The brochure opens with the latest sensing technology, with sections on Smart inductive and photoelectric measurement sensors; the innovative PocketCodr No-code IO-Link sensor configurator; and Contrinex’s new 3D Smart camera.

The vast array of inductive and photoelectric sensors, which include unique solutions, is detailed before outlining Contrinex’s Machine Safety and RFID ranges.

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A small robot with a multi-finger gripper is used as a tender to transfer parts from an assembly area to an end-of-line test machine. A risk was identified that in the event of a malfunction in other equipment or an unplanned human intervention, the robot gripper could collide with other pieces of assembly equipment.

The system designers wanted an overriding anti-collision system to prevent a collision causing damage to the robot or more likely some of the other more delicate elements of the test or assembly equipment.

In the manufacturing cell, robotic handling systems manipulate electromechanical sub-assemblies, presenting them for automated testing. The part is transported by a small robot with a compact multi-finger gripper, whose patch is programmed according to the geometry of both the parts and the production equipment.

As the products being manufactured change with design revisions or new variants are added, or if other equipment is accidentally moved or fails, there is a risk of collisions between the robot and its surroundings.

To remove the risk of damage to a robot gripper or the assembly infrastructure, a collision avoidance system was sought by the designers of the robotic system. The engineers wanted to implement hardware anti-collision measures rather than change the robot’s software or programming and so looked for a sensor-based system.

Contrinex’s MiniDist Brut photoelectric modules offered a small, reliable and cost-effective means of fitting a measuring system into the grippers themselves. These miniature diffuse distance measuring sensor modules are embedded in the outward-facing surfaces of the gripper jaws to monitor the proximity of obstructions in real time when transporting parts between operations.

MiniDist Brut sensors are designed with the needs of OEMs and system integrators in mind to provide an unobtrusive fit-and-forget solution. The miniature devices weigh as little as 3.1 grams for the bare PCB unit, which has a compact 4.5mm x 4mm x 11mm envelope. The sister version in a plastic housing is still very small at only 6mm x 5mm x 18mm.

With sensing distances of up to 35mm, MiniDist Brut devices offer designers highly versatile options when specifying equipment, especially for integration in tight spaces with insufficient room for traditional sensors. An industry-standard PNP and analogue voltage output ensure optimum flexibility, with an output range of 0.3V to 3V and in-situ adjustment between 1 to 25mm making the unit easy to integrate. The modules are supplied with a 2m 4-wire PVC-sheathed cable, which was cut to length and wired to a connection in the wrist of the robot.

The miniature sensors provide reliable and unobtrusive operation whilst preventing accidents and maintaining the production throughput without compromising the safety of people or equipment around it.

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Small industrial robots and cobots (collaborative robots) are increasingly being used for material handling tasks like machine tending and moving parts from one operation to another, or between conveyors. To increase their flexibility and capability, interchangeable end-of-arm tooling or end-effectors, such as a variety of grippers and vacuum lifters are used to enable the robot to better handle different pieces or perform different tasks.

In a flexible manufacturing environment, to maximise machine availability, this change of tooling needs to be automated. The robot itself positions and disengages the old tooling and selects and engages the new end-of-arm tooling or gripper from a storage rack.

The small size and light weight of Contrinex’s tiny Ø3mm x 22mm long inductive proximity sensors, their 1mm sensing distance, and their being able to be flush mounted (embedded) in steel, makes them ideal for detecting the presence of a tool carrier and to sense the position of the locking mechanism.

For one particular customer, tool changeover systems are commonplace for large robots and now rapid tool changeover systems are available to improve the productivity of small robots. The robot’s capabilities and flexibility are further enhanced by a rapid tool changeover system, which allows a change between end-effectors within a single manufacturing cycle, rather than just between batches.

The tool changer has an annular ring of ball bearings that engages with a circular groove on the inside of the tool carrier. A retractable plunger, moving axially inside the changer and the carrier, locks the balls, and thus the carrier, in place. The correct engagement and locking are essential for safe operation, especially if the tooling and load are heavy or moving quickly.

