I have a situation where I need to purchase and install a safaty light curtain. I think that DIY would be cheaper and more fun way to do this.
for simplicity, lets say that I have a square that is 5ft by 5ft by 5ft that needs to have this curtain. So that any object that passes inside this square sets off an alarm.
I am looking at either using ultra sonic distance sensors mounted about 5" apart or reflective IR sensors.
has anyone used arduino for this application? what would be the best way to go about this?
No but I've installed light curtains for factory automation and they use IR sensors. There is a code it displays to tell you which sensors are not aligned so you may want incorporate that feature.
That is a good idea so that I don't get wrong readings and that it is fully protected.
Does anyone know how wide is the ultrasonic sensor and IR sensor? If i'm not mistaking the furter away from the distance sensor the wider the range ends up...