SICK has launched what it says is “the world’s smallest safety laser scanner”, the nanoScan3.
The company says the new component is designed for “easy and economical integration into the smallest of machine designs”, particularly for automated guided vehicles, carts, mobile platforms and service robots.
The ultra-compact SICK nanoScan3 is just eight centimetres tall, so it can fit snugly into the spaces in machines where safety laser scanners could not previously have been located.
Packing in all of SICK’s latest safety laser scanning technology advances, the nanoScan3 enables the highest level of responsiveness when safely adjusting a machine’s speed and direction.
The SICK nanoScan3 features a full suite of programmable features such as multiple, dynamically adapting protective fields and contour detection.
With SICK’s innovative safeHDDM (High Definition Distance Measurement) scanning and evaluation technology onboard, the nanoScan3 promises maximum reliability with the option of precise data output for use in navigation, even under difficult conditions such as bright lights, sparks, dust and dirt.
Measuring just 101 x 101 x 80 mm, the SICK nanoScan3 is also suitable for integration into stationary plant and infrastructure for hazardous point, area and access protection applications, as well offering opportunities for retrofitting into contour- or tape-guided mobile vehicles.
A range of safe communication options over standard interfaces allows for easy configuration and diagnostics to be performed on the device or over the network, with minimal cabling.
The SICK nanoScan3 is a Type 3 device (EN 61496-3) and can be used in safety functions up to SIL2 (EN 62061) and PLd (EN ISO 13849).
Dr Martin Kidman, SICK’s UK product manager for machinery safety, says: “The nanoScan3 is a safety designer’s dream in miniature form, opening the field for integrating safety laser scanners in all types of small-space applications with easy and economy.”
“The nanoScan3 Core and the nanoScan3 Pro models offer a range of features to allow designers, integrators and end-users to incorporate safety laser scanning into existing equipment and systems, where they would not previously have fitted, as well as offering compact build possibilities for new equipment design.”
The SICK nanoScan3 features a protective field range of three metres, with a scanning angle of 275°.
The device offers a choice of eight (Core) or up to 128 (Pro) freely-configurable fields, including navigation data and contour-detection fields.
More than 100 events can be stored and analysed, helping to optimise the configuration and avoid unscheduled machine downtime. LEDs and clear text displays provide instant operational status viewing from nearly any direction.
SICK’s Safety Designer software enables step-by-step configuration, as well as access to detailed diagnostic information.
When the SICK nanoScan3 is combined with SICK’s FlexiSoft Safety Controller, Safety Designer ensures only one configuration and diagnostic tool is needed for the control of safety laser scanners and plant-wide safety systems.
SICK nanoScan3 connectivity includes micro USB for local configuration and diagnostics with an Ethernet interface for central configuration and real-time precision data evaluation, as well as storage of configuration information for easy device replacement.
Safe local I/O options enable easy and flexible integration with different controls including HTL encoders.