To ensure the reliable operation of the robot, a highly reliable sensor-based system was sought to verify the presence of a tool carrier during the final stage of the attachment and to monitor the position of the plunger. The correct engagement and locking or unlocking and disengagement are therefore ensured by the sensor before the next process can be commenced.

The challenge of making automated tool-change systems affordable for use on small robots is that they must also maintain their high reliability, whilst occupying a small physical envelope.

Contrinex’s smallest inductive proximity sensor, the MiniMini, has a Ø3mm diameter and is only 22mm long – Its 1mm sensing range, robust V2A stainless-steel housing and resistance to vibration and mechanical shock made it ideal for this application. During a change of end-effectors, a single sensor, fitted axially in the centre of the tool changer on the arm, detects the presence of the tool carrier and inhibits the locking cycle until the engagement is fully complete.

Two more sensors are embedded one above the other, axially into the side of the tool changer, on the end of the arm. They sense the position of the plunger to confirm a locked or unlocked state, to ensure the robot’s sequence commences correctly.

Contrinex’s inductive proximity sensors provide a low-cost fit-and-forget solution. The version with an M8 connector on a short 20cm cable facilitates a quick change should there be damage to the tooling and sensor. The sensor including the M8 connector and cable weighs only 15g, less than double the weight of a £1 coin, it has a similar thickness, and shorter than the coin’s diameter.

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The integration of interchangeable end-of-arm tooling for robots increases their flexibility and capability but also adds complexity. In some applications or industries, there can be a need to verify, plus perhaps track and record which tools have been used.

In an aerospace application, for example, recording which end tools were used, might be required for the traceability of the process. In an automotive factory, tracking of the tooling might be used to ensure that it receives visual inspections and refurbishment after a set number of uses.

In the automotive application, tracking of the tooling might also be used to quantify and adjust the time intervals of inspection and refurbishment. It could provide precise usage data which can be analysed for insight into the wear performance of different processes or tooling suppliers.

At one particular automotive manufacturer, a small industrial robot was being used for machine tendering – loading and unloading a wide variety of components to a machining centre. The manufacturing cell is extremely flexible in the size and shape of components it can process and therefore the robot uses a variety of interchangeable end-of-arm tooling or end-effectors.

The machining centre is specialised and delicate and so to eliminate the risk of damage from the robot, its end-of-arm tooling or a misloaded component, a system is required that guarantees the correct end-of-arm tooling is fitted to the robot for each load or unload movement.

A Contrinex IO-Link RFID read/write module is mounted beside the storage rack of interchangeable end-of-arm tooling. Before the robot disengages the end-effector, it presents it and the RFID transponder tag mounted to it, to the read/write module. Similarly, when a tool has been picked up and mounted by the robot, the transponder tag is presented to the RFID read/write module to verify that the correct tooling has been selected.

The RFID transponder tag is an active component that can have data written to it like a USB stick, as opposed to a passive element like a barcode identification label. The tag can be thought of as being like an electronic job card, with operations recorded in its memory. In this application, in addition to its primary purpose of identifying and recording an end-effector’s use on the robot arm, the maintenance team, used the tag to record when the tooling is serviced and by which supplier. The maintenance team can query the transponder tag to see the tooling’s history, even when it is away from the manufacturing cell and its PLC.

The Contrinex read/write module chosen is unusual because rather than communicating over an advanced protocol like ProfiNet, it uses the low-cost IO-Link protocol, which the simple and low-cost PLC can directly communicate to. This removes the need to use an expensive protocol converter or a more expensive and advanced PLC than is required for this simple machine tendering application.

Contrinex has combined two of factory automation’s key communication standards into its IO-Link RFID read/write units to offer simple installation and integration. Contrinex’s ISO15693 RFID standard transponder tags and read/write modules are mechanically robust, being designed to cope with shocks, hot water, corrosive chemicals and high-pressure jetting, to provide ultra-high reliability.

