Banner Engineering Corporation

Neal Andrew Schumacher

Charles Dolezalek

Maximilian John Aponte

Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine

Eric Karl Lindmark

Dennis John Smith

Paul D Bratton

Thomas J Beckey

Wade David Oberpriller

Brian P Rosengren

Lawrence J Marko

An indicator module includes first electrodes disposed on a first support surface, each of the first electrodes having a flexible portion having a sloped section forming an oblique angle with the first support surface, a second electrodes disposed on a second support surface spaced apart from the first support surface along a longitudinal direction, a set of conductors elongated substantially in the longitudinal direction, each of the first electrodes being electrically connected to the a respective one of the second electrodes via a respective one of the conductors, and an indicator circuit, such as a set of LEDs, electrically connected to one or more of the conductors and adapted to generate a human perceptible signal when the indicator circuit receives electrical power from the one or more of the conductors.

Modular indicator

Apparatus and associated methods relate to a photoelectric sensor system with a primary photo-detector to receive an on-axis return reflected by a retro-reflective target, and a monitor photo-detector to detect off-axis light indicative of a diffuse reflective object blocking the optical path between an emitter and the retro-reflective target. In an illustrative example, the optical path may include a coaxial transceiver module that includes a beam splitter mirror to redirect the optical path. In some embodiments, a bifurcated lens may provide, for example, a lateral offset of the emitter axis through one lens, and the return axis through an adjacent parallel lens. The second photo-detector may provide, for example, an array of one or more detection surfaces to detect off-axis light associated with a diffuse reflective object, such as a white card, for example.

Retro-reflective sensor with multiple detectors

An indicator module in one example has a mounting portion to removably attach the module to another module or base. The indicator module also has a first set of electrodes disposed to be in contact with respective electrodes in the attached module or base. The indicator module further includes an indicator circuit, and a switch module configurable to selectively connect the indicator circuit to one of the electrodes in the indicator module. The indicator module can further include a second set of electrodes connected respectively to the first set of electrodes by conductors. The two sets of electrodes are located at respective ends of the module attach to another module at each end. In visual indicator modules, the conductors can be disposed in a more interior region of the module as compared to the visual indicator elements such as LEDs, which can be distributed near the periphery of the module.

An example method for stabilizing a sensor component includes: positioning the sensor component relative to a support with retaining members in contact with the sensor component, a first of the retaining members being a resilient biasing member and a second one of the retaining members being an adjustable retaining member; adjusting the adjustable retaining member to reposition the sensor component and deform the resilient retaining member; immobilizing the sensor component with an additional, rigid retaining member in contact with the sensor component; and filling a space between the sensor component and the support with a glue. An example holder of a sensor component includes support members; retaining members adapted to cooperatively adjustably retain the sensor component support members; and an additional, rigid retaining member adapted to cooperate with other retaining members to fixedly retain the sensor component.

Sensor component stabilization

A system and method are disclosed for detecting the occurrence of an external event. The system eliminates the need for users to adjust amplifier offsets as well as detection thresholds by continually analyzing the signal and optimizing the offset and threshold values accordingly. Additionally, the system detects the external events in a noisy environment when the duration of the events vary by several orders of magnitude by employing cascaded difference filters.

Method and apparatus for detection signal processing

A object displacement measuring system and utilizing optical triangulation techniques is constructed to determine the displacement of an object between a near and far sensing limits. In constructing the system to determine the object displacement relative to these sensing points, the mathematical calculations needed to determine the controlling transfer function are simplified. In alternate embodiments, the object displacement is measured relative to a measurement window having a fixed width and a known mid-point. With the use of the transfer function resulting from the use of either coordinate systems, an output signal generated by a digital-to-analog converter can be controlled digitally to set the gain and offset values of the output signal rather than adjusting these values using analog circuitry.

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Plymouth, MN, United States of America

Neal Andrew Schumacher