What type of sensor triggers actions when sensor and its target are directly looking at each other.
“Directly looking at each other” condition (sensor and it’s target) is for preventing sensors from reacting to other targets that will be in close proximity (about 70mm (3 inches) apart).
There are 3 or 4 pairs of sensor-target sets operating at about 70mm (3 inches) between sets.
Distance between each sensor and its target is about 600mm (24 inches).
There are many metal and non-metal parts that are not to be considered target (sensor should not react to them). Each sensor should respond to its designated target only.
Many thanks in advance for help.
I am not a control engineer.
You can use Infrared (IR) Sensors (Active or Reflective). Active IR sensors emit infrared light and measure the reflection of that light when it strikes a target. Reflective sensors are designed to detect the presence of a specific target when it’s within the sensor’s range and line-of-sight.
To confirm, will the sensors always have line of sight to each other or will these other objects you describe be between the emitter and detector? That will change the technology immensely.
At times there will be some objects between emitter and its detector, and other times won’t.
However, regardless of an object being between an emitter and its respective detectors, the sensor should only react when emitter and its respective detector align fully (directly look at each other, like seeing each other in a mirror).
I am away from my computer now, tomorrow I’ll creat a drawing. That might help.
If there are going to be objects between the two blades even when they should trigger, that kind of eliminates any sensors which require line of sight like infrared, laser or ultrasonic. Even radar would not really “know”. As such, you might just add a linear potentiometer (or a customer potentiometer) to each blade so it knows its position along one axis and triggers when they are both at the same position (in code).
