchDummy'
-        options:
-            name: 'Second'  # optional
-            remember_states: True  # optional
-            switches:
-                'An even longer name of the switch itself':
-                    - 'Very long name of a random state'
-                    - 'Another very long name of a random state'
-
     fast_counter_dummy:
         module.Class: 'dummy.fast_counter_dummy.FastCounterDummy'
         options:
@@ -327,3 +317,25 @@ hardware:
 
     spectrometer_dummy:
         module.Class: 'dummy.spectrometer_dummy.SpectrometerDummy'
+
+    process_control_dummy:
+        module.Class: 'dummy.process_control_dummy.ProcessControlDummy'
+        options:
+            process_value_channels:
+                Temperature:
+                    unit: 'K'
+                    limits: [0, .inf]
+                    dtype: float
+                Voltage:
+                    unit: 'V'
+                    limits: [-10.0, 10.0]
+                    dtype: float
+            setpoint_channels:
+                Current:
+                    unit: 'A'
+                    limits: [-5, 5]
+                    dtype: float
+                Frequency:
+                    unit: 'Hz'
+                    limits: [100.0e3, 20.0e9]
+                    dtype: float
diff --git a/src/qudi/hardware/dummy/process_control_dummy.py b/src/qudi/hardware/dummy/process_control_dummy.py
index 13e149656..6e9b764ec 100644
--- a/src/qudi/hardware/dummy/process_control_dummy.py
+++ b/src/qudi/hardware/dummy/process_control_dummy.py
@@ -26,11 +26,11 @@
 from qudi.util.mutex import RecursiveMutex
 from qudi.core.configoption import ConfigOption
 from qudi.interface.process_control_interface import ProcessControlConstraints
-from qudi.interface.process_control_interface import ProcessSetpointInterface
-from qudi.interface.process_control_interface import ProcessValueInterface
+from qudi.interface.process_control_interface import ProcessControlInterface
+from qudi.interface.mixins.process_control_switch import ProcessControlSwitchMixin
 
 
-class ProcessControlDummy(ProcessSetpointInterface, ProcessValueInterface):
+class ProcessControlDummy(ProcessControlSwitchMixin, ProcessControlInterface):
     """ A dummy class to emulate a process control device (setpoints and process values)
 
     Example config for copy-paste:
@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@ def on_activate(self):
         units.update({ch: d['unit'] for ch, d in self._process_value_channels.items() if 'unit' in d})
         limits = {ch: d['limits'] for ch, d in self._setpoint_channels.items() if 'limits' in d}
         limits.update({ch: d['limits'] for ch, d in self._process_value_channels.items() if 'limits' in d})
-        dtypes = {ch: d['dtype'] for ch, d in self._setpoint_channels.items() if 'dtype' in d}
-        dtypes.update({ch: d['dtype'] for ch, d in self._process_value_channels.items() if 'dtype' in d})
+        dtypes = {ch: eval(d['dtype']) for ch, d in self._setpoint_channels.items() if 'dtype' in d}
+        dtypes.update({ch: eval(d['dtype']) for ch, d in self._process_value_channels.items() if 'dtype' in d})
         self.__constraints = ProcessControlConstraints(
             setpoint_channels=tuple(self._setpoint_channels),
             process_channels=tuple(self._process_value_channels),
diff --git a/src/qudi/interface/mixins/process_control_switch.py b/src/qudi/interface/mixins/process_control_switch.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b576d5be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/qudi/interface/mixins/process_control_switch.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+"""
+Copyright (c) 2022, the qudi developers. See the AUTHORS.md file at the top-level directory of this
+distribution and on <https://github.com/Ulm-IQO/qudi-iqo-modules/>
+
+This file is part of qudi.
+
+Qudi is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
+the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
+either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+Qudi is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with qudi.
+If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+"""
+
+__all__ = ['ProcessControlSwitchMixin']
+
+from typing import Dict, Tuple
+
+from qudi.interface.switch_interface import SwitchInterface
+
+
+class ProcessControlSwitchMixin(SwitchInterface):
+    """ Mixin to inherit alongside interfaces contained in qudi.interface.process_control_interface
+    to automatically provide a SwitchInterface for enabling/disabling process control hardware.
+
+    Use like this:
+
+        class MyHardwareModule(ProcessControlSwitchMixin, ProcessControlInterface):
+            ...
+    """
+
+    @property
+    def name(self) -> str:
+        return self.module_name
+
+    @property
+    def available_states(self) -> Dict[str, Tuple[str, ...]]:
+        return {'state': ('disabled', 'enabled')}
+
+    def get_state(self, switch: str) -> str:
+        """ Query state of single switch by name
+
+        @param str switch: name of the switch to query the state for
+        @return str: The current switch state
+        """
+        return self.available_states['state'][int(self.is_active)]
+
+    def set_state(self, switch: str, state: str) -> None:
+        """ Query state of single switch by name
+
+        @param str switch: name of the switch to change
+        @param str state: name of the state to set
+        """
+        try:
+            active = bool(self.available_states[switch].index(state))
+        except (KeyError, ValueError) as err:
+            raise ValueError('Invalid switch name or state descriptor') from err
+        self.set_activity_state(active)
diff --git a/src/qudi/interface/switch_interface.py b/src/qudi/interface/switch_interface.py
index 26d21fe5d..70b8d5fd0 100644
--- a/src/qudi/interface/switch_interface.py
+++ b/src/qudi/interface/switch_interface.py
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@
 If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 """
 
