Balluff Inductive sensors

Balluff Inductive sensors

Robust sensors for object detection in metalworking

Inductive sensors are used to manage, position, and control processes in automation technology. The robust sensors detect objects in metalworking.

There are a number of options available to suit most applications: from standard to increased sensing distance, temperature- and high-pressure-resistant.

Benefits

  • Suitable for a variety of applications
  • Contact-free and therefore wear-free
  • Resistant to dirt
  • Short-circuit resistant
  • In configurations from 3 mm Ø to 80 × 80 mm square dimensions

Product families

Reliably manage, position and control automated processes in Ex zones

Sensors for potentially explosive areas

In­duc­tive sen­sors are used around the world to man­age, po­si­tion, and con­trol processes in au­toma­tion tech­nol­ogy. Bal­luff has a wide range of in­duc­tive sen­sors that are pres­sure-re­sis­tant to 500 bar for run­ning end po­si­tion checks on hy­draulic cylin­ders and mon­i­tor­ing valve po­si­tions. They are media-re­sis­tant and avail­able in a wide range of hous­ing and thread sizes.

One par­tic­u­lar range of these sen­sors can be used in areas where an ex­plo­sive at­mos­phere rarely oc­curs. Com­bined with a Zone 2 iso­lat­ing am­pli­fier, the sen­sors can also be used in po­ten­tially ex­plo­sive sys­tems or spaces in Zone 1.

The fea­tures

  • Ap­plic­a­ble for zones 2G/1D and 3G/3D
  • Pres­sure rated to 500 bar
  • High-tem­per­a­ture-re­sis­tant up to 120 °C
  • Can be com­bined with NAMUR boost­ers
  • Con­tact-free and there­fore wear-free
  • Re­sis­tant to dirt
  • Short-cir­cuit pro­tected
  • Media-re­sis­tant
Balluff offers contactless measuring displacement measuring systems and sensors in different versions.

Reliable measurement of positions, clearances and differentiation of materials

Distance sensors

Our BAW in­duc­tive dis­tance sen­sors mea­sure var­i­ous po­si­tions and dis­tances and can also dif­fer­en­ti­ate be­tween var­i­ous ma­te­r­ial vari­ants. They work con­tact­lessly and are wear-free and, there­fore, dis­tin­guish them­selves by a long ser­vice life.

Their teach func­tion has an ad­justable lin­ear range. This al­lows a quick start-up at first in­stal­la­tion and pro­vides for short down times dur­ing sen­sor ex­change.

The mul­ti­plic­ity of avail­able con­fig­u­ra­tions al­lows the in­duc­tive dis­tance sen­sors to be eas­ily in­te­grated into any ap­pli­ca­tions. In­cluded among the im­por­tant fields of ap­pli­ca­tion are the mon­i­tor­ing of move­ments in join­ing, press­ing or clamp­ing equip­ment used for ma­chine con­struc­tion or the de­tec­tion of im­bal­ances and ex­pan­sions of axles.

The clear­ance sen­sors sup­ply an ab­solute ana­log volt­age, cur­rent or IO-Link sig­nal.

The fea­tures

  • Com­pact, solid and re­li­able
  • Con­tact-free and there­fore wear-free
  • Ab­solute mea­sur­ing prin­ci­ple
  • Mea­sure­ment range from 0.2 to 50 mm, also teach­able
  • Short re­sponse time, high re­pro­ducibil­ity and lin­ear­ity
  • Broad tem­per­a­ture range, min­i­mal tem­per­a­ture drift
  • Sim­ple ap­pli­ca­tion via ana­log in­ter­faces and IO-Link

Can be perfectly integrated even when there is little space

Linear position sensors

The BIP in­duc­tive po­si­tion­ing sys­tem is also im­pres­sive in con­stricted in­stal­la­tion con­di­tions: per­fectly in­te­grat­able, it mea­sures the po­si­tion of metal­lic ob­jects with max­i­mum pre­ci­sion in a con­tact-free, and, there­fore, wear-free man­ner. Thus it se­curely de­tects lin­ear dis­place­ment paths for a sim­ple tar­get. A sim­ple com­po­nent of the ma­chine such as a ro­tary disk can also func­tion as a tar­get. Mea­sured val­ues are re­layed via IO-Link or as ana­log, de­pend­ing upon the de­sign.

The main field of ap­pli­ca­tion for the sen­sor is the mon­i­tor­ing of drive spin­dles and clamp­ing de­vices. Here the in­duc­tive po­si­tion­ing sys­tem pro­vides for error-free clamp­ing op­er­a­tions. The po­si­tion­ing sys­tem can fur­ther be used in me­chan­i­cal en­gi­neer­ing for many other ap­pli­ca­tions with lin­ear mo­tion, such as de­ter­min­ing punch­ing depth, grip­ping po­si­tions, roller place­ments, valve po­si­tions, etc. High re­peata­bil­ity thus en­sures op­ti­mal process qual­ity.

