Sensors offer improved performance and ruggedness

Hydro Aluminium, a specialist aluminium extruder, is always looking to adopt new products and processes to ensure best production practices. When an automated storage-still facility, located inside a fenced-off personnel-free zone, developed reliability issues, Tony Horvath, the maintenance team leader at Hydro Aluminium, turned to W Mearns.

The sensors fitted to the existing handling system had insufficient spare sensing range to detect reliably the lifting-point flanges of the still that need to be located for it to be moved. In addition, due to the variations of these flanges, the sensors also suffered failure due to collision damage - which caused further system malfunctions.

W Mearns, an approved Contrinex technical distributor, recommended the rugged all-stainless steel series 700 sensors. Because this range is form-fit and functionally compatible with the existing sensors, there were minimal adjustments required to fit the new sensors.

In addition, series 700 sensors have triple sensing distance on all metals, so they always detect the lifting flanges despite the variations in position and angle. As this tough range is made from stainless steel, no damage results in the event of collisions occurring.

Series 700 sensors can withstand extreme impact, high shock levels and are resistant to virtually all chemicals. The use of patented sensor technology, known as Condet, produces a sensing distance that is, size-for-size, three times that of conventional sensors and is stable over its full temperature range of -25 to +85degC.

They are supplied in M8, M12, M18 and M30 sizes, in embeddable and non-embeddable plus cable or pluggable formats, with a built-in LED plus protection against short-circuits, voltage reversal and overload.