SmartReflect™ from Baumer is the first light barrier on the market which operates completely without any separate reflector or receiver. The advantages of the SmartReflect™ can be exploited in automation applications in the food industry, goods handling or the graphics industry – and indeed anywhere that the installation of a reflector or a separate receiver presents a real headache for the plant engineers. At this year’s SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2011 Baumer is launching these sensors in plastic housings, thus completing the SmartReflect™ product family for any kind of requirements: In the hygienic and wash-down designs with their IP 69K protection and proTect+ impermeability concept, in the standard plastic housings, or in the miniature housing which is just 8 x 16.2 x 10.8 mm.
With the SmartReflect™ Baumer has further improved the most reliable way of detecting objects in the field of photoelectric sensors: the physical interruption of the closed light beam of a light barrier by an object. The light beam in a SmartReflect™ light barrier can for example be closed using a machine part. The separate reflectors which were required until now have become superfluous. The color, surface or material of the background and of the object to be recognized are unimportant, the sensor can even recognize a mirror. The following also applies for all variants: The SmartReflect™ is easy to adjust, not sensitive to dirt, low-maintenance and simple to install.
The SmartReflect™ reduces operating costs and also guarantees maximum (process) reliability. Until now the use of a light barrier always involved the costly installation of the sensors and the necessary reflector. By not requiring a reflector, the SmartReflect™ also does away with the costs arising from the installation, commissioning and adjustment of the reflector. Especially in the food industry the reflector was a further element that needs to be cleaned regularly with all associated costs. Harsh cleaning agents, in their turn, gradually destroyed the reflector’s surface, so that it had to be replaced.
