TD05301002E
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iProx™ Inductive Proximity Sensors —
Mounting Close Together
Technical Data
Ensure Reliability When
iProx Sensors Are Mounted
Close Together
October 2005
Supersedes February 2003
Description
The iProx is a powerful family of inductive proximity sensors
featuring high sensing performance right out of the box.
What makes the iProx unique from other inductive sensors
is the ability to extensively customize the operating charac-
teristics to suit a particular application.
Mounting Sensors Close Together
When mounting iProx sensors close together, it is necessary
to take into consideration problems that can be caused by
two or more sensors communicating with each other (also
known as “cross-talk”). This problem can arise when two or
more sensors are mounted side-by-side (as shown in
Figure 1
) or facing each other (as shown in
Figure 2
).
Figure 1. Prox Sensors Mounted Side-by-Side
Figure 2. Prox Sensors Mounted Facing Each Other
Standard inductive proximity sensors have a similar fre-
quency and will interfere with each other when operated
close together. Until iProx, your best solution may have
been to buy special sensors designed to operate on different
frequencies. The disadvantage of this solution is that your
choice of sensing range and body style is usually very
limited.
The DC versions of iProx have three different noise immu-
nity settings, while the AC versions have two settings. See
Figures 3
,
4
,
5
and
6
for optimum noise immunity settings
based upon center-to-center spacing between mounted sen-
sors. Note that in some cases, more than one noise immu-
nity setting is available. In this case, the operator can choose
the combinations of noise immunity settings most desirable
for the application. The iProx breaks many of the traditional
rules of inductive proximity sensors. For instance, it is possi-
ble to mount the sensors in a manner so that the sensing
fields overlap, so long as the proper noise immunity settings
are chosen.
Figure 3. DC iProx Side-by-Side Configuration (S
1
)
Table 1. DC iProx Side-by-Side Configuration (S
1
)
Proximity
Sensors
Target
Target
Proximity
Sensors
Diameter (D)
Side-by-Side High Noise Immunity Factory Default
12 mm Shld.
0 – 19 mm
at 50 Hz
0 mm – Infinity
at 10 Hz
30 mm – Infinity
at 580 Hz
Unshld. 0 – 40 mm
at 50 Hz
0 mm – Infinity
at 10 Hz
100 mm – Infinity
at 300 Hz
18 mm Shld.
0 – 35 mm
at 50 Hz
0 mm – Infinity
at 10 Hz
80 mm – Infinity
at 390 Hz
Unshld. 0 – 75 mm
at 50 Hz
0 mm – Infinity
at 10 Hz
130 mm – Infinity
at 150 Hz
30 mm Shld.
0 – 65 mm
at 50 Hz
0 mm – Infinity
at 10 Hz
110 mm – Infinity
at 240 Hz
Unshld. 0 – 75 mm
at 50 Hz
0 mm – Infinity
at 10 Hz
130 mm – Infinity
at 90 Hz
S
1
D
