Posted to News on 27th Aug 2008, 17:25
Two-wire proximity sensors save time and costs
In large production plants there are significant technical issues resulting from long cable runs and, because cable prices have quadrupled over the past five years, there are also cost concerns.
However, new high-performance, two-wire DC sensors from Contrinex reduce the amount of cable and the number of connection points required in machine design by 33 per cent compared with conventional three-wire products, thereby delivering major cost savings.
Another advantage with two-wire products is that the same sensor can be arranged in either the normally-open or normally-closed configuration when connecting the control load in-line with the positive lead, so NPN and PNP versions are not required, as is the case with three-wire devices. This can reduce the number of different sensors that customers need to stock, which helps to cut inventory costs.
These brass-bodied, chrome-plated sensors have a high-frequency output and are available in M12, M18 and M30 sizes with switching speeds of 3kHz, 2kHz and 1kHz, respectively. The M12 and M18 sizes are available with extended double sensing range that enables them to operate with greater clearances from targets to be detected, which reduces the risk of collision damage.
They are available in short as well as standard body lengths, in embeddable and non-embeddable formats with plug or cable connection and have a wide voltage range from 10-65V DC. They can switch over 100mA and are short-circuit, inverse-polarity and overload protected.
The use of state-of-the-art chip technology means that production costs are kept to a minimum despite the switches being manufactured in Switzerland to the highest standards. They are therefore said to be very competitively priced and have a long, reliable service life, making them highly cost-effective and attractive for new machine and system designs.
