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Omron releases full metal proximity sensor for auto industry

Omron Corporation has launched the E2EW Series of Full Metal Proximity Sensors, which have the world’s longest sensing distances, the company claims.

The automotive industry needs lighter automobiles, for electric vehicles and low fuel consumption, encouraging the material change in automotive components from iron to aluminium.

This will increase mixed production lines containing iron and aluminium. Full metal proximity sensors are mainly used in welding processes. However, previous full metal proximity sensors have short sensing distances.

In particular, the sensing distance for aluminium is shorter than the one for iron. Therefore, higher accuracy is required for installing proximity sensors for aluminium than iron, making the design, start-up, and maintenance of production lines complicated.

The E2EW Series sensors help enhance productivity in the automotive industry, where downtime leads large production opportunity losses, by reducing risks of sudden stoppages due to sensors occurring in the welding processes for automobiles.

These sensors boast long sensing distances, approximately twice as long as previous models for iron, and six times as long as previous models for aluminium.

In addition, Omron’s unique technologies to prevent coating abrasion allow 60 times longer-lasting spatter resistance than previous models.

The E2EW Sensors increase sensor installation flexibility, and help enhance productivity by streamlining production lines which require skills from the start-up, operation, to maintenance.

Models equipped with an IO-Link provide understanding of the detection level and temperature changes of proximity sensors from a single location in real time.

Visualising on-site conditions that may not be visible to the naked eye enables, for example, to expect spatter accumulation amounts by the detection level changes and to plan for the appropriate timing of cleaning.

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