Programmable position indicators

Industry 4.0 indicates an industrial automation trend that integrates some new productive technologies in order to improve the working conditions, create new business models and increase the productivity and the quality of the installations.

It allows the use of a combination of technologies to support a completely automated or interconnected industrial production.

The weak link has always been the interaction between human and machine where the use of sensors, optical barriers, display, laser pointers and sirens often could not guarantee an efficient interconnection.

For this reason, after several requests by our customers who produce machines, Genesi has developed a visual communication system between the machine and the operator in order to carry out different kinds of functions. We highlight five of them:
After a quality control with a vision system, the product, moving on the conveyor belt, has to be signaled in order to be checked and/or picked up by the line operator;

In a big machine it is possible to signal the precise zone where the operator can control and intervene to do the machine status signaling; In an automated work center it is possible to indicate the correct position where put or remove the workpieces;

• Visual signaling of level in tanks;
• Visual indication of position in big warehouses.

We have decided to use our skills in a wide-ranging project that faces these needs in different contexts and can provide solutions in the industrial field for the man-machine interaction.

The basic idea has been developed with the aim of generating a product that is easy to integrate into the machineries, flexible and cost-effective, and that meets the required safety and reliability parameters.

The result of these application developments offers a simple and secure solution.

Specifications:

• RS485 or CAN Bus communication standard;

• 10 mm definition and modularity with 25 cm step in the monochromatic or RGB versions;

• Physical position addressing for each module from 25 cm and up to a length of 16 m;

• Driving speed of each individual LED up to 500 state changes per second;

• Light output dimmer integrated to adapt to ambient light conditions;

• Electrical and mechanical safeguards designed for industrial environments.

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