Wide-Gap Sensor

TT Electronics OPTEK Technology (Carrollton, TX) offers the OPB856Z Series wide-gap optical sensor that includes an emitter-sensor pair. The sensor consists of an LED and a phototransistor designed to operate over distances of 12" in industrial environments. The sensor components are mounted in threaded, color-coded housings; the LED (white housing) and phototransistor (black housing) are designed for panel mount through a 12-mm hole, with a corresponding nut included for each housing. The emitter-sensor pair is designed to electrically mate with a Molex 03-06-2023 connector with either male for the LED or female for the sensor pins.

The emitter uses an LED with a 935-nm peak wavelength, matched to a silicon phototransistor. Electrical performance of the output phototransistor is characterized at collector- emitter voltages of 30 V, emitter-collector voltage of 5 V, and power dissipation of 100 mW. The LED has a maximum continuous forward DC current of 40 mA, a reverse voltage of 2 V, and power dissipation of 100 mW. The on-state collector current for the phototransistor is 1.8 mA minimum. Applications for the sensor include non-contact interruptive object sensing, equipment security, and machine safety.