+__all__ = ['SwitchInterface']
+
+from typing import Dict, Mapping, Sequence, Tuple
 from abc import abstractmethod
+
 from qudi.core.module import Base
 
 
@@ -33,7 +37,7 @@ class SwitchInterface(Base):
 
     @property
     @abstractmethod
-    def name(self):
+    def name(self) -> str:
         """ Name of the hardware as string.
 
         @return str: The name of the hardware
@@ -42,7 +46,7 @@ def name(self):
 
     @property
     @abstractmethod
-    def available_states(self):
+    def available_states(self) -> Dict[str, Tuple[str, ...]]:
         """ Names of the states as a dict of tuples.
 
         The keys contain the names for each of the switches. The values are tuples of strings
@@ -53,7 +57,7 @@ def available_states(self):
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def get_state(self, switch):
+    def get_state(self, switch: str) -> str:
         """ Query state of single switch by name
 
         @param str switch: name of the switch to query the state for
@@ -62,7 +66,7 @@ def get_state(self, switch):
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def set_state(self, switch, state):
+    def set_state(self, switch: str, state: str) -> None:
         """ Query state of single switch by name
 
         @param str switch: name of the switch to change
@@ -73,7 +77,7 @@ def set_state(self, switch, state):
     # Non-abstract default implementations below
 
     @property
-    def number_of_switches(self):
+    def number_of_switches(self) -> int:
         """ Number of switches provided by the hardware.
 
         @return int: number of switches
@@ -81,7 +85,7 @@ def number_of_switches(self):
         return len(self.available_states)
 
     @property
-    def switch_names(self):
+    def switch_names(self) -> Tuple[str, ...]:
         """ Names of all available switches as tuple.
 
         @return str[]: Tuple of strings of available switch names.
@@ -89,7 +93,7 @@ def switch_names(self):
         return tuple(self.available_states)
 
     @property
-    def states(self):
+    def states(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """ The current states the hardware is in as state dictionary with switch names as keys and
         state names as values.
 
@@ -98,7 +102,7 @@ def states(self):
         return {switch: self.get_state(switch) for switch in self.available_states}
 
     @states.setter
-    def states(self, state_dict):
+    def states(self, state_dict: Mapping[str, str]) -> None:
         """ The setter for the states of the hardware.
 
         The states of the system can be set by specifying a dict that has the switch names as keys
@@ -111,7 +115,8 @@ def states(self, state_dict):
             self.set_state(switch, state)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _chk_refine_available_switches(switch_dict):
+    def _chk_refine_available_switches(switch_dict: Dict[str, Sequence[str]]
+                                       ) -> Dict[str, Tuple[str, ...]]:
         """ Perform some general checking of the configured available switches and their possible
         states. When implementing a hardware module, you can overwrite this method to include
         custom checks, but make sure to call this implementation first via super().