The ConIdent passive transponders tags require no internal power source, so maintenance is minimised as there are no batteries to monitor and replace. It was also advantageous that the transponder does not need an electrical connection to the robot arm, which would have significantly increased complexity.

The robot is only allowed to tend the machine when the machine controller is assured that the correct end-of-arm tool has been fitted and the correct parameters loaded. This guarantees fast tool changeover and avoids the risk of an impact between the machine and the robot tender.

An additional benefit of the system’s stability is that the maintenance team can precisely monitor the wear and performance of different tooling designs and suppliers to make improvements and cost savings.

Contrinex’s extensive RFID range also includes transponders designed to survive vibrations and shock, or high temperatures within harsh manufacturing environments, or transponders which can survive the aggressive cleaning chemicals of the food and beverage industry.

Contrinex also offers a unique, ‘metal-friendly’ system offering transponders encased in hermetically sealed, food-safe, stainless-steel housings, which can be embedded into metal tooling or stillages, for example.

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The photovoltaic cell manufacturing plant handles a large number of fragile silicon wafers using a high level of automation. One such automation is the use of compact two-finger robot edge-grippers to transport trays of silicon wafers between operations. To avoid impacts on the wafer’s surfaces, process engineers require reliable confirmation that the gripper’s jaws are fully open before the gripper descends to pick up a tray.

A typical photovoltaic solar panel consists of an array of 100+ silicon wafers, so their manufacturing involves handling and placing a very large number of thin and fragile silicon wafers. The high levels of cleanliness, high volumes and repetitive nature of the assembly lead to extensive, fast-moving automation.

In the panel assembly area, robotic systems handle the silicon wafers, position them on the panel, assemble and wire the panel and present it for automated testing. The silicon wafers are transported to the panel assembly area in trays which are picked up by compact two-finger robot edge-grippers. These grippers were prone to damaging the wafer’s surface if the gripper malfunctioned or was inaccurate.

Analysis showed that open/close errors accounted for a significant proportion of the gripper malfunctions which led to scrap being produced. The primary issue was that on occasion the jaws only partially opened causing the fingers to impact and damage the surface of the wafers. A cost-effective solution was therefore required to prevent the robot from attempting the pick operation if the jaws were not fully open.

Contrinex offers a very large choice of inductive sensors, including tiny Ø3mm inductive proximity sensors. Despite their diminutive size, they offer high performance and reliability, with for example a 1mm sensing range, a V2A stainless-steel housing with an LED indicator, up to 3,000Hz switching and IO-Link connectivity included in a sensor which is only 22mm long.

Two of these inductive sensors are mounted above the two top faces of the gripper fingers to sense their presence when the jaws are in the fully open position. This verification of the jaws being open eliminates the risk of scrap being caused by partially open jaws impacting the wafers.

These miniature inductive sensors are popular with robot and gripper OEMs and system integrators because of their small size, high performance and reliability, which offers a fit-and-forget solution. Even including a 2m long robust PUR sheathed cable, the whole sensor weighs only 25 grams, with the cable contributing the majority of the weight. Therefore, fitting them to small grippers adds only a very small (Ø3mm x 22mm) sensor with a small additional mass.

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Resistance spot-welding is utilised across many industries, including automotive, aerospace, electronics and white goods, because of its speed and low cost. The high volumes and high-quality requirements of the automotive supply chain tend to make its use of automated welding more common than in other industries.

Contrinex’s 600 Series Weld-Immune inductive sensors bring weld immunity to a new lower price point. Whilst they do not provide the robustness that the 700 Series sensors are renowned for, they do provide a highly reliable, cost-effective solution, with best-in-class service life.

Another important aspect of the 600 and 700 Series weld-immune sensors is that their sensing performance of steel and aluminium targets is the same. This is commonly referred to as being ‘Factor 1’, because their performance on steel is scaled by a Factor of 1.0 for aluminium, whereas some sensors might only provide 85% of the sensing range on aluminium that it provides on steel, and would be described as having a ‘correction factor’ of 0.85.

