SICK has launched what it describes as its “most powerful and accurate 2D LiDAR sensor yet”.
The LMS4000 is designed for materials handling and intralogistics applications, and is said to maintain its high degrees of accuracy and power even at high speeds, in low ambient light or when goods, packages or parcels are matt black or glossy.
SICK says its LMS4000 2D LiDAR Sensor’s “exceptionally high” laser scanning frequency helps to produce more than half a million measurement points per second to calculate the position, shape, volume or surface quality of goods, packages or components over a wide depth of field, and at ranges up to 3 metres.
Both precision and high-speed processing power are assured with the SICK LMS4000.
It achieves a six-fold increase in measurement resolution, compared to previous LiDAR sensors even at very low remissions and no matter where the object is positioned, whether on a conveyor, in a container, carton or pallet, and whether it is free-standing or touching another object.
The SICK LMS4000 is therefore ideal for fast-moving goods handling where accurate dimensions, volumes or positions need to calculated, including automated palletising and depalletising, positioning tasks such as robotic pick and place, and shape and contour verification in quality control, for example profiling of car bodies for collision avoidance on a paint line.
The LMS4000 works using visible red laser light and the time-of-flight measurement principle to deliver precise data on the position and size of a wide variety of objects and transmits this data to an external evaluation unit, often in conjunction with an encoder.
With SICK’s Continuous Wave technology, the LMS4000 needs no external illumination or additional line lasers. Because it is considerably less sensitive to ambient light, and has a wide depth of field, it can be considered as a cost-effective alternative to vision systems for 3D object profiling in some applications.
Neil Sandhu, SICK’s UK product manager for market product manager – imaging, measurement, and ranging: “The LMS4000 is by far the most accurate 2D LiDAR scanner from SICK with some truly outstanding vital statistics, including a very high 600Hz frequency and an angular resolution of less than 1 degree.
“In addition, several devices can be mounted together to extend the measuring range without any danger of interference.
“The LMS4000 impresses because it achieves extremely high point-density measurements for accurate measurement and 3D profiling of goods at high speeds.
“So, our customers have a great opportunity to achieve better throughputs with excellent repeatability and reliability.”
Available in 10mW and 13mW variants with a laser protection hood option, the LMS4000 family of 2D LiDAR sensors are quick to install with M12 connections including switching I/Os and Gigabit Ethernet to ensure rapid data transmission.
They are complemented by a range of industry-standard mountings and SICK encoders.
The LMS4000 is easy to set up and parameterise using SICK’s SOPAS configuration software.
Digital filters for pre-processing and optimising the measured values also help to tailor the sensor settings for specific applications.
