Small object counter

Banner Engineering has introduced the D10 Expert Small Object Counter, designed for high-performance, small object counting to solve a variety of applications, including: pharmaceutical pill, tablet and gel cap counting; agricultural seed counting; process verification; and verifying product flow from the nozzle of a chute.

The counter consists of a specialised sensor paired with preconfigured PFVCA fibre-optic arrays, creating a two-dimensional sensing field in which objects are readily detected upon breaking any point of the array. This arrangement makes alignment easier and object positioning less critical, giving reliable, consistent small object counting with response times as fast as 150 µs.

Three major features - Dynamic Event Stretcher (DES), Automatic Compensation and Health Mode Alarm - make this counter a suitable solution for challenging small object counting applications.

DES prevents double-counting translucent gel caps and similar small objects. Both the front and end edge of the object breaking the fibre-optic array could activate a traditional sensor, thus counting the object twice. With DES, the sensor will detect the front edge of the object and then stretch the duration of that detection event, giving the object time to pass through the array being counted again.

Automatic Compensation allows the sensor to adapt the switching threshold to its environment in real time. Small changes due to dust or contamination on the fibre optic array or small changes caused by ambient temperature shifts are filtered out by the microcontroller, providing consistent, repeatable results.

Health Mode Alarm monitors the sensor’s performance and alerts operators when preventative maintenance should be scheduled to ensure continuous, reliable operation.