Micro-Epsilon to showcase sensors at Advanced Engineering 2014

Visitors to stand F3 will have the opportunity to view and interact with sensor technologies from Micro-Epsilon, including demonstrations of non-contact eddy current, confocal, laser profile and capacitive displacement sensors, as well as colour measurement sensors and thermal imaging cameras. Experts from Micro-Epsilon will be on hand throughout the show to provide advice and guidance on sensor selection or to discuss specific application requirements.

Highlights of the stand this year include the scanCONTROL 2600/2900, an innovation in the company's range of 2D/3D laser profile scanners. The scanCONTROL 2600/2900 series are even more compact and lightweight than their predecessors, making them suitable for a wide range of measurement tasks in highly automated production environments. The sensors are small enough to be mounted on robot arms or on plant and machines where space is restricted. The sensors offer measuring rates of up to 1280 points per profile. Measuring ranges are from 53mm up to 390mm, with a choice of interfaces, including Gigabit Ethernet, RS422, as well as digital and encoder inputs.

Other highlights include the company's latest innovation in thermal imaging, the thermoIMAGER TIM 640. This infrared thermal imaging camera is able to record radiometric video at an optical resolution of 640×480 pixels - making it the highest resolution infrared camera available on the market today from 6800. With compact dimensions of 45×56×90mm and a weight of just 320g (including lens), compared with other similar-size cameras, the TIM 640 is currently the only camera that enables the recording of radiometric video images at 32Hz and a VGA resolution of 640×480 pixels.

Eddy current displacement sensors

The stand will also demonstrate Micro-Epsilon's eddyNCDT 3300 range of non-contact eddy current displacement sensors. Miniature versions of these sensors are used extensively in automotive R&D, where they are used to measure valve stroke, injection needle movement, cylinder head breathing, lubricating gap, oil film thickness, crankshaft concentricity and axial movement of crankshafts. eddyNCDT 3300 sensors have many other potential uses, such as vibration monitoring of the strip in steelworks, measuring the thickness of foil and in edge control or positioning.

An active sensor, controller and cable compensate for temperature fluctuations, offering extreme temperature stability of 0.015 per cent/degC. The sensors are available with measuring ranges from 0.4mm up to 80mm. Pressure-resistant versions are available up to 2000 bar and operating temperatures are from -50degC up to 235degC.

Following the launch of its high-resolution capacitive measurement system, the capaNCDT 6200, Micro-Epsilon has extended its range to include the DL6230 demodulator, which offers up to 10 times higher resolution and is able to synchronise measurements from multiple banks of controllers, giving users complete flexibility to mix-and-match controllers, demodulators and capacitive sensors to suit their application requirements.

For measurement tasks that require very high precision, visitors can take a closer look at the IFS 2405 confocal chromatic sensor, which offers very high sensitivity and sub-micrometre resolution - critical when it comes to inspecting the shape and size of small structures during or post-production. These sensors can be integrated to linear X-Y stages, machine tools or special purpose inspection systems. As well as distance measurements on reflective and transparent materials, the sensors can also perform one-sided thickness measurement of clear film, PCBs or layers.

Colour measurement

The stand will also feature a demonstration of the ACS7000 online colour measurement system, which not only recognises reference colours by comparison, but also identifies individual colours from their coordinates in the colour space. With its very high measurement speed, the system is suitable for a wide range of inline measuring tasks where colours and shades have to be examined on-the-fly and to very high accuracies. The system is equally suitable for offline R&D laboratory applications. Existing applications include automotive paint inspection, colour measurement of car interiors, forensics, printing, medical technology, and in the processing of plastics, wood, veneer and textiles.

For more information or to book an appointment on the stand at the the Advanced Engineering UK 2014 exhibition, please email [email protected], or visit www.micro-epsilon.co.uk.