SICK (www.sickusa.com), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of sensors, safety systems, machine vision, and automatic identification products for factory and logistics automation, today announced the launch of the W4S-3 INOX Photoelectric Sensor. These sensors feature a smooth, IP 69K stainless steel housing that withstands harsh wash down applications in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, solar and semiconductor industries. The W4S-3 incorporates OES3 technology into SICK’s third generation custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) to provide the best background and foreground suppression in the market.
These new sensors, which expand SICK’s existing IP 69K product offering, ignore stray background reflections, detect multi-colored or shiny objects, and provide high immunity to ambient light. Their smooth, stainless steel housing reduces bacteria growth that can result when food particles become lodged in the housings’ small grooves or crevices. This durable housing also gives the sensor a longer lifecycle, reducing replacement and downtime costs incurred when sensors frequently fail.