Measuring wheel's patented tensioning system ensures long life

Competitively priced and easy to mount, the all-in-one DBV50 comprises a Sick encoder, measuring wheel and patented spring assembly. It measures the passage of a moving material to resolutions of better than 0.1mm. According to Sick, it is easy to integrate in new machines or retrofit to existing printing, registration, cut-to-length, inspection and similar systems.

Encoder technology specialists at Sick value-engineered the DBV50's combination of wheel, encoder, arm and mount for a leading logistics integrator. The DBV50 has already undergone hundreds of hours of in-use trialling to ensure its robustness and performance.

Correct tension for long life

The key to the DBV50's excellent performance is the patented, spring-loading mechanism that ensures the spring is adjusted to give the correct 15N tension for the degree of vertical travel every time. It can easily be reset for different material thicknesses.

Darren Pratt, Sick UK's Encoder Product Manager, explains: "Setting up an encoder mounted on a separate spring-loaded friction-wheel with the correct degree of vertical travel poses many difficulties for the plant engineer that the DBV50 now completely avoids.

"With separate components, selecting the right balance of encoder, spring and moving arm can be a matter of trial-and-error. Then it can be difficult to achieve the right force on the wheel for non-slip contact; it is all too easy to over-weight it so that the encoder bearing is overloaded and soon burns out.

"Over-tensioning of the spring to achieve down force, or poor arm travel adjustment, soon weakens the spring so it needs replacement. The DBV50 overcomes all that in a precision-engineered package."

Technical specifications

The Sick DBV50 is a compact measuring wheel system with 63.5mm centre distance and a 200mm circumference wheel. The encoder and wheel have a resolution of down to 0.08mm and, for convenience and ease in mounting, the encoder can be mounted in 300 steps, on both sides, with the wheel located top or bottom.

The maximum spring travel is 14mm, with integrated limits to prevent over stretching, and the patented adjustable pre-tensioning mechanism ensures quick adjustment to the optimum 15N load/10mm travel. The measuring wheel system is available with a high number of electrical interface and electrical connection options, as well as resolutions for different applications.

Darren Pratt concludes: "The DBV50 Measuring Wheel costs about the same as typical off-the-shelf separate components, yet saves all the time of a trial-and-error set up, as well as being much more reliable in operation. All the mechanical variables are already taken care of and it is easy to mount in a number of ways to suit the application."

To see just how easy it is to set up the DBV50, a demonstration video is available on Sick's You Tube channel, or follow the link for more detail about the DBV50 Measuring Wheel.