Pepperl+Fuchs Blog

We’ve all been there: You are sitting on the plane and want to relax with music. You plug in your headphones and play your favorite song. You reposition your head to get comfortable and the music stops. This is caused by a break in the headphone cord. While a break in connectivity is simply annoying in this scenario, it is a real problem in industrial environments where downtime can be costly. In this blog post, we discuss five industrial applications and the Pepperl+Fuchs cables best suited to provide reliable connectivity for each one.

Industry 4.0 applications require sensors to do more than just deliver process data to the PLC. In smart manufacturing, sensors must be able to communicate with other devices and higher-level information systems. This is possible with IO-Link, a simple, flexible, and secure open communication technology that enables continuous communication at the sensor level.

Storage tanks and silos in many different industries require overfill prevention and continuous level measurement to prevent equipment damage and downtime. This means a broad range of materials, such as chemicals, sludge, and gravel, must be reliably detected to maintain optimal process flows. Ultrasonic sensors from Pepperl+Fuchs are designed to detect and measure the fill level of liquids and solids, no matter their storage location. The 18GMA series, series 70, and F260 ultrasonic sensors are especially geared toward this purpose.

The mechanical limit switch is a staple in automation. The switch detects the presence and position of objects by making direct contact with a target. But this direct contact can cause wear on the mechanical parts of the limit switch and cause reliability issues with its object detection capabilities. With limit switch style inductive sensors from Pepperl+Fuchs, non-contact sensing of targets is possible.

Inventory management is complex. Having the right products, in the right quantities, and at the right time is essential for establishing and maintaining cost-effective production. To help end users save time and money, Pepperl+Fuchs offers a practical solution for managing inventory—an industrial vending machine.

Discovery Robotics has a corporate mission “to increase human productivity, safety, and quality of life by creating robotic solutions that deliver value to [their] customers.” The Pittsburgh, PA-based robotics manufacturer created the FX250, an autonomous commercial floor cleaning robot, to accomplish this mission in the janitorial services industry.

According to the US Department of Energy, the sun sends 430 quintillion Joules of energy to earth every hour. This abundance of energy makes the sun a viable power source. Rapid technological advancements and improvements in industrial sensor precision have helped make solar power a practical alternative to fossil fuels.

Pepperl+Fuchs offers a broad portfolio of sensors for solar power plants, such as the F199 inclination sensor for precise measurement of position and incline angles. In this blog, you’ll learn more about concentrated solar power (CSP) plants and how Pepperl+Fuchs inclination sensors help optimize the way these plants produce energy.

Moving from point A to B in a busy warehouse can be a challenge for even the most advanced AGVs. So, it is important that the right guidance system is in place to ensure material handling tasks can be performed accurately and reliably.

With the compact position guided vision (PGV) positioning system from Pepperl+Fuchs, even the smallest AGVs can navigate without error. The PGV works in conjunction with the following four guidance options, all of which are available for our newest PGV EtherNet/IP version for more interoperability: Data Matrix code tape, colored lanes, control codes, and Data Matrix tags.

Large-scale industries like manufacturing and mining produce millions of gallons of wastewater every day. This wastewater can be reused or returned to the environment after going through a wastewater treatment plant. The average time it takes to successfully treat water once it enters the plant is heavily influenced by the technology available. While treatment can take less than a day in some plants, it can take up to 36 hours in others. But if a plant is equipped with the latest process automation technology, wastewater treatment takes less time.

The IO-Link communication protocol has become a recognized standard in almost every branch of industry. The microcontrollers used make the sensors even more intelligent and can store parameter settings and provide additional information about device status and signal quality. This makes it easy to replace defective sensors since stored settings can be automatically transferred to new sensors during operation. IO-Link can be integrated into any network independently of the fieldbus via point-to-point connection and 3-wire standard cabling. An IO-Link master can also be used to operate both IO-Link and conventional switching signals with identical wiring. In addition, IO-Link sensors can be connected to conventional digital inputs. Read more about these and other advantages in this blog.