Inductive Proximity Sensors Get Into Game

Runs corner options and stops heavy loads

FRANKFORT, New York, August 1, 2005 - Today a new family of device-level components build-out the automation playing field lineup. Right angle style, Banking Screw Adapters, allow non-contact sensors to stop heavy loads and sense around corners to deliver mission critical control signals to their quarterbacking PLC’s and PC’s. With this announcement, both sensor and switch specifiers gain new design options as SoftNoze takes an increasing number of non-contact inductive proximity sensors off the sidelines and into the game of full-contact industrial automation.

According to Brett Truett, President of SoftNoze, “Traditional limit switches and non-contact sensors cannot act alone to do the job of stopping heavy loads, setting end-of-travel positions nor acting as load-bearing control elements.” Truett continues, “However these applications are what Banking Screw Adapters, we call them BSA’s, are designed to do. The BSA and now BSA-A devices essentially take non-contact sensors into new and rugged automation applications.” Each BSA-A requires a customer-supplied 8 or 12mm inductive sensor. “The new angled BSA-A design is shorter, so they fit into tighter spaces,” states George Zachary a Product Engineer at SoftNoze. A primary application for both BSA-A and BSA style devices are pick & place type mechanisms as well as in fixtures for part presence confirmation.

Consisting of heat-treat hardened, zinc-plated alloy steel components, the threaded barrel and spring-loaded piston are capable of stopping loads up to 20,500 Newtons/4,600 lbs. Inductive sensors adapt to BSA-A barrels via a Delrin® (acetal resin) block, which places the sensor’s sensing face at a right angle to an integral stainless steel target. Sensors trigger “On/Off” with the displacement of the threaded barrel’s piston. Variable barrel lengths/diameters, spring rates, piston styles and sensor diameters options mean users have nearly 100 BSA variations to meet application requirements.

SoftNoze derived the term “Banking Screw Adapter” from the Middle English transitive verb that has Scandinavian origins. “Banking”, in a sports example, refers to the action where a ball or puck glances off a surface, such as a backboard or wall. Angled Banking Screw Adapters are the newest products to join the SoftNoze Proxtrol™ product line. Proxtrol™ is a blend of “prox”, which is slang for proximity sensor and the word “control”. BSA-A are available from stock and list prices range from US$ 44.00 to 75.00.