RS, a trading brand of RS Group plc (LSE: RS1), a global provider of product and service solutions for industrial customers, offers Banner Engineering’s extensive portfolio of sensor products, which spans a wide variety of sensor technologies — including photoelectric, laser, and radar — and can satisfy the needs of almost any industrial automation application.
Banner’s photoelectric sensors emit a beam of light that detects the presence or absence of items and targets made of most materials — including shiny, dark, clear, and multicolored ones — as well as changes in surface conditions. When the emitted light is interrupted or reflected by the item, the change in light patterns is measured by a receiver, and the target is recognized. These sensors are available with an extensive selection of styles (e.g., self-contained, long-range, heavy-duty, and compact), housings, mounting options, sensing modes, and detection ranges. They also perform a wide variety of tasks, exhibit very fast response times, and are widely used in industrial manufacturing, material handling, and packaging applications in markets spanning food and beverage to medical.
The Q2X Series miniature photoelectric sensors, for example, provide unparalleled versatility and performance with five different sensing modes engineered to accurately detect even the most challenging targets over short- and long-range distances. They also offer compact housings optimized for today’s increasingly space-constrained industrial automation applications. Banner recently added two new sensing modes, laser measurement and fixed-field, to the original three: adjustable-field, polarized retroreflective, and opposed.
- The new Q2X Laser Measurement Photoelectric Sensors feature a powerful beam with the longest sensing range of any compact sensor in the industry. They can sense the most challenging targets, including dark and shiny poly bags, using powerful infrared lasers with best-in-class excess gain and support a wide range of applications with various sensing modes, including adjustable background suppression, window mode, and dual mode. Their IO-Link capabilities make it easy to integrate into most control systems and access measurement values, delay timers, and advanced diagnostics, and they can also provide real-time visual feedback for machine operators without using a PLC by integrating Banner’s Pulse Pro outputs directly into its Pro Series LED lights.
- The new Q2X Fixed-Field Photoelectric Sensors support mounting flexibility and 15, 30, and 50mm sensing ranges without any configuration or setup, which enables the fastest-possible commissioning. They also accurately detect challenging targets with best-in-class background suppression that ignores all objects beyond a fixed cutoff distance and avoid crosstalk when multiple sensors are mounted in close proximity.
- Q2X Adjustable-Field Photoelectric Sensors have small form factors equipped with powerful, bright-red LED or Class 1 laser emitters with high excess gain to accurately detect dark and otherwise challenging targets. They are easy to install with just a few components and minimal wiring; they reliably ignore background objects with cutoff distance options spanning 18–150mm; and they avoid crosstalk when multiple sensors are mounted in close proximity.
- Q2X Polarized Retroreflective Photoelectric Sensors have a compact form factor equipped with a bright-red, easy-to-align LED that reduces installation time and reliably detects high-speed targets with a 600µs response time, which ensures accurate positioning relative to the known speed of conveyors. They also precisely detect light, dark, and shiny targets, including microwell plates of any color, shade, or reflectivity, with an industry-leading 3.3m range and ultra-short-range targets as close as 3mm from the sensor face.
- Q2X Opposed Photoelectric Sensors have a miniature housing optimized for assembly equipment and they exhibit high excess gain, don’t have a dead zone, and ignore most dust and debris to mitigate false and missed detections. Their emitters and receivers can be up to 3m apart and will reliably detect objects as small as 4mm anywhere within the beam. They are also easy to install and align given their large, visible spot.
Banner’s laser sensors combine the alignment advantages of a visible sensing beam with the extended sensing range of a laser to provide high-precision detection capabilities designed to reliably remove common sensing barriers in applications extending throughout the material handling and packaging, electronics, semiconductor, and automotive manufacturing, lumber and construction, mobile robotics, and process control industries. Advantages over competing technologies include automatic gain compensation and best-in-class excess gain to avoid errors from shiny targets, as well as a variety of beam spot sizes for consistent detection across color transitions, precise profiling of small features, and measurement stability across rough surfaces. Banner laser sensors also offer robust, environmentally resistant, plug-and play designs with longer range sensing capabilities, higher precision, better temperature stability, larger displays, and simpler user interfaces than many competing sensors.
Its Q4X Series rugged laser distance sensors are an excellent example. These versatile, high-performance sensors reliably detect submillimeter changes in distance, as well as a variety of target colors, materials, and surfaces based on distance, across a sensing range spanning 25–610mm. They have robust, IP69K FDA-grade stainless steel housings designed to resist mechanical impact, overtightening, and extreme vibration and are equipped with an angled four-digit display that enables clear readouts from a distance. Q4X Series laser distance sensors also offer easy installation and a dual-teach mode for intensity and distance that enables clear object detection with no retroreflector, which makes them ideal for error-proofing applications. Model variations include discrete, 0–10V or 4–20mA analog, clear object, IO-Link, and high-resolution models.
Banner’s radar sensors use frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar technology to reliably detect stationary and moving objects and offer an array of advantages that make them ideal for a wide range of industrial applications, spanning automated manufacturing machinery to vehicles, transportation systems, including trains, and heavy equipment, such as reach stackers, forklifts, mining vehicles, and port machinery. These sensors exhibit rugged environmental resistance to wind, rain, snow, fog, steam, sunlight, and extreme temperatures and are impervious to errors caused by surface colors, finishes, transparent targets, and surface cleanliness. Radar sensors also exhibit crosstalk immunity, which allows users to mount multiple sensors in close proximity without affecting detection capabilities.
T30R Series long-range radar sensors exemplify this ruggedness and versatility by delivering reliable detection and position feedback for the widest range of objects in both mild- and extreme-environment applications. These rugged sensors reliably detect stationary and moving targets over a detection range extending from 150mm to 25m and in operating temperatures spanning -40°C to +65°C. They’re rated to IP67 and IP69K and have options for 15°x15° and 45°x45° beam patterns for broad application suitability. T30R Series radar sensors also feature IO-Link for direct process feedback capabilities and compatibility with the Banner Measurement Sensor Software, which enables easy configuration and visualization of what the sensor is seeing. In addition, Banner’s Pulse Pro outputs allow for direct integration into its Pro Series LED lights, providing at-a-glance status feedback with no controller integration required.
For more information about Banner Engineering’s Q2X Series miniature photoelectric sensors, Q4X Series rugged laser distance sensors, and T30R Series radar sensors or the complete RS portfolio of Banner Engineering sensors — which includes other laser, radar, and photoelectric sensors, as well as fiber optic, fork or slot, ultrasonic, color, vibration, temperature, pressure, and machine vision sensors, along with measuring arrays and sensor accessories — visit the links embedded here. For more information about the complete RS portfolio of Banner Engineering products, which includes lighting and indication, switch, wire and cable, industrial data communication, and industrial control solutions, please visit the links embedded here. For assistance identifying, procuring, deploying, and maintaining Banner Engineering sensors proven to help improve accuracy, productivity, uptime, and efficiency in an extensive range of industrial automation applications, please contact your local RS representative at 1.866.433.5722 or reach out to the RS technical support team.