The fea­tures

  • Mea­sure­ment ranges ad­justable from 0…133 mm
  • No me­chan­i­cal ad­just­ment is nec­es­sary
  • Con­tact-free and there­fore wear-free
  • High re­peat ac­cu­racy and pre­cise po­si­tion­ing

Sense all ferrous and non-ferrous metals at the same sensing distance

Factor 1 sensors

Bal­luff’s in­duc­tive Fac­tor 1 sen­sors can be used wher­ever dis­sim­i­lar met­als must be iden­ti­fied uni­formly and with high pre­ci­sion. Our all-rounder for re­li­ably rec­og­niz­ing all met­als with­out a re­duc­tion fac­tor at a sens­ing dis­tance: fer­rous and non-fer­rous met­als, steel, brass, alu­minum etc. Ad­di­tion­ally, they are mag­netic-field-re­sis­tant and can there­fore be used in areas with a strong elec­tro­mag­netic field – for ex­am­ple in weld­ing plants. For these, we also offer vari­a­tions with PTFE coat­ings, the PTFE coat­ing helps pro­tect the sen­sor from weld slag and weld flash gen­er­ated dur­ing the weld­ing process.

The fea­tures

  • High sens­ing dis­tance with­out re­duc­tion fac­tor for all met­als
  • Mag­netic-field-re­sis­tant
  • In­stal­la­tion in dif­fer­ent met­als pos­si­ble
  • High-pre­ci­sion and flex­i­ble use
  • A range of dif­fer­ent mod­els and sizes
  • Per­fectly suited for ap­pli­ca­tions with vari­able de­tec­tion ob­jects (steel, AL, CuZn and Cu)
Factor 1 sensors identify objects, such as those made of steel, aluminum or brass, with near-identical switching distances (without reduction factor).

Easy to integrate and reliable to 500 bar

Pressure-rated inductive sensors

Our pres­sure-rated in­duc­tive sen­sors with­stand a pres­sure of up to 500 bar. They are, there­fore, per­fectly suited for po­si­tion mon­i­tor­ing of your hy­draulics, for ex­am­ple: end po­si­tion ver­i­fi­ca­tion of hy­draulic cylin­ders or mon­i­tor­ing valve po­si­tion. This dura­bil­ity is made pos­si­ble by media-re­sis­tant hous­ing ma­te­ri­als and a spe­cial seal­ing process. For your in­di­vid­ual ap­pli­ca­tions, we offer dif­fer­ent con­fig­u­ra­tions as well as a com­pre­hen­sive pro­gram with dif­fer­ent hous­ing di­am­e­ters and thread sizes.

The fea­tures

  • Pres­sure rated to 500 bar
  • High-tem­per­a­ture-re­sis­tant up to 120 °C
  • Ap­pro­pri­ate for use in ex­plo­sion-pro­tected areas
  • Over­all di­men­sions from M5 to M18
  • Short and long con­fig­u­ra­tions
  • With and with­out pos­i­tive stop
In the wide range of hydraulic applications, high pressure proximity switches are exposed to many hostile environments.

Long service life even under difficult environmental conditions

Hygienic sensors

Our hy­gienic sen­sors are ex­tremely re­sis­tant to abra­sives and ag­gres­sive media, their la­bel­ing is re­sis­tant to abra­sion and chem­i­cals. The lu­mi­nous dis­plays are pro­tected against de­struc­tion and the hous­ing con­struc­tion is op­ti­mized for safe clean­ing. For use in ex­tremely ag­gres­sive en­vi­ron­ments, vari­a­tions com­pletely in PTFE are avail­able.

The fea­tures

  • Stain­less steel hous­ings avail­able, such as 1.4404, 1.4571
  • High chem­i­cal re­sis­tance
  • High de­gree of pro­tec­tion IP67 to IP69K
  • In­creased tem­per­a­ture range avail­able
  • Eco­lab, FDA cer­ti­fi­ca­tions avail­able
  • Safe clean­ing (CIP)
  • Dif­fer­ent mod­els and sizes

Magnetic-field-resistant and weld field immune – for flexible use in harsh conditions

Magnetic-field-resistant inductive sensors

Our mag­netic-field-proof in­duc­tive sen­sors are ideal for use in areas with strong mag­netic fields such as in weld­ing and in­duc­tion hard­en­ing in­stal­la­tions. They are re­sis­tant to mag­netic fields aris­ing from elec­tric weld­ing cur­rents to 25 kA. With their ad­di­tional ce­ramic coat­ing, they are re­sis­tant to metal spat­ters, slag and com­bus­tion residues. This also en­ables the high­est pre­ci­sion work in every area of use. The high ro­bust­ness of our sen­sors can re­duce your main­te­nance costs – and thus de­crease the down time in your fa­cil­i­ties.

The fea­tures

  • Ex­tremely ro­bust
  • Mag­netic-field-re­sis­tant
  • Weld-splat­ter-re­sis­tant
  • Re­sis­tant to abra­sive media and clean­ing agents
  • Dif­fer­ent mod­els and sizes
Magnetic-field-resistant inductive sensors
Magnetic-field-resistant inductive sensors are insensitive to magnetic fields arising from electric welding currents to 25 kA (at a distance of approx. 5 cm from current-carrying conductors).

