Plural of Giz-mo. A noun. Defined as a gadget, one whose name the speaker does not know. Customers call us and ask for this or that “gizmo” all the time! I think we should consider creating a product category simply called “GIZMOS”.
I like to call these things “Enablers” because these devices are very much helping hands that optimize the function of sensors. A sensor of any brand and manufacturer performs only as well as it’s mounted, matching the fixture to the demands of the application at hand. But how often does this happen in a price-driven world? They often end up in below-par mounting that fails with regularity, in both pristine environments as well as in hostile environments. Some examples:
Here’s one example below. These inductive proximity sensors in plastic brackets, showing an exposed coil on one, with corroded mounts on the sensor caused by being beaten to death during parts loading and heat.
With a few “Gizmos” like an application-specific quick change mount, some care in gapping the sensor and guarding the cable/connector system, it could look much different. Check out the examples below.
Photoelectric sensors can suffer the same fate. In this case, a plastic bodied photoelectric sensor, originally used to replace a fiber optic thru beam pair also suffered abuse. With a little extra beefy mounting, these photoelectric sensors can be expected to last a long time without failure.
There are literally hundreds of these mounting “ENABLERS”, off-the-shelf, cost-effective application specific mounts, guards, actuators and entire systems to help protect your sensor investment. All categories of products have these “enabling” accessories for Magnetic Field (air cylinder), Inductive Proximity, Capacitive, Ultrasonic, Connectivity, Linear Transducer and Photoelectric product categories.
