HIGH SENSITIVITY RETRO-REFLECTIVE SENSORS

March 29, 2010
Baumer has redesigned its FRDK 14 retro-reflective photoelectric sensor, adding a teach-in button that facilitates programming.  Reprogramming is possible in just 20 ms allowing rapid on the fly changes in sensing tasks. Designed to detect transparent objects at high speeds, this easy-to-use sensor is highly sensitive and can safely detect glass, PET and transparent packaging in response times as short as 0.1 ms.The retro-reflective FRDK 14 emits LED light to a reflector to detect the presence, placement/orientation, or size of a transparent object.  The sensor provides reliable data regardless of whether the target object is positioned directly in front of the sensor or closer to the reflector. The FRDK 14 sensor’s IP67-rated housing was redesigned to include a transparent rear panel for easy viewing of the operating and reception LEDs from any angle, simplifying installation and operation.  Two new connector styles are now available: an innovative molded M12 (S14) connector and a new metal four-pin M8 connector (S35A) that provides improved resilience and increased torque values.  The redesign also includes a patented channel that allows the cable to lay flush against the sensor housing for limited space installations.  This channel requires no additional depth like a plug-in connector, and can face backward or upward depending upon installation requirements. Baumer also offers a laser version of this sensor, the OPDK 14, with a highly precise beam of light suitable for applications with very small gaps between targets.  FRDK 14 Sensors are used in a range of industrial sensing applications in the automotive, food/beverage, laboratory automation, medical device, pharmaceutical and general packaging, plastics fabrication, printing/graphics, solar, and textile processing industries.