Sensors are a critical component in any factory automation project. Knowing how they work and the terminology used to describe their technology can help, whether you’re learning about this for the first time or wanting a refresher.

Capacitive sensor technology has evolved far beyond the early versions that were susceptible to false triggers due to electrical noise and caused more headaches than results. Today they are reliable detectors of many kinds of media, with sensor adjustments that allow manufacturers to solve complex applications.

Today's pneumatic cylinders are compact, reliable, and cost-effective prime movers for automated equipment. Unfortunately, they are often provided with unreliable reed or Hall Effect switches that fail well before the service life of the cylinder itself is expended.

The filling of medical vials requires flexible automation equipment that can adapt to different vial sizes, colors and capping types. People are often deployed to make those equipment changes, which is also known as a recipe change. But by nature, people are inconsistent, and that inconsistency will cause errors and delay during change over.

The newest additions to Balluff's expansive portfolio of linear position sensors were designed for extreme conditions. The rod style sensors feature a full stainless steel housing to provide superior resistance to corrosive agents.

The easy-to-use position indicator was designed to simplify format change to more easily meet the ever-decreasing lot sizes resulting from individualized packaging and special formats. It allows users to quickly configure machinery to adapt to varying materials, weights and package counts, while adding precision to the process.

At Balluff we set to innovate the way you automate and Balluff's new all-in-one condition monitoring sensor is WOW-ing manufacturers all over the world. This tiny, powerful sensor provides multi-axis vibration data, contact temperature, ambient pressure and more so that you see real-time data of the health of your equipment and prevent catastrophic machine failures.

The manufacturing industry continues to ask for more and more from machine vision solutions. Many applications in the industrial environment demand an increasingly higher resolution combined with high frame rates.

Have you ever wondered if machine vision could be used to solve your manufacturing applications? Are you interested in integrating machine vision into your process, but you don't know where to start?

Join this FREE, live demo to learn how to simplify integration of condition monitoring into your machines in less than 30 minutes.