Distance sensor is an ‘all-rounder’ with countless possibilities

Sick has launched its next-generation OD2000 distance sensor, combining high-precision reliability with outstanding economy to deliver a versatile ‘all-rounder’ for multiple applications in factory automation and intralogistics.

The stand-alone and compact OD2000 has been developed to provide a universal product family with minimal variants, while making configuration and parameterisation ‘plug and play’. With IO-Link as standard, the OD2000 offers highly-versatile machine integration possibilities, while providing for diagnostics and condition monitoring.

With a large measuring range up to 1,200mm, as well as a measuring frequency of up to 7.5 kHz, the OD2000 will meet the needs of wide-ranging positioning and quality control tasks in automated production and assembly, including robotics. Using its high-precision triangulation measurement principle, the OD2000 achieves high repeatability and linearity, and it can detect the smallest differences in height, even in the micrometre range. 

With five different measuring ranges between 25 and 1,200 mm, the OD2000 will handle demanding, high-speed measurement regardless of surface, diameter, thickness or width. Sick says it is can also solve challenging background suppression applications where precise distance differentiation or small hysteresis settings are required.

Sick says the price/performance advantages of the new OD2000 family are expected to be especially welcomed by production teams, system integrators and machine builders working in electronics, automotive, metalworking production and consumer goods industries. Application examples include to provide level information on spools, coils and winding machines, double layer detection in sheet metal production or paper processing, or component checks in PCB processing.

The OD2000 is ready to use out-of-the-box with widely-useable default settings. The on-sensor OLED display makes parameterisation and adjustment quick and easy. Alternatively, set up via Sick’s SOPAS software has been enhanced with a new graphical user interface and a QUICK SET menu. Together with direct parameterisation via IO-Link, this is especially useful when mounting in hard-to-reach locations. Using IO-Link to access existing data also makes it easy to replace a sensor, should this be necessary, reducing machine downtime and preventing incorrect settings.

“With the OD2000, Sick has introduced a brand new displacement measurement family that can be relied on by production teams to assure precision performance and consistent process quality, whatever the application,” concludes David Hannaby, Sick’s UK product manager for presence detection.

“The universal concept will help to minimise inventories and ensure efficient ordering and delivery. The OD2000 is mounted in an instant and set up is completed in next to no time. Machine builders will particularly welcome the OD2000’s integration flexibility and communications versatility.”