Omron Reveals New Metal Face Proximity Sensors With New Features Built for Industry 4.0
Industrial automation expert, Omron, announced a new series of metal face proximity sensors for specific industrial applications.
The components in the E2EW Series are designed to improve part detection and promote uptime by providing enhanced sensing distances. The new series is available in both pre-wired & pre-wired connector models.
Building Light-Weight Vehicles
The automotive industry is evolving rapidly, and the manufacturing of electric vehicles is a goal more and more companies are striving towards. In order to achieve efficient production of these vehicles while keeping fuel consumption down, carmakers are increasingly building lighter-weight vehicles by replacing iron with aluminum.
A comparison of the latest model and the old model. Screenshot courtesy of Omron.
This is a gradual process, however, and many companies are currently at a stage where iron and aluminum mixed production lines are the norm. Consequently, the need for same-sensing-distance proximity sensors with fitting long sensing ranges is also increasing, and it is this trend that Omron is tapping into with the E2EW series.
According to the automation giant, the new proximity sensors would have the longest sensing range in their category to date, featuring 1x, 3x, and 4x sensing ranges for M18 and M30 sensors. The E2EW series is optimized to withstand the harsh conditions of traditional automotive welding processes thanks to its fluororesin coating providing increased spatter resistance.
Omron's new E2EW Series proximity sensor. Image courtesy of Omron.
Because the new sensors have equivalent sensing ranges for both aluminum and iron, they support a common design for position detection in such lines. They are also able to minimize false detection for unsteady objects thus reducing unexpected facility stoppages.
The E2EW Series With I/O-Link Capabilities
In terms of technical specifications, the premium models on the E2EW Series present magnetic field immunity and are both UL and CSA-certified. The new sensors also support IO-Link capabilities, enabling real-time data gathering on the detection level and temperature changes of proximity sensors from a single location.
This gives engineers and technicians an overview of everyday changes in facility conditions that may not be visible to the naked eye, including temperature changes and facility malfunctions.
Metal-Head Structure
The E2EW family also features a high-brightness, 360º visible LED indicator designed to provide a clear status visualization at all times. Moreover, the latest components by Omron are developed to prevent replacement errors thanks to laser printing sensing distance on its active face. Because of their metal-head structure, the new sensors proved to be resistant to friction with both workpieces and metal cleaning brushes.
Tests run by Omron showed that wear resistance tests using stainless-steel brushes rotating at 130 rpm caused insulation breakdown in 50 minutes for resin heads. However, no insulation breakdown occurred for metal-head sensors even after 400 minutes of testing and after being impacted 200.000 times. The E2EW Series includes 140 components with different specifications.
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