(Vision Sensing) Threaded lens mount developed from 16 mm movie work; used extensively for closed-circuit television. The threads have a major diameter of 1" and a pitch of 32 threads per inch. The flange focal distance is 0.69".

An optical fiber cable that has connectors installed on one or both ends.

The ability of a capacitor to store an electrical charge. The basic unit of capacitance is the Farad.

An electric circuit element used to store a charge temporarily.

(Wireless) A high-frequency waveform that can be modulated in amplitude, phase or frequency to carry a signal from a transmitter to a radio receiver.

(Machine Safety) Series connection (or "daisy-chaining") of multiple sensors.

(Machine Safety) An uncontrolled stop achieved by immediately removing power to the machine actuators.

(Machine Safety) A controlled stop achieved with power remaining to the machine actuators. Power is removed after the stop is achieved.

(Machine Safety) A controlled stop with power left available to the machine actuators.

A negative electrode of a device.

(Vision Sensing) Abbreviation for Charge Coupled Device. An analog device that captures light for conversion to electricity. Capable of recording the varying shades of light. Analog to Digital converters are used to convert the variable charge of the CCD into a digital signal.

(Machine Safety) Abbreviation for "Conformité Européenne" (European Conformity). The CE mark on a product or machine establishes its compliance with all relevant European Union (EU) Directives and the associated safety standards.

(Machine Safety) Acronym for European Committee for Standardization, founded in 1961 by the national standard bodies in the European Economic Community and EFTA countries. CEN promotes voluntary technical harmonization in conjunction with worldwide bodies and partners in Europe through voluntary technical standards (EN standards).

(Machine Safety) Acronym for European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. A non-profit technical agency composed of National Electrotechnical Committees of several European countries. Charged with developing voluntary standards for the European Union, CENELEC cooperates with the IEC to avoid duplication of European and international standards that are similar in scope and purpose.

(Wireless) Communication initiated by the Node to the Gateway indicating a sensor’s input change. When there is no change in input, the Node does not transmit anything to the Gateway, thereby conserving power

(Wireless) A path for communications. A range of radio frequencies used by a transceiver during communication.

A single letter, digit or punctuation mark requiring one byte storage.

1. An electronic path between two or more components capable of providing a number of channels.
2. Interconnection of conductors to carry an electrical current.

The material surrounding the core of an optical fiber. The cladding has a lower refractive index (faster speed) to keep the light in the core.

An operating environment in which no dirt build-up occurs on lenses or reflectors.

(Machine Safety) A mechanism that, when engaged, transmits torque to impart motion from a driving member to a driven member.

(Vision Sensing) Acronym for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A CMOS-based chip that records the intensities of light as variable charges similar to a CCD chip.

Abbreviation for Complementary Normally Closed. An auxiliary (non-safety) output, always in an opposite state to its associated normally open safety output, even in the event of a single failure.

A protective layer applied over the fiber cladding during the drawing process to protect it from the environment.

(Wireless) A strong, high-capacity cable designed to carry high-frequency or broadband signal.

(Vision Sensing) A light source that emits light in parallel beams, mostly relevant to backlighting. Watch an animation about the Geometry of Propagation.

Optical collimation is the process by which a lens converts a divergent beam into a parallel beam of light.

1. The perception of the different wavelengths of light reflected off opaque objects or transmitted by translucent objects. 2. A property of light that depends on wavelength.

Also known as registration marks or index marks, color marks are used extensively in packaging applications for registering the cutoff of wrapping or bagging materials so that product names and other information always appear in the same location.

Color marks are also used in tube sealing operations so that the information that is printed on the tube is consistently oriented to the seal.

The color of the printing ink which has the greatest optical contrast to the color of the material being printed is used for the mark color. Sensing challenges are created by light inks on light materials and dark inks on dark materials.

(Measurement and Inspection) For optical sensors, color sensitivity refers to the change in output when the color of a target changes. For example, the L-GAGE LG5 will typically change less than 75µm as the target changes from a bright white to a near black target (approximately 90% reflectance to 10% reflectance. Note: for very precise measurements, Banner uses precision ground ceramic targets, as opposed to Kodak standard cardboard targets.)

(Machine Safety) The failure of multiple components or equipment resulting from the same root cause.

(Vision Sensing) A tool included in vision software which exports inspection results to an external device.

(CNC) An auxiliary (non-safety) output that is always in an opposite state to its associated normally open safety output, even in the event of a single failure.

