Using proximity and distance sensors to detect the presence and location of items without physical contact can be an important aspect of controlling industrial processes like material handling, agricultural machinery, fabrication and assembly operations, and food, beverage, and pharmaceuticals packaging. These sensors are available using a variety of technologies including photoelectric, laser, inductive, capacitive, magnetic, and ultrasonic. When determining the best choice for a given application, factors like range, size, accuracy, sensitivity, resolution, and cost need to be considered. A key factor in many applications is the material of the object to be detected. Some sensors behave differently with hard versus fibrous surfaces, and other sensors can be affected by the color or reflectivity of the object.
This article reviews commonly available non-contact proximity sensor technologies, looking at how they work, their basic performance characteristics and exemplary sensors from SICK, along with some intended applications.
Photoelectric sensors
Photoelectric sensors, like the W10 photoelectric proximity sensors from SICK, are simple to use and install and are available with a range of features suited for numerous applications. The sturdy design of the W10 sensors makes them suitable for precise object detection in challenging environments. The integrated touchscreen speeds parameter setting and sensor deployment (Figure 1). Figure 1: The touchscreen on these photoelectric sensors can speed commissioning and deployment. (Image source: SICK)
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