The sensor has to reliably detect the presence of the aluminium tube and withstand the harsh environment of being located near 50Hz AC-welding equipment, where field strengths may reach 40mT. The lower electrical resistance of aluminium requires welding currents two to three times higher than for steel, so medium-frequency (MF) resistance welding can use currents as high as 15 kA, requiring an inductive sensor with exceptional high-strength weld-field interference immunity.

The valve manufacturer’s welding cell was designed with a high-speed robot gripper loading an aluminium tube and valve body into an assembly jig, where a small pneumatic cylinder positions it longitudinally. A small inductive sensor is located beside the lower welding electrode to confirm the body is correctly positioned before it initiates the welding sequence.

Contrinex’s Weld-Immune inductive sensors have long been trusted to not malfunction or fail, even when directly exposed to strong electromagnetic fields. The new 600 Series weld-immune inductive sensor was a perfect fit for the application, offering weld-immunity, long-sensing range and Factor 1 sensing on steel and aluminium, to give a cost-effective solution, with best-in-class service life.

The M8-diameter sensor’s rugged construction includes a metal housing and a temperature-resistant sensing face in a high-strength PEEK polymer. Its sensing range of up to 2 mm is more than adequate for the process, reducing the chance of accidental impacts during assembly.

Contrinex’s 600 Series of weld-immune inductive sensors offer Factor 1 sensing of steel and aluminium targets up to 8mm in an M18 sensor. The 700 Series offers sensing up to 10 mm from an M18, or 16mm from an M30 sensor. All PNP versions include the IO-Link communication protocol so that parameters can be auto-updated from the PLC to a new sensor when it is installed. IO-Link is also ideal for implementing the sensors into Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 systems.

Contrinex also offers its robust 700 Series of weld-immune inductive sensors for even more challenging environments. They feature a front face and cylindrical housing which is machined from a single piece of stainless steel, providing a thick front face and extraordinary abrasion resistance. The sensor’s technology gives it unmatched abilities to resist shock and impact damage, which is typically demonstrated by showing a sensor survive being used to hammer nails into a wooden block.

For applications directly exposed to weld spatter, sensors are available with an ACTIVSTONE coating, a high-performance ceramic layer that is especially resistant to weld spatter. All external surfaces of the sensor, including fixing nuts and mounting brackets, are protected, preventing the accumulation of spatter. Heavy-duty PUR cables and optional high-temperature-rated spatter-resistant cable shrouds are also available to provide robust sensor systems.

Combining exceptional durability in harsh environments with extended working life, Contrinex’s Weld-Immune sensor range is a highly affordable, risk-free option for systems integrators and equipment designers in diverse industries, including automotive, aerospace, electronics and white goods.

Contrinex weld immune sensors are available in the UK from Plus Automation.

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The assembly of an engine requires cylinder heads to be transferred from one conveyor line to another. At the transfer station, sensors under the roller conveyor detect the arrival of the workpiece carrier and pause the conveyor to position the carrier and cylinder head in place for an industrial robot to unload it.

The robot lifts the cylinder head off the workpiece carrier and transfers it to a new one on an adjacent assembly line. Once the cylinder head has been removed from the carrier, the sensor triggers the roller conveyor is OK to start up to position the next cylinder head assembly and return the empty carrier to the loading station.

The safe and efficient operation of the transfer process is ensured by the automation of the roller conveyor stop and restart using the position checking of the cylinder heads.

Inductive sensors from Contrinex’s 700 Series Extreme family are used due to their robust construction and proven reliability. Just three DW-AS-713-M30 compact inductive proximity sensors, with a 40mm sensing range are used to ensure the safe, reliable implementation of this task.

The robustness and reliability of these sensors is typically demonstrated by Contrinex showing them survive being used to hammer nails into a block of wood, and this robustness makes them ideal for surviving accidental impacts in a congested factory.

