Exclusive: Programmable proximity switch

-- Control Engineering, 3/1/2002

Milwaukee, WI - It was only a matter of time until someone was able to marry microprocessors to proximity switches. Cutler-Hammer, an Eaton company, has released just such a product. ''iProx'' series proximity switches offer application flexibility. Customers' most requested feature is longer range. iProx offers up to three times the range of shielded devices with the same narrow field. This switch allows users at set up to ''tune out'' non-target metal objects so that a target can be found even if there is surrounding metal. It allows field selectable outputs, NO/NC or sinking/sourcing.

To address applications requiring specific axial placement, iProx can be taught to sense the target within a band turning off when closer or farther away than the setting. Similarly users can teach the sensor to sense lateral movement across the face for positioning. It will sense when the target covers part of the face. Sometimes pins are too close together causing the sensor to think there is only one target instead of two. iProx can be programmed to think it has a narrow sensing field so that it will pick up each pin. A magnetic disk, about the size of the face of iProx attaches to the face with a cable that connects to a computer's serial port.

Easy-to-use software steps the user through setup. Users can program both range and hysteresis to achieve maximum performance. This communication also enables remote diagnostics.

Cutler-Hammer/Eaton