Sensors

Safety systems for the protection of personnel are this year’s hot topic for Contrinex at SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, Hall 7A, Stand 406. Highlights include the unveiling of two new series of safety sensors, certified category 4 according to ISO 13849-1. Types are available with magnetic or RFID coding, which ensures immunity to mutual interference, and also largely eliminates the risk of tampering.

At SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg from 27th to 29th November, Leuze electronic will be focusing its trade fair appearance on the company's competence in safety at work. On the basis of its MLC safety light curtains, the optical sensor manufacturer developed the sensorless Smart Process Gating as an alternative to the muting process.

At this year's SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, Germany, Pilz will focus on safe sensor technology. The automation company shows components and complete solutions for the most varied applications of sensor technology in action. It is a premiere in Nuremberg for the new light curtains PSENopt II for body protection. Innovations in drive technology Pilz Motion Control (PMC) and the new qualification as a 'CECE - Certified Expert in CE Marking' are also part of the exhibition presence.

A fully integrated proximity sensor that combines a high power vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), a photodiode, a signal processing IC, and a 12-bit ADC in a single package has been introduced by Vishay Intertechnology. The VCNL36687S is designed to be used in smartphones, tablets, virtual reality / augmented reality (VR / AR) headsets, and other battery-operated devices.

Available in Europe through TTI is Omron’s D6F-PH Differential Pressure Sensor. The product is a type of MEMS chip with I²C digital output. Using Omron’s proprietary MEMS mass flow technology, the sensor features a redesigned internal flow path that produces low flow, high velocity/high impedance for a differential pressure output.

  As the new 412B series from Leuze electronics is in metal housing, it now presents a slim, cylindrical M12 sensor design that is especially well suited for use in tight installation spaces, that may occur in material handling or in packaging machines. 

The Procusini 3.0 is a 3D food printer, recently launched in its third and revised generation with NTC temperature probes from Variohm EuroSensor. The manufacturer, Print2Taste, was founded in 2014 as a spin-off company of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences in Freising.

Producer of malted barley, Muntons Malt has chosen the Smart Condition Monitoring (SCM) system from Mitsubishi to protect fans and motors vital to its large-scale and sensitive production process. Used to make beer, spirits and a range of popular foodstuffs, malted barley is produced in large batches where conditions are critical to a consistent product. The operation team had previously experienced issues with difficult-to-reach bearings inside a large fan housing and wanted to stay ahead of the game in future.

This year the UK has seen brushfires rage across large areas of heath and moorland, a problem that may become increasingly common as climate change drives global warming. New techniques and increased levels of expertise will be needed to combat these fires.

A humidity and temperature digital sensor from Texas Instruments (TI) that offers high accuracy and low power consumption in a compact package is in stock at distributor Mouser Electronics. The HDC2080 sensor is suitable for a broad range of Internet of Things (IoT) and environment-monitoring applications.