The sensors are mounted between the conveyor’s rollers at the transfer station so that when an incoming workpiece carrier covers the second sensor, it is in the correct position. The roller conveyor is therefore instantly stopped and the industrial robot starts the transfer process.

Once the robot advises that the cylinder head has been removed, the third sensor ensures that the empty workpiece carrier takes the correct onward path.

The accuracy in switching distance of these sensors is trusted to ensure that a stop is initiated at exactly the right moment. This helps ensure that the lift and transfer process takes place under the safest possible conditions while maintaining all the speed and consistency expected from an automated factory process.

By stopping and restarting the roller conveyor at exactly the right moment and checking the workpiece position, automated transfer stations speed up production and minimise wastage, downtime and damage to equipment.

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In one particular application, automated systems are used to improve the efficiency and reliability of assembly operations and often enable the elimination of assembly faults. Whilst the repetitive assembly tasks are ideally suited to be done by robots, a common bottleneck in production is that these robots can be too slow at picking and placing the assembled parts and therefore in this application a rotary indexing table is used to move the assemblies between the robots.

The rotary indexing table speeds up the transfer of PCBs between assembly robots and also on and off conveyors, increasing the production throughput and reducing the number of assembly robots required. Sensors are used to automate these processes and these sensors must be able to operate continuously at high speed, performing tasks including: presence detection to initiate the cassette-change cycle in a stack feeder; position control for a rotary indexing table; pick-and-place gripper control; and presence monitoring on a conveyor system.

Stack-feeders deliver base plates, electrical printed circuit boards and other planar components to the assembly lines. In each stack-feeder, a vertical cassette holds as many as 50 individual parts and a single inductive sensor monitors the status of each cassette. Once the final part is discharged from the stack, the cassette moves to its end position, triggering the sensor and initiating the cassette-change cycle.

Contrinex C23 embeddable inductive sensors, featuring a one-piece stainless-steel housing, are both robust and highly reliable. A 7mm sensing distance allows ample operating clearance, minimizing the risk of mechanical collision. Their implementation into the assembly equipment is made easier by the choice of industry-standard PNP or NPN outputs with either a PUR cable or an M8 pigtail connector. Additionally, IO-Link, a standardised point-to-point serial connection protocol for sensors and actuators, is provided at no additional cost, offering the advantages of digital communication without the need for special cabling, making them ideal for Industry 4.0 applications.

Designed for demanding applications, Contrinex’s rugged C23 inductive sensors offer best-in-class switching frequency of 180Hz and exceptional robustness including impact and abrasion resistance, making them a versatile, cost-effective and highly reliable solution. These uniquely robust sensors are typically demonstrated by Contrinex as being able to repeatedly being used to hammer in nails. Even when their front face is dented, the sensor continues to operate correctly.

Conveyors deliver a continuous stream of parts to the rotary indexing table, which transports them in sequence to each assembly station. As the table rotates, sensors located at precise intervals around its periphery detect its exact angular position, bringing it to a halt once parts are correctly positioned for the next operation.

At each assembly station, automated pick-and-place equipment adds components to the assembly. Dedicated transport mechanisms – including vacuum lifters, electromagnetic clamps and mechanical grippers – insert items swiftly and accurately in their designated positions. Embeddable inductive sensors play a key role in confirming the secure closure of custom-designed grippers before fragile, high-value parts are lifted.

Manufactured in V4A/ AISI 316L stainless steel and rated to IP68/ IP69K, these small inductive sensors can be fully embedded into a steel surface such as part of the rotary table or an assembly jig or bench, further reducing the potential for mechanical damage.

On completion of the final assembly stage, finished PCBs are discharged to a linear conveyor system. They travel to subsequent processing stages, including testing and packing. C23 Full stainless steel sensors mounted directly above these conveyors, detect each unit as it passes below. This check not only confirms the presence of the assembled item at the expected height above the conveyor but also measures throughput by activating a counting circuit in the customer’s control system.

