The new BPS 8 bar code positioning system from Leuze Electronic provides an optical measuring method for monitoring and controlling the position of rail-mounted industrial trucks, overhead carrier systems, hoists, rack handling and similar automatic transport systems to an accuracy of ±1mm. Mounting directly on the ‘workpiece’ carrier, the device determines its position relative to a bar code on a plastic encoded tape (BCB), which has a self-adhesive backing for easy application to the carrier gantry frame.
The IP67 rated BPS 8 uses a visible red laser to scan the position information encoded on the BCB tape, and with interfaces such as Profibus, SSI or RS 485, a newly calculated position value is made available to the control system every 2ms.
Although a single valid code within the scanning beam is sufficient to ensure unambiguous position determination, the reading head always scans several codes on the tape simultaneously. In extreme cases, this means that a number of codes can be destroyed or damaged without affecting the calculation process.
Even after a power failure or system restart, the BPS is able to supply all absolute position data immediately without any need for reference cycles.