The most robust devices for extreme applications

Inductive sensors with stainless steel housing and sensor front

Bal­luff’s es­pe­cially re­sis­tant stain­less steel in­duc­tive sen­sors are cus­tom de­vel­oped for use in very harsh en­vi­ron­ments. Hous­ing and sen­sor front man­u­fac­tured from stain­less steel. The ro­bust ac­tive sur­face is re­sis­tant to im­pacts as well as me­chan­i­cal stresses and abra­sive media. For use in weld­ing ap­pli­ca­tions, we offer ad­di­tional va­ri­eties with PTFE and ce­ramic coat­ing against weld­ing spat­ter. The ex­treme re­silience of our sen­sors can re­duce your main­te­nance costs – and thus in­crease the avail­abil­ity of your fa­cil­i­ties.

The fea­tures

  • Ex­tremely ro­bust
  • High switch­ing dis­tance
  • Fac­tor 1 sen­sors and se­lec­tive sen­sors (fer­rous/non-fer­rous)
  • Re­sis­tant to abra­sive media and clean­ing agents
  • Dif­fer­ent mod­els and sizes
Stainless steel faced inductive sensors
Stainless steel faced inductive sensors with selective response ignore ferrous or non-ferrous metals, depending on the version.

For extreme applications up to 160 °C

Temperature-resistant sensors

Our tem­per­a­ture-re­sis­tant sen­sors are de­signed for tem­per­a­tures to 160 °C. The hous­ing as well as the cable con­struc­tion are op­ti­mized for higher tem­per­a­tures,with the elec­tron­ics com­pletely in­te­grated. Some vari­a­tions are avail­able as high pres­sure sen­sors which makes use even more flex­i­ble, there­fore you re­duce main­te­nance costs, in­crease your process qual­ity and op­ti­mize your sys­tem avail­abil­ity.

The fea­tures

  • No sens­ing dis­tance drift under tem­per­a­ture
  • Tem­per­a­ture ranges up to 160 °C avail­able
  • High de­gree of pro­tec­tion to IP68
  • Stain­less steel hous­ing 1.4571
  • Avail­able in dif­fer­ent mod­els and sizes
High temperature-resistant sensors
The ultra-high temperature-resistant inductive sensors can be used in temperature ranges up to +160 °C. These sensors are ideally suited to harsh environments in the steel industry, in plastic injection molding machines and in forging and foundry processes.

Globally proven solutions for controlling, positioning and monitoring

Our in­duc­tive Global sen­sors for ob­ject de­tec­tion in metal areas are ro­bust and re­li­able. With a wide range of over 500 se­ries, we offer the right in­duc­tive sen­sor for every ap­pli­ca­tion.

The tech­nol­ogy, which is in use world­wide, has an op­ti­mum price/per­for­mance ratio and can also be de­liv­ered in large quan­ti­ties in a short amount of time.

The fea­tures

  • Cylin­dri­cal sen­sors in Ø 6,5 mm, M8, M12, M18, M30 and cuboid de­sign 40 × 40 mm
  • Shielded and un­shielded ver­sions
  • Flush ranges up to 15 mm
  • Non-flush ranges up to 30 mm
  • Con­nec­tor or cable con­nec­tion
Inductive Global sensors

Powerful and compact for position sensing in rough environments

Inductive mini-sensors

In­duc­tive mini-sen­sors guar­an­tee po­si­tion sens­ing in rough en­vi­ron­ments and in the tight­est of spaces. This is be­cause their elec­tron­ics are fully in­te­grated, mak­ing ex­ter­nal am­pli­fiers un­nec­es­sary.

Their low weight of 0.7 g per­mits ap­pli­ca­tions with ex­treme ac­cel­er­a­tions. Pick-and-Place is easy to achieve as a re­sult.

In­duc­tive mini-sen­sors from Bal­luff are easy to in­stall and can also be fully in­te­grated into slim as­sem­blies. As a re­sult, using them for po­si­tion sens­ing is pos­si­ble where there had never been space for a sen­sor be­fore. And as­sem­blies can be fur­ther re­duced in size.

Minia­tur­iza­tion and slen­der de­signs

Bal­luff pro­vides mini-sen­sors with par­tic­u­larly small di­am­e­ters: 3 mm, 4 mm and 5 mm. With a hous­ing length of only 6 mm, our com­pact mini-sen­sors are the short­est in­duc­tive sen­sors on the mar­ket.

The fea­tures

  • Po­si­tion sens­ing in rough en­vi­ron­ments, in the tight­est of spaces
  • The most com­pact mini-sen­sors on the mar­ket: can be fully in­te­grated
  • Low weight for ex­treme ac­cel­er­a­tions
  • Un­sur­pass­edly slen­der and un­beat­ably short
  • Op­ti­mal price/per­for­mance ratio
Inductive mini-sensors applications
Inductive mini-sensors permit extremely fast accelerations in Pick-and-Place applications.

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