The dual output configuration of a sensing device, where one output is normally open and the other is normally closed.

(Machine Safety) Devices used to assure or supplement the operation of a primary safeguard.

(Machine Safety) Acting in conjunction; used to describe a situation wherein two or more control devices exist in an actuated condition at the same time (but not necessarily simultaneously).

1. The process by which a gas or vapor changes to a liquid. 2. The liquid so formed.

When two or more overlapping waves are in phase, the resulting wave will have a combined amplitude.

One of the current-carrying parts of a relay, switch, or connector that open and close to complete associated electrical circuits.

Refers to the construction of a relay or a switch, in many configurations, for example, SPDT (Form C), with one normally open, one normally closed, and one common between the two.

An alloy that allows current to be conducted in a relay or switch. Some examples include: silver oxide complex alloy, silver nickel alloy, and gold-flashed silver cadmium oxides.

A style of relay used to control higher amounts of electrical current, typically greater than 10A. Generally used in electric circuits involving motors, lighting, and large inductive loads.

Dirt, dust, smoke, or fog in the sensing path; plus dirt, dust, fog, oil, grease, or soot build-up on the face of a sensor can all contribute to attenuation of the light energy available for sensing.

(Wireless) A wireless communication architecture that allows all devices on a network to have access to the channel at one time. This may lead to possible transmission collisions.

(Vision Sensing) Functionality that allows a sensor to take pictures continuously without being triggered by an external device.

Optical contrast is the ratio of the amount of light falling on the receiver in the "light" condition as compared to the "dark" condition. Optimizing contrast in any sensing situation will increase the reliability of the sensing system.

Refers to the end of a fiber optic assembly that attaches to the photoelectric sensor. An individual fiber optic assembly has one control end; a bifurcated fiber has two.

A relay used to perform logic functions in a machine control circuit.

(Machine Safety) A method of ensuring the performance integrity of a control system or device. Control circuits are designed and constructed so that a single failure or fault within the system does not prevent the normal stopping action from being applied to the machine when required, or does not create unintended machine action, but does prevent initiation of successive machine action until the failure is corrected.

(Machine Safety) The stopping of the machine motion while retaining power to the machine actuators during the stopping process.

A special variation of diffuse mode photoelectric proximity sensing which uses additional optics to create a small, intense, and well-defined image at a fixed distance from the front surface of the sensor lens.

Convergent beam sensing is the first choice for photoelectric sensing of transparent materials that remain within the sensor’s depth-of-field. Also called "fixed-focus proximity mode". Here is a downloadable reference about sensing modes.

The central region of an optical fiber through which light is transmitted. It has a higher refractive index (slower speed) than the surrounding cladding.

A prism having three mutually perpendicular surfaces and a hypotenuse face. Light entering through the hypotenuse face is reflected by each of the three surfaces and emerges back through the hypotenuse face parallel to the entering beam. The light beam is returned to its source. May also be constructed from three first-surface mirrors. Corner-cube geometry is used for retroreflective materials.

A device that combines two or more fiber optic signals into one, or divides one fiber optic signal into two or more.

1. Transfer of energy from one circuit to another. 2. Transfer of light energy using a fiber optic cable. This term does not imply that a coupler is used.

The maximum angle from the central axis of a fiber optic cable at which light can be confined within the core.

Optical crosstalk occurs when a photoelectric receiver responds to light from an adjacent emitter. This is often an unwanted situation.

Abbreviation for Canadian Standards Association. A testing agency analogous to Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) in the United States. A CSA-certified product has been type-tested and approved by the Canadian Standards Association as meeting electrical and safety codes.

The flow of electrons through a circuit. Measured in "amperes."

The output of a DC device that switches ground (DC common) to a load. The load is connected between the output of the device and the positive side of the power supply. The switching components is usually an open collector NPN transistor, with its emitter tied to the negative side of the supply voltage.

The output of a DC device that switches positive DC to a load. The load is connected between the output of the device and the ground (DC common) side of the power supply. The switching component is usually an open collector PNP transistor, with its emitter tied to the positive side of the supply voltage.

See cutoff point

Definable point at which the a sensor will actuate or will cease to operate. All objects beyond the cutoff point are ignored by the sensor. Cut off point can be influenced by the range of the sensor and by its other physical specifications.

A periodically repeating series of events.

(Wireless) Communication initiated by the Node to the Gateway at user-defined intervals.