Alpha Reader

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Simple, reliable, and maintenance-free. Made up of 100%, off the shelf hardware, the Alpha Reader is just what your system needs to keep track of carriers. With no fancy circuitry, your upgrades will follow your plant PLC upgrade path. 

What's in the box

Alpha Reader control cabinet

1 IFM wiring block

1 Banner emitter

3 Banner receivers

extruded aluminum mounting brackets and hardware

Installation

An Alpha Control Systems engineer will assist you in determining the precise locations for your Alpha Readers. The quantity of readers is based on the I/O capabilities of your PLC. The Alpha Reader uses a reset, that can be either hardwired into your system control cabinet, or it can be programed to send a soft reset via ethernet. Begin by mounting the Alpha Reader control cabinet near the main control cabinet of the system. After the extruded aluminum frame is assembled and attached to the conveyor, mount the emitter and three receivers to the mounting brackets. The mounting brackets attach to the frame at the required height. Connect the emitter and receivers to the wiring block. Each Alpha Reader requires only one cable to be ran from the wiring block back to control cabinet. The final step is to mount an Alpha Reader code plate to each carrier. Each code plate will be designed specifically for your system.  

How it works

To begin the sequence, the probe pin of the carrier triggers the proximity sensor and resets the photoeyes. As the code plate traverses between the emitter and receivers, the photoeyes identify the layout of the code plate and sends the signal to the PLC in the Alpha Reader control cabinet. The PLC interprets the correct ID number, and communicates that number to your system controller. 

Control unit hardware options

     i.  Rockwell

    ii.  Siemens

   iii.  Automation Direct