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Parts Detection in a Feeder Bowl
Challenge
Feeder bowls are effective in parts orientation to begin the automation assembly process. Keeping the feeder bowl stocked with parts is necessary to ensure the process continues without interruption. Standard diffuse-mode sensors may have difficulty distinguishing between the bowl and the presence or absence of parts. Photoelectric sensors with key performance capabilities are capable of reliably solving these once-difficult applications.
Solution
In this illustration, caps have been loaded into a feeder bowl which consistently orientates the parts to be positioned for bottle application later in the process. The Banner QS30AF an ideal sensing solution for this application, positioned to monitor the supply level of the caps as they move out of the bowl. Using a QS30AF with background suppression, the sensor ignores the shiny surface of an empty feeder bowl because the movement of the bowl, the angle of the bottom of the bowl, and a shiny surface may all contribute to returning inconsistent light back to the sensor’s receiver element. With background suppression, the QS30 operates in diffuse mode to detect light returned back from the caps, but ignore light returned from the bottom of the feeder bowl. If the caps are not present, the sensor no longer receives light back from the caps and an output is triggered to restock the feeder bowl.
With a range of 400mm, the QS30AF works in varying sizes of feeder bowls, and its multi-turn potentiometer enables simple setup and configuration. In addition to parts detection in feeder bowls, the QS30AF is ideal for any application where the background condition cannot be controlled.
Featured Products
QS30 Series High-Performance Long-Range Sensor
High power sensing with ranges up to 200 m, e/m relay output models available.