Ya that would work well for sure. I have ultrasonic sensors on hand can you see any issues with them? I am going to look up some garage door ir sensors as well, they are made to last so would be a good fit.
john2323:
Sorry for the delay in my response, was busy with my day jobSo I have decided on a ultrasonic sensor to detect some of the functions like the product dropping.... I think the IR is a great idea as its cheap but I am worried about range. I may have 8 products in a row with a gap of a few feet for the drop tray. Can you idea work with that distance?
Why don't you just collect the products at the point they drop? These are steadily coming at production speed?
Are different products supposed to go in the same bin/box?
If the 8 products slide down 8 separated lines, you can have them in rows and drop as many as are needed of each onto a chute to the box, stop and position the next box, drop more, stop, repeat. As long as you can fill boxes faster than made parts can fill the slides, it can work since you can stop parts from leaving the slide. That is IF the parts can slide, you don't need a belt.