Proximity sensors are common enough in automation projects that we hardly give them a second thought — pick something with specs that match the job and move on. But they can be fussy to get adjusted ...

Pacer Components offers a sensor which is available with three different optical technologies, infrared, visible red and VCSEL in the same common package. This gives the design engineer tremendous ...

Everyone is familiar with pinwheels, and few of us haven’t crafted one from a square of paper, a stick, and a pin. Pinwheels are pretty optimized from a design standpoint, and are so cheap and easy to ...

A typical reflective object sensor consists of an infrared light emitter diode (IRED) and an NPN silicon phototransistor mounted side-by-side on parallel axes in a compact black plastic housing. The ...

The reflective properties of plastic make it a notorious offender in this regard. The problem even extends to those objects covered in shrink wrap. Polarizing filters help block false readings from ...

TT Electronics has announced its OPB735 series Reflective Object Sensors for challenging industrial automation and safety applications. This reflective sensor features hermetically sealed components ...

The EdgeMaster family of photoelectric sensors promises a higher level of performance and reliability to the detection and monitoring of web edges or object edges. The EdgeMaster family of ...

Figure 1a shows a slotted optical switch. An LED is mounted in a plastic housing, facing a phototransistor, but separated by a gap. If something moves into the gap, it blocks the light path between ...

Inductive sensors are non-contact proximity sensors that detect ferrous targets, ideally ones made of mild steel thicker than one millimeter. They consist of four major components: a ferrite core with ...