These transponders of the contact-less RFID safety sensor are paired with the reader sensor, called the XCSR, at the factory using high-level coding. This results in the sensor arriving as a plug-and-play product for the customer, leading to a shorter installation process and allowing for the user to devote their time to connecting these sensors together into a network.
The network set-up for safety sensors is typically done in one of two ways: traditional or contact-less.
When using a traditional set-up, the more connected sensors you have on the network will correspondingly increase the number of connection components needed. However, in a contact-less set-up, the sensors can be ordered and installed in a series, or daisy-chain, configuration. Figure 1 shows a traditional network set-up in which three safety sensors (“G”), three M12 connectors (“F”), a loopback device (“E”), three T-connectors (“C”), two 4- or 5-pin M12 connection cables (“D”), an M12 eight-pin connecting cable (“B”), and a safety control unit (“A”) are required.
Figure 2 depicts a series connection of just three sensors in a contact-less, XCSR set-up. The configuration shown also requires three safety sensors (“A”), two M12 five-pin connector cables (“B”), one M12 five-pin connecting cable (“C”), one loopback device (“D”), and one end connector (“E”). In this XCSR configuration, however, the amount of parts that need to be ordered and connected, as well as the labor required to set them up, are reduced, meaning the space required to install the system is also reduced.
“Comparing the cost of the components of the two configurations reveals that Figure 2’s [contact-less] cost is approximately one-third less than the cost for the parts in Figure 1’s [traditional] configuration,” said the authors.