Continuous operation is the norm in automated assembly plants. However, minor adjustments or tool changes may be required from time to time. In non-safety-critical areas, access hatches allow maintenance technicians to carry out these tasks without needing to interrupt production across an entire plant. Multiple sensors, mounted at intervals around the periphery of a hatch, ensure that appropriate warning signals are activated whenever the opening is not fully secured.

Contrinex sensors are available in the UK from Plus Automation. Visit the Plus Automation website for more information

Contrinex’s Ultra-miniature inductive proximity sensors, mounted directly above the top faces of the gripper fingers, sense the position of the jaws in the fully open position, eliminating avoidable scrap costs.

Eliminating avoidable scrap costs has to be at the top of any production engineer’s to-do list, particularly when rectifying component damage also means interrupting a fast-moving automated production line. When the component in question is a costly photovoltaic silicon wafer, designers often turn to automated handling systems, although relying on these to achieve perfect alignment isn’t always the answer.

In a manufacturing cell, handling systems assemble solar cells before presenting them for automated testing. To start, trays of silicon wafers are transported between operations by two-finger edge-grippers. If gripper malfunctions occur, scrap costs can mount rapidly, with mechanical damage caused by impacts on the wafer surfaces being a common cause.

Analysis showed that open/close errors account for a significant proportion of gripper malfunctions. Software routines alone can’t identify the position of the gripper fingers; attempts to pick up a wafer tray with the jaws only partially open result in fingers impacting on the wafer surfaces. A cost-effective hardware solution is required to provide overriding inhibition of picking routines if this situation arises.

Customer solution

Designers specified two-finger grippers fitted with Contrinex Ultra-miniature inductive sensors as a reliable and cost-effective means of detecting the position of the jaws at the extremes of travel. Before the gripper descends to pick up a tray, these miniature proximity sensors, mounted directly above the top faces of the gripper fingers, sense the position of the jaws in the fully open position.

Ultraminiature inductive sensors are designed with the needs of OEMs and system integrators in mind and provide an unobtrusive fit-and-forget solution. These miniature devices weigh only 25 grams, and with a compact 3mm-diameter x 22mm V2A stainless-steel housing, they allow easy integration in tight spaces with insufficient room for traditional devices.

With a sensing distance of 1mm, MiniDist devices offer designers attractive alternatives when specifying equipment. Industry-standard PNP and NPN outputs with normally open or normally closed options ensure optimum flexibility when interfacing with a wide range of control systems. Connection is via a PUR-sheathed cable with a 3-pin connector or 2-meter flying lead; alternative lengths are available.

These highly versatile miniature sensors meet designers’ needs for reliable operation while preventing accidental damage. The solution is both highly reliable and cost-effective while eliminating avoidable scrap costs; payback is rapid, while production throughput is maintained at target levels without increasing the cost of quality.

The inclusion of IO-Link, a standardised point-to-point serial connection protocol for sensors and actuators, is provided at no additional cost. It offers the advantages of digital communication without the need for special cabling, making them ideal for Industry 4 applications.

Visit the Plus Automation website for more information

Highly reliable automation and machine-control systems are used to eliminate assembly faults and improve efficiency in an assembly operation. Whilst the repetitive assembly tasks are well-suited to being done by robots, these robots can be too slow at picking and placing the assembled parts and therefore a rotary indexing table is used to move the assemblies between the robots.

The rotary indexing table speeds up the transfer of PCBs between assembly robots and also on and off conveyors, increasing the production throughput and reducing the number of assembly robots required – Sensors are used to automate these processes and these sensors must be able to operate continuously at high speed, performing tasks including: presence detection to initiate the cassette-change cycle in a stack feeder; position control for a rotary indexing table; pick-and-place gripper control; and presence monitoring on a conveyor system.

Stack-feeders deliver base plates, electrical printed circuit boards and other planar components to the assembly lines. In each stack-feeder, a vertical cassette holds as many as 50 individual parts and a single inductive sensor monitors the status of each cassette. Once the final part is discharged from the stack, the cassette moves to its end position, triggering the sensor and initiating the cassette-change cycle.

