Are your sensors at fault?

The cause of many stalled bottle faults are fiber optic sensors that are either out of alignment or faulty. When this is the case, the microprocessor or PLC in the stalled bottle detection system thinks the sensor is being blocked and will issue a stalled bottle fault. There are some simple checks you can make to determine if this is causing a failure.

Locate the fiber optic amplifiers used in the stalled bottle detection. With nothing between the two fiber optic sensors the amplifier should only have the green LED illuminated. If there is no bottle between the two sensors and both the green and red LED lights are illuminated, there is a fault condition.

o The first check is ensuring the fiber optic sensor cables are seated all the way into the amplifier. Remove the fiber optic sensor from the amplifier. Using a fiber optic cutter trim the end of the cable. Put the fiber optic sensor cables back into the amplifier and ensure that they are seated all the way in.

o The second check is the alignment of the two fiber optic sensor cables. Loosen one of the fiber optic sensor cables. Move the cable up and down, observing the fiber optic amplifier. If the red

LED light goes out, tighten the nut that attaches the fiber optic sensor to the bracket. If it does not go out, make the last check.

o The final step is to replace your fiber optic sensor cables. These often get bumped and damaged by line operators. When they are bumped, they often crack at the point where the fiber optic sensor cable meets the metal ferrule mounted to the sensor bracket. To strengthen this point we are currently using a through-hole standoff that threads over the cable and ferrule union.

E-mail your questions to service@pillartech.com, or call (888) PILLAR-6 (888-745-5276) x309.