Photoelectric Sensors, Beam Pattern and Effective Beam

Beam Pattern and Effective Beam:

The effective beam can become very large. Your target will often be smaller than the beam pattern. Therefore, your target will rarely cover the beam pattern. What your target is "breaking" is the effective beam. The effective beam (represented in red) is the imaginary line between the emitter and the receiver lens. When it's blocked, the beam pattern will continue to develop, but as long as the effective beam is broken, you're in business. A stop sequence, shown next, will better demonstrate the relationship between the beam pattern and the effective beam.