Allen-bradley Company, LLC

Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated

Rockwell Technologies, Inc.

Cedes Safety & Automation Ag

Rockwell Automation Switzerland Gmbh

Rockwell Automation Safety Ag

Elik I Fooks

Patrick Joseph Delaney, Iii

Suresh Ramanujan Nair

Philip E Johnson

Roberto S Santos

Craig Martin Brockman

Scott H Wakefield

Ira B Goldberg

Richard Galera

Burt Sacherski

Carl Meinherz

Martin Hardegger

Brian J Taylor

Steven Robert Tambeau

Charles S Hollingsworth

Robert M Black

Michael Flannery

Manfred Norbert Stein

Reto Berner

Mark A Lucak

Jonathan R Engdahl

Dennis C Mackey

Jonathan D Bradford

Ted M McKinney

Steven A Eisenbrown

Roger Merz

Wei Jie Chen

Adonis Evangelista Reyes

Manfred Norbert Dr Stein

Manfred Stein

Photo sensor housing

A housing for an industrial sensor comprises integral U-shaped pockets configured to engage with attachment features of a complementary mounting bracket. The bracket comprises an overhang feature on a second end and a snap feature on an opposing first end. The housing can be mounted to the bracket by inserting a mounting boss formed within one of the U-shaped pockets underneath the overhang feature of the bracket, and pressing the housing against the bracket to cause the snap feature to engage with another mounting boss formed in the other U-shaped pocket. These mounting features allow the housing to be mounted easily and quickly without the use for additional tools. The housing can also be quickly removed from the bracket by pressing an extended tab near the snap feature to facilitate disengagement of the housing from the bracket.

Housing and complementary snap-fit bracket

Smart tap housing

A locking switch assembly includes a locking switch having a locking plunger, and an actuator has a housing and a cover. The actuator has a through hole, and the through hole receives the locking plunger. The actuator having a non-access mode and an access mode, and at least one of the housing or the cover is configured to change from the non-access mode to the access mode. The housing or the cover has a cap, and at least a portion of the cap prevents access to the through hole in the non-access mode.

Locking switch with cover having access and non-access configuration

Systems and methods are provided for utilizing time of flight sensors in an industrial automation environment. The method includes employing a multi pixel camera associated with a time of flight sensor to detect an object located within a defined or bounded target area, comparing pixels with adjacent pixels associated with an image of the object captured by the multi pixel camera, identifying the object as being a colored, texture, or highly reflective object, and controlling industrial machinery based on the identification of the object entering the target area.

Time of flight (TOF) sensors as replacement for standard photoelectric sensors

A system for calibrating a color sensing pixel based upon the distance between the color sensing pixel and an object. The distance is determined by measuring the phase shift of electromagnetic radiation as reflected from the surface of the object compared with the wave profile of the electromagnetic radiation incident on the object surface. The color sensing pixel is associated with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) pixel which is employed to determine the distance of the color sensing pixel. The electromagnetic radiation can be from any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, in particular the infrared and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The color sensing pixel and the ToF pixel can reside on the same semiconductor or on disparate semiconductors.

Color sensor insensitive to distance variations

Multiple bits of information may be conveyed by passive target material incorporating filaments of magnetizable material having different magnetization functions and, in particular, different coercivities. Detection of the presence or absence of the individual filaments may be done remotely by measuring induced flux B as a function of an externally imposed magnetic field waveform and subjecting the measured induced flux signal to differentiation or Fourier transform techniques.

Low cost material for multi-bit remote sensing

High aspect ratio filaments of magnetic material are randomly dispersed in a non-magnetic matrix such as paper or plastic for part of a critical component of a manufactured product to permit remote sensing of the manufactured product by the application of an external oscillating magnetic field and the detection of the resulting induced magnetization. The material may be incorporated into a wide variety of products that must be remotely sensed.

Low cost material suitable for remote sensing

Housing for photoelectric control

A method and apparatus for alternately displaying status information in an photoelectric detection unit. The apparatus comprising an LCD display capable of displaying numerical information and alternately providing target and background margin information in a periodic fashion which is decoupled from the target or process speed. The method further comprising the steps of first displaying either target or background margin information and second displaying the margin information not displayed in the first step. The apparatus and method further comprising a diagnostic capability or step which identifies when the photoelectric detection unit is operating near the fringe or beyond the range of acceptable operating parameters and providing information as to the cause for any degradation of the operating conditions.

System to provide alignment and troubleshooting aid photoelectric

A dual channel communications method including: (A) providing a control system with a central control station and a remote sensor for sensing a process status, the central control station and the remote sensor being connected by a power supply line and an output line; (B) impressing a non-periodic high-amplitude process status signal on the output line at the remote sensor so as to transfer status information about the process status to the central control station; (C) simultaneously impressing a periodic low-amplitude low-frequency diagnostic condition signal on the output line at the remote sensor so as to transfer diagnostic information about an operating condition of the remote sensor to the central control station; (D) monitoring the electrical state of the output line at the central control station to detect the level of the non-periodic high-amplitude process status signal so as to receive status information about the process status at the central control station; and (E) monitoring the electrical state of the output line at the central control station to detect the presence of the periodic low-amplitude low-frequency diagnostic condition signal so as to receive diagnostic information about the operating condition of i) the remote sensor, ii) said power supply line and iii) said output line at the central control station.

Heartbeat communications

An operator interface for a photoelectric control unit including a graphical display having a plurality of icons corresponding to different control functions and a numerical display for indicating parameter settings and operating margin values. The operator interface allows the user to rapidly and conveniently reconfigure the control unit for operation in a number of different modes in accordance with a number of different operational settings. Furthermore, the interface provides information on the operating margin of the photoelectric control unit which can be useful to the operator in aligning the unit and in judging conditions under which the unit is operating. Furthermore, the operator interface allows the user to select different light pulse repetition rates and corresponding operating ranges for the photoelectric control unit.

Operator interface for a photoelectric control unit

An apparatus for providing an indication of the operational stability of a photoelectric control unit. The system separately measures photoelectric operating margin and background noise affecting the control unit. A stability figure is generated as a function of the operating margin and background noise in accordance with fuzzy logic techniques. An indication of the level of this stability figure is provided to the operator of the unit.

System for determining operational stability of a photoelectric control

A target acquisition system for a photoelectric control unit which helps avoid interference problems due to optical and electrical noise. The system provides for the interpulse interval between light pulses transmitted by the photoelectric control unit to be varied in accordance with pseudo-random jitter factors during the target acquisition process. Noise which may be on frequency with the normal repetition rate of the photoelectric control unit is then eliminated from the detection process pursuant to synchronous detection procedures.

Process for reliably detecting the passage of a target object using a

A photoelectric control unit including an electronic system having a system architecture which is adapted for allowing the unit to readily and accurately determine its own operating margin. This architecture system includes a pair of variable gain modules which operate in conjunction with a pair of separate signal channels. The signal channels have comparators for comparing signal amplitudes on their respective channels with a common reference level. Operating margin values are determined by varying the gain of the amplification modules and tracking the output from the comparators on the signal channels. The photoelectric control unit can then use operating margin values to automatically set the system gain and thereby adjust the sensitivity of the unit for optimum performance.

Photoelectric control unit adapted for determining its own operating

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Lexington, MA, United States of America

Elik I Fooks