For 20 years, Banner Engineering has ranked as a preferred sensor vendor. One reason why the company has achieved this rank is flexibility.  Available from more than 2,000 distributors worldwide, Banner’s products are designed for a broad range of inspection and verification applications, delivering sensing solutions in rugged, self-contained housings. The company’s World-Beam photoelectric sensor family offers solutions for food and beverage packaging, delivering compact, robust sensors that withstand harsh environments and washdown conditions. And with numerous models, sensing modes and ranges available in an industry-standard design, World-Beam sensors can fit or retrofit into most plant configurations.

To optimize performance in challenging bottling applications, Banner combined its proven sensor form with innovative technology, resulting in the World-Beam QS30 Water Sensor. Traditionally, when an optical sensor is used to detect water in a clear container, the low contrast causes the sensor to see the bottle and water as the same item, resulting in inconsistent, faulty sensing. To detect liquid contained within dark plastics or colored bottles, optical sensors require high excess gain to see through the containers and detect the enclosed liquid. However, with this high excess gain, the sensing beam often cuts through the liquid, as well.

Banner’s QS30 Water Sensor combines high excess gain with a 1,450-nanometer infrared sensing beam-specially tuned to an absorption band of water-to provide a dual-purpose solution. When the bottle is clear, the energy absorption of the water creates high contrast between the water and the bottle. In addition, the beam is paired with high excess gain to “burn,” or see through, colored, decorated or frosted bottles to detect the liquid inside.

Further enhancing the flexibility of the World-Beam sensing family, Banner provides AC or DC voltage options for several sensor models. One example is the QS18 Universal Voltage Sensor, delivering solid-state output for reliable presence/absence detection in package and material handling. Pairing this capability with exceptional optical performance and user-selected AC or DC voltage operation, the QS18 Universal Voltage Sensor offers enhanced sensor life and faster switching and response time than mechanical relays, as well as versatile mounting options to suit diverse plant environments.

These and thousands more sensors-combined with Banner’s vision, safety, indication and wireless products-ensure that food and beverage industry challenges are solved conveniently, effectively and cost-efficiently.

Banner Engineering
888-373-6767; www.bannerengineering.com