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Inline material sensors - for organic materials
In material-intensive production processes, our material sensors can help companies
- to optimize product and/or process quality
- To avoid incorrect loading
- to establish internal recycling cycles
- to reduce the use of raw materials and thus their ecological footprint
Learn more about our material sensors, their applications, and how they work.
Sensorik Austria – Pioneer of material-sensitive sensor technology
With the multi-wavelength sensor tri²dent (pronounced tri-ident), our first-generation material sensor, Sensorik Austria has been one of the pioneers of industrial material sensor technology for more than 10 years: The sensor opened up the possibility for the first time to detect not only the presence of an object or its color in the production process, but also its material-specific properties.
The non-contact, optical material sensors are capable of evaluating the material-specific absorption of infrared light by organic molecules (“fingerprint”) and, once trained on the relevant substances, identifying and distinguishing them. Thanks to their robust fiber optic design, they can operate even in harsh industrial environments.
Fiber optic tr²dent sensors have been successfully used in paper machines for several years, where they enable reliable break detection by differentiating between paper and plastic under the most demanding environmental conditions.
After the multi-wavelength sensor tri²dent follows with the new sensor platform polyID now the next milestone!
New sensor platform polyIdent
The new polyID Material sensors now offer customers the possibility to measure entire sub-spectra in the so-called SWIR ("snursery wbird infra red”) range and subsequently adjust and teach a sensor to individual wavelengths.
This means that new measurement tasks can not only be implemented much more quickly and efficiently than before, but also with significantly higher selectivity!
This provides many companies with a cost-effective alternative to expensive process spectrometers or traditional, but incomplete (and thus potentially even more expensive) offline control using sample testing in the laboratory.
Technical Specifications (Optimized)
| polyIdent PID-R | |
|---|---|
| Measuring principle: | 1-point measurement |
| Construction: | fully integrated |
| Detector: | parameterizable photodiode |
| Light intensity: | hoch |
| Number of wavelengths: | to 30 |
| Wavelength resolution: | 10nm |
| measuring distance: | to 50 mm |
| measuring width: | a few cm, depending on the measuring distance |
| Temperature measuring point: | up to 40 ° C |
| -> Learn more |
Functionality of optical material sensors
Material sensing – the characterization of organic materials – is a relatively new discipline in industrial sensor technology. Our material sensors enable the detection and differentiation of organic materials based on their material-specific absorption profiles, thus enabling continuous material monitoring before, during, or after a production process. However, this not only enables the continuous characterization and differentiation of materials based on their fingerprints; the sensors can also be used to monitor ingredients or evaluate the material application during coating processes.
But how does a material sensor work? We have the Functionality briefly summarized:
- Organic materials usually exhibit near-infrared (SWIR = “short-wave-IR“) have a characteristic absorption profile, meaning they absorb more light at certain wavelengths than at others. These wavelengths are called “absorption bands”, and the broader absorption profile is also known as the “fingerprint” of the material.
- The material sensors utilize this property: the sensors are equipped with a light source consisting of powerful LEDs that emit light in the SWIR range. The emitted light is reflected to varying degrees after hitting the material's surface: significant wavelengths are absorbed more strongly than others, resulting in less reflection.
The reflected light, reduced by the material-specific absorption, is received and evaluated by the sensor's detector. The sensors only evaluate reflected light, meaning they are not affected by changing daylight, for example.
The result of such a measurement on an (organic!) substance represents the specific “fingerprint” of this substance, on the basis of which this substance can be recognized and distinguished from other materials. - The fingerprints recorded in this way can then be used for your measuring task, be it for qualitative measurements (material differentiation) or quantitative measurements (such as concentration measurement, layer thickness measurement).
You can find more details about our sensors and how they can support you in the concrete implementation of your application here.
Material Sensor Technology - New Possibilities in Measurement Technology
The applications for a material sensor are divided into 3 major areas of application:
- material identification/differentiation
Through continuous identification and differentiation of (organic) materials, it can be ensured, for example in the material feed, that only the required materials are actually fed into a process step.
On the other hand, in order to support the internal circular economy, it is of eminent importance to characterize production residues in order to ensure their safe return to the process.
- Coating monitoring
Traditionally, many companies check the quality of a coating (composition, layer thickness, etc.) by taking regular samples and analyzing them in the laboratory. However, this has the disadvantage that this quality information is only available with a significant delay, which means that in the event of deviations, expensive and unnecessary waste is produced and may even be delivered to the customer. With continuous coating monitoring, deviations can be identified immediately and corrective measures can be taken immediately to avoid waste.
But that's not all: with sufficient imaging in the spectral behavior, a material sensor can also be used to monitor and optimize the degree of curing of a coating.
- Monitoring of material composition / concentration measurement
The higher the quality requirements for a product or process, the less it can be assumed without question that a recipe that has been set once will remain unchanged over time. With our NIR material sensors, the ongoing compliance with compositions/recipes of organic materials can be monitored, ensured and subsequently documented. The prerequisites for this are sufficient transparency and NIR significance of the materials and, in the case of liquids, a suitable measurement setup (e.g. bypass, probe).
How you can implement your project with our polyIdent material sensors
Depending on the planned task, you have the following options:
- The simple differentiation tasks With clearly distinguishable absorption bands, the customer can determine the wavelengths that can be used for differentiation and select them on the sensor before teaching the materials at the push of a button.
During operational measurement, the sensor compares the current measurement data with the taught profiles and can thus draw conclusions about the respective material.
The sensor outputs the result via analog signal or via MQTT interface. - For complex differentiation tasks is a powerful AI tool called “AIMaC” (Art artificial Iintelligence based Mamaterial Ccharacterisation) is available, with which the sensor can be taught to the materials to be distinguished.
During operational measurement, AIMaC also takes over the evaluation of the sensor data, i.e. the AI compares the measurement data with the stored profiles and uses this to determine which material is involved.
The result is displayed on the user dashboard and can be transferred to the controller via MQTT (to a limited extent also via analog output). - For quantitative measurement tasks For applications such as concentration measurement or layer thickness measurement, etc., we must identify the usable wavelengths in a preliminary project and subsequently develop an evaluation (or chemometric) model based on suitable wavelengths.
This is stored on the sensor and then calculates the respective target value (%, mm,…) based on the current absorption measurements.
The result can be output via analog signal or via MQTT interface.
Sensorik Austria GmbH – your professional for sensor solutions
But also discover our other sensors: From high-performance photo sensors to color sensors and speed sensors, we offer you specialists for demanding industrial process monitoring projects. Do you have any questions or would you like expert advice? Get in touch with us, we will be happy to help you!