Add condition-based monitoring to legacy automation systems

Contrinex’s rugged, SMART inductive sensors from Plus Automation can help maintenance engineers implement condition-based monitoring (CBM) in legacy automation systems, adding functionality without significant reprogramming.

The SMART sensor’s ability for on-board decision-making based upon criteria including temperature, operating-cycle count, and its onboard data storage, can switch its binary outputs to trigger alarms or shut-down routines in the PLC, for example.

The Contrinex SMART sensor’s dual-channel capability enables a high-speed binary standard input/output (SIO) output to be triggered by an event-based exception. This addresses the PLC directly by the SIO signal, removing or reducing the need to disturb the legacy PLC code.

The SMART inductive sensor’s multi-channel monitoring circuitry allows users to define multiple customised output thresholds and their high-speed device-to-device communication, can be utilised to pass data between sensors without reference to the PLC. Their shielding and EMC immunity eliminate interference when multiple devices operate in close proximity to each other.

Contrinex’s proven high-performance sensor technology ensures highly reliable fit-and-forget operation with no manual intervention. The local storage of the individual device configurations enables plug-and-play replacement of sensors if they are damaged by external impact for example.

Contrinex’s new smartphone app and PocketCodr simplify the programming of SMART inductive sensors enabling designers and engineers to quickly unlock new sensing potential. The graphical user interface, includes ‘Action Widgets’ which enable users to interact directly with the sensors, see real-time parametric changes on live data charts, and store, and retrieve settings.

The PocketCodr not only simplifies the configuration and commissioning of SMART sensors, but it also allows engineers to set up and interrogate any IO-Link-enabled device. For example, it has been used it to reconfigure normally-open sensors, into normally-closed sensors, for a customer.