Distance measurement when sawing wooden walls for prefabricated houses

Description

Wooden walls for prefabricated houses are to be sawed in lengths of up to 18 m with an accuracy of 1 mm. Up to now, a built-in, wire-actuated encoder has been used for distance measurements in this system. The encoder is, however, often defective. A better solution – one which is not affected by the large amount of wood dust generated during sawing – is therefore sought. Moreover, the new solution must satisfy the accuracy requirements even at the maximum range.

Solution

The AMS 200i optical distance measurement system is used. This sensor was chosen because it operates contactlessly and can be integrated directly in the PROFIBUS infrastructure. To prevent interference from dust, the sensor lens is cleaned by means of an air stream. This also prevents further dust accumulations.