Smart Sensor – now smarter!
Published on : Thursday 19-03-2020
Digital Evolution in Thermal Management - Smart Sensor CSS 014 IO-Link provides digital temperature and humidity data.
Digitisation covers many areas of industrial production these days. So it was a natural for the Thermal Management experts of STEGO in Schwäbisch Hall to offer a digital version of their Smart Sensor CSS 014 to the market. The compact sensor measures the climatic parameters temperature and humidity, offers its users added value in handling and interconnection and now also converts the data in a standardised digital signal.
Efficient measurement of ambient temperature and humidity in a control cabinet is an important element in preventing the formation of condensation. Corrosion caused by condensate can cause the failure of key components. Not only in control cabinets or enclosures, but also areas and automated processes where temperature and humidity are of importance. The CSS 014 measures the ambient temperature within a range from -40 to +80 °C, and at the same time registers the relative humidity (RH) between 0 and 100 %. Based on this data users get an exact picture of the climate for evaluation of the peripheral environment in their application.
“We decided on the IO-Link protocol as we expect this standard to become well-established in digital machine communication. A big starting help for us to enter the digital world,” is how Peter Witsch, Head of Development at STEGO, comments on the reasons for choosing IO-Link as the communication protocol for their first digital product. IO-Link adds practical connectivity and user-friendliness to the CSS 014. The IO-Link parameterisation software makes it easy to parameterise the Smart Sensor for use in the control cabinet or installation area. Besides the simple switching parameters for temperature and humidity, the device offers additional configurable events, called “event bits”. “Value-added date” is the keyword – and allows the Smart Sensor to be individually adapted to its application. With help of the parameterisation software, the settings can be applied to more CSS 014 sensors. Individualisation and standardisation go hand in hand. Cabling has also been simplified, standardised and is less expensive using unshielded standard cables with M12 connectors. Data generated by the smart sensors can now be read by the user and further processed for intelligent condition monitoring, whether in machine-level PLC’s, proprietary systems or in the cloud.
STEGO Elektrotechnik GmbH, Germany. Tel: +49 (791) 95058-0. Email: [email protected]