New Distributorship Agreement for Quadratec

[11/12/2015]
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Options for force sensing solutions are on the increase at Quadratec. To add to the long running distributorship arrangement with Pressure Profile Systems in the USA, Quadratec have recently secured a new distributor agreement with OptoForce Ltd in Hungary.

Offering a new type of technology, based upon Optical force sensing, the OptoForce product range promises to open up new possibilities in automation.

The concept is based upon a hemispherical structure around which the exterior can be customised to suit the application.

In optical force sensors, photodiodes are used to measure the amount of reflected light originally emitted by an LED. By comparing the measured values on each photodiode the acting forces can be precisely reconstructed - and not just their magnitude, but also their direction.

The sensing surface is made of silicone, of which there are a number of hardness options to suit the application. Whilst silicone can often be perceived as a “gel” type material and therefore compliant on positioning precision, the silicone grades available are perfect for such applications.

For example the smallest deflection that can be measured is around a few hundred nanometers, whilst the maximum deformation of the sensors is between 1-3mm depending on the silicone utilised.

Non-linearity, which is defined as the maximum error from an ideal linear output on the total measurement range, spans from 1% - 5% depending on the sensor model. Upon request though, integrated software compensation in the DAQ can improve this to 0.1% - 1.5%.

Potential applications (amongst many)

Automated grinding, polishing and finishing machining operations with force control
Robotic assembly
Guiding and teaching of robots
Collaborative robots
Collision detection – safety features
Automated fruit picking and ripeness detection
Research robot facilities
Robotic hands and feet force sensing

Shown below are a number of individual sensor format options that can provide a 3-axis force sensor as standard or a 6-axis force and torque sensor when configured in an array.