Background suppression sensors

This article explains the benefits of using diffused-mode sensors with background suppression. Typical vision systems that use standard diffused-mode sensors operate by detecting reflections directly from the target. This eliminates the need for a separate reflector to be placed on the target. There are difficulties with reflector-less operation because everyday surfaces are not uniform in color or surface texture. This requires the sensor to be very sensitive, but that can also open the risk of falsely responding to background light. If background suppression feature is added to the vision system the sensors can overcome this limitation. Background suppression relies on triangulation to determine which light beam is the target and which is the product of the background emissions. A beam of light is sent to the target in a straight line. That beam hits the target and is reflected back at some angle. Since the angle of the beam that returns to the sensor is a function of the distance between sensor and target, the sensor can accurately distinguish between the target beam and background.   Read the full article at Machine Design.

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