Episode 4: Oh My Industrial Controls! - Photoelectric sensors

Host:
Hello and welcome to Oh My Industrial Controls! ...brought to you by the producers of Oh My PLC! — A show that's as real as this one. 

Host Adam:
Folks, we want to shake things up a bit for this round. We have a two-part question. Get the first part right and you get one point. Whoever gets the second part correct gets five points. Let get into it. Multiple choice style.

There are two primary modes of detection found in photoelectric sensors. Are they, A)  X-ray vision and electrons, B) high beam and low beam detection, or C) through-beam detection and reflex detection.

Josh:
C, through beam detection and reflex detection.

Host Adam:
You got it. Absolutely right. One point for Josh. Now for part two and five points. Who can tell me how each method works?

Asma:
Through-beam detection is founded on the principle of a sensing object breaking a beam of light that is between an emitter and a receiver. In some instances, an object will be detected as smaller than the effective beam diameter. Apertures are placed over the lens to reduce the size of the beam itself.

For reflex detection, think of a bicycle reflector. A reflex photoelectric controls position the emitter and the receiver parallel to each other on the same side of the object to be detected. The light source is directed at the retro reflector, which is a specifically designed device that returns most of the light that it receives in the same direction from which it came. An object is detected when it breaks the beam between the photoelectric sensor and the retro reflector.

Host Adam:
Is it dusty in here, or am I tearing up thanks to that absolutely spot on explanation. Five points for Asma.

Travis:
It's dusty in here.

Host Adam:
That was a rhetorical question, Travis. We're going to track down some tissues for me and eyedrops for Travis. But don't you go anywhere. Another round of.....

Audience:
Oh My Industrial Controls!

Host Adam:
... is on the way.

Host:
This episode is brought to you by the Eaton E57G general purpose proximity sensor. Visit eaton.com/e57 to learn more about the product. And, for more industrial controls content, visit eaton.com/allthingscontrol.

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