Does Omron have any Optical Sensors that can measure very small displacement?

Z4D-C01 is a micro-displacement sensor that applies the principle of triangulation. It is composed of an infrared LED, a PSD (position sensing device) element, and a processing circuit. When the distance of the sensing object changes, the position of the center of gravity of the light entering the PSD element changes (see below). This change of the position is outputted as an analog output (voltage). The detection range is 6.5 mm ±1 mm with a high resolution of ±10 μm. In addition, due to its detection principle and division processing, it has characteristics that are not easily affected by the reflectance of the sensing object. Typical applications include double-feed detection of paper and banknotes as well as measurement of sheet thickness in printers, printing machines, and ATMs. The thickness of copier paper and banknote varies but is about 100 μm. For product details, see Z4D-C01 datasheet.

Micro-displacement sensor Z4D-C01 has an optical design that receives diffuse reflection light from the surface of the sensing object. If the object’s surface is glossy, the reflected light may not enter the light-receiving aperture and cannot be detected. If there is more than one type of object you want to detect, perform a thorough evaluation of all objects. If the output is not stable for a sensing object with a slightly higher glossiness (less diffuse reflection), changing the angle of the sensing object to allow reflected light to enter the sensor’s receiving aperture may help.