Figuring Out the Presence of Bagged Candy In The Process Of Secondary Packing via Miniature Photoelectric Sensors

In confectionery industry, conveyors deliver individual bags of candy to pick-and-place packing robots for secondary packaging. Sensors are needed to figure out the presence of bags as they go to the packing station and cut off the pick-and-place sequence if there is no bag queued for packing.

Miniature diffuse-mode photoelectric sensors are suitable for this application. They have a receiver and a transmitter and need no separate reflector; they depend upon the reflective nature of the target and have a sensing range of 3-1500mm.

Immediately before the alignment rails, a single sensor is established next to the conveyor. Their positioning is simple. As every bag passes in front of the sensor, its presence activates the device and sends a signal to the customer’s control system.

Mounted in miniature plastic housings, photoelectric sensors are accessible with industry-standard NPN or PNP 3- or 4-wire outputs.

They are connected to the customer’s control system through a PVC-sheathed cable with the choice of an integral M12 connector or a hermetically sealed entry. Another output offers a stability alarm in the occasion of decreased sensitivity, showing the demand for preventative maintenance prior to happening of any performance degradation.