Loop Control of Clear Plastic
Challenge
Clear plastic is used to cover cases of pill bottles before they are shipped. To ensure consistent packaging and prevent conveyor jams, the plastic film must travel through the rollers at the same speed as the conveyor transporting the bottles. A sensing solution is required that will communicate to the rollers to speed up or slow down as needed.
Solution
The detection of clear plastic is always a challenge. The optical beam of traditional photoelectric sensors will burn through clear material, making sensing results unreliable.
The U-GAGE T30UX Series Ultrasonic Sensor uses pulses of ultrasonic energy, which reflect off the target and back to the sensor, to reliably detect clear materials. In this application, a T30UX with an analog output is being used to monitor the tension of the loop. By sending a continuous analog signal to a PLC, the sensor will communicate when the loop lowers or rises, indicating that the rollers need to speed up or slow down.