Contrinex C23 embeddable inductive sensors, featuring a one-piece stainless-steel housing, are both robust and highly reliable. A 7mm sensing distance allows ample operating clearance, minimizing the risk of mechanical collision. Their implementation into the assembly equipment is made easier by the choice of industry-standard PNP or NPN outputs with either a PUR cable or an M8 pigtail connector. Additionally, IO-Link, a standardised point-to-point serial connection protocol for sensors and actuators, is provided at no additional cost, offering the advantages of digital communication without the need for special cabling, making them ideal for Industry 4 applications.

Designed for demanding applications, Contrinex’s rugged C23 inductive sensors offer best-in-class switching frequency of 180Hz and exceptional robustness including impact and abrasion resistance, making them a versatile, cost-effective and highly reliable solution. These uniquely robust sensors are typically demonstrated by Contrinex as being able to repeatedly being used to hammer in nails. Even when their front face is dented, the sensor continues to operate correctly.

Conveyors deliver a continuous stream of parts to the rotary indexing table, which transports them in sequence to each assembly station. As the table rotates, sensors located at precise intervals around its periphery detect its exact angular position, bringing it to a halt once parts are correctly positioned for the next operation.

At each assembly station, automated pick-and-place equipment add components to the assembly. Dedicated transport mechanisms – including vacuum lifters, electromagnetic clamps and mechanical grippers – insert items swiftly and accurately in their designated positions. Embeddable inductive sensors play a key role in confirming the secure closure of custom-designed grippers before fragile, high-value parts are lifted.

Manufactured in V4A/ AISI 316L stainless steel and rated to IP68/ IP69K, these small inductive sensors can be fully embedded into a steel surface such as part of the rotary table or an assembly jig or bench, further reducing the potential for mechanical damage.

On completion of the final assembly stage, finished PCBs are discharged to a linear conveyor system. They travel to subsequent processing stages, including testing and packing. C23 Full Inox sensors mounted directly above these conveyors, detect each unit as it passes below. This check not only confirms the presence of the assembled item at the expected height above the conveyor but also measures throughput by activating a counting circuit in the customer’s control system.

Continuous operation is the norm in automated assembly plants. However, minor adjustments or tool changes may be required from time to time. In non-safety-critical areas, access hatches allow maintenance technicians to carry out these tasks without needing to interrupt production across an entire plant. Multiple sensors, mounted at intervals around the periphery of a hatch, ensure that appropriate warning signals are activated whenever the opening is not fully secured.

The Contrinex C23 series of Full Inox inductive sensors have the capability of communicating remotely with a plant-wide control system, thanks to the implementation of the IO-Link protocol. In a typical automated plant, each assembly line runs continuously throughout the day, with remote diagnostics eliminating the need for manual intervention in almost every situation.

Designed to simplify integration, IO-Link sensors are compatible with all IO-Link master versions, allowing set-up and diagnostics to be conducted centrally. Interrogating a device returns its manufacturer ID and product ID, allowing systems integrators to determine remotely that the right sensor is in the correct location. Contrinex C23 inductive sensors additionally feature an on-demand self-test function that confirms full capability at all times.

For the C23 inductive series, alternating between normally open and normally closed functionality via remote output-mode configuration is a standard feature of the IO-Link protocol. Systems designers also can modify the output signal. Delaying the switching pulse accommodates any travel time between a sensor and its corresponding actuation point, while stretching the pulse ensures that slave devices with lengthy response times trigger reliably, even at high throughput rates.

Finally, each sensor provides an output-status check derived from its factory calibration data. If the output signal from a sensor falls outside a range that corresponds to a sensing distance between 80% and 100% of its nominal value, an alarm flag is triggered, highlighting the need for investigation. For plant managers under pressure, peace-of-mind is a valuable benefit.

The no-cost option of the industry-standard IO-Link protocol ensures that best-in-class performance is coupled with ultimate ease of use in even the most demanding circumstances.

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