Photoelectric sensors effective beam

In the Banner catalog, next to each photoelectric sensor, you'll find charts displaying the excess gain and the beam pattern. We discussed excess gain on the previous slide. The beam pattern and effective beam are displayed here.

Beam Pattern:

When light leaves the emitter lens, it does not shoot across the sensing field in a direct, "laser-like" line. The light forms a pattern much like a flashlight beam. The beam pattern is represented at left by the yellow cone. The beam pattern can get quite large with powerful photo eyes. Once the pattern reaches the zenith of its power, it will begin to trail back off. But the key point here is that light does not shoot out in a straight line from the receiver lens, but rather in a broadening beam much like light from a flashlight.

Effective Beam

The effective beam is the imaginary line that travels from the emitter to the receiver lens. That is what you're target is breaking. The effective beam is represented in the animation by the red line. The size of the beam pattern is largely a function of the sensor's power. The size of the effective beam, on the other hand, is determined by the size of the receiver lens.