AT – Automation Technology, innovator in the field of imaging special sensors, presents another world first: the MCS series of modular high-speed 3D compact sensors. AT is the only manufacturer worldwide to offer its customers the option of configuring the solutions required for their applications themselves. The customer simply specifies the desired performance data such as scan width (x-FOV), working distance, points per profile, and scan speed and receives a perfectly tailored 3D sensor composed of corresponding modules – without any extra cost or extra time.
The MCS series complements the C5-CS series of pre-configured high-speed 3D compact sensors. The sensors of both series combine high-end 3D technology and state-of-the-art laser electronics in a compact IP67 housing, which allows use even in the harshest industrial environments. Thanks to the optimized laser triangulation setup, they deliver highly accurate measurement results, even for distant areas of the test surface, as the detector and optics are arranged according to the Scheimpflug principle. The sensors are factory calibrated and equipped with everything required for industrial use, from GigE Vision to 5 to 24 volt digital inputs and outputs to an RS422 encoder interface.
In addition to all that, the MCS series, the new generation of high-speed 3D compact sensors, offers many more advantages. Users benefit from maximum flexibility and receive tailor-made solutions for their applications. As such special solutions have been associated with enormous design and manufacturing costs so far, they have been reserved for OEMs who could guarantee the purchase of very large quantities. The new modular concept of the MCS series eliminates these extra costs, and everyone gets exactly the high-speed 3D compact sensor they need for their application, even as a single piece. As highly reliable all-in-one and plug-and-play solutions, the MCS sensors minimize the procurement, installation, commissioning and maintenance effort and allow users to concentrate fully on their core tasks.
A major advantage of the MCS series is that all configurations can also be implemented with dual-head sensor, i.e. two sensor modules. This enables even higher measurement quality thanks to occlusion-free 3D images as well as the combination of sensor modules with different performance data that complete different measurement tasks in parallel. Thus, uncomplicated tailor-made solu-tions are also available for all applications in which several properties of components are examined, e.g. the geometry and surface condition of wood parts. Time-consuming installations with several standard individual sensors that have to be calibrated specifically for their respective measurement task are a thing of the past.
The current sensor modules of the MCS series support an output of up to 2,048 points per profile and achieve a profile speed of up to 200 kHz. They have a scan width (x-FOV) of 130 to 1,200 mm and a z-range of 100 to 800 mm as well as a triangulation angle of 15 to 45°. The resolution x is between 80 and 580 µm depending on the configuration and the resolution z between 2 and 22 µm. The laser is available in red or blue, and users can choose between three laser classes: 2M, 3R and 3B. The MCS series will be continuously extended with additional sensor and laser modules.
