ACCURACY / REPEATABILITY TEST OF SICK SENSORS

Three sensors were selected for testing DT20-P214B, DT20-P130B and OD2-P120.
All units have a 4 20mA analogue output. Each unit was tested on different coloured
backgrounds, Black, Grey, White and Raw Board.
The first unit, DT20-P130B is a basic unit with no calibration adjustment and a set
measurement range of 90 600mm. Actual testing range was 100 557mm as above
this distance, the unit was above full-scale output. This unit has a stated accuracy of
+/- 4mm. The output value was calculated for each distance and the actual value for
each distance on each background was plotted. Results are tabulated below:Output Current
Distance White
Grey
100
4.06
150
6.07
200
7.99
250
9.87
300
11.76
350
13.52
400
15.37
450
17.09
500
18.78
550
20.42
557
20.50

Raw Board Black

4.34
3.86
6.23
5.86
8.07
7.71
9.99
9.52
12.00
11.32
13.77
13.12
15.73
15.01
17.54
16.59
19.26
18.25
20.50
19.74
20.50
19.98

Calculated
4.19
4.00
6.11
5.60
7.95
7.20
9.71
8.80
11.52
10.40
13.29
12.00
15.01
13.60
16.53
15.20
18.22
16.80
19.66
18.40
19.78
20.00

20.00
19.00
18.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
14.00

White

13.00

Grey

12.00

Raw Board

11.00

Black

10.00

Calculated

9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
Distance

250

450

The second unit , P214B is a more advanced unit with calibration adjustment and an
adjustable measurement range set to 100 600mm. This unit has a stated accuracy of
+/- 2mm The output value was calculated for each distance and the actual value for
each distance on each background was plotted. Results are tabulated below:Output Current
Distance White Grey Raw Board Black Calculated
100
4.02
4.00
4.00
4.01
4.00
150
5.61
5.62
5.63
5.62
5.60
200
7.21
7.22
7.20
7.21
7.20
250
8.80
8.81
8.80
8.82
8.80
300 10.42 10.41
10.41 10.41
10.40
350 12.00 12.00
12.03 12.02
12.00
400 13.60 13.60
13.62 13.62
13.60
450 15.20 15.21
15.22 15.21
15.20
500 16.81 16.81
16.80 16.80
16.80
550 18.42 18.40
18.40 18.41
18.40
600 20.01 19.99
19.99 20.01
20.00

20.00
19.00
18.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
14.00

White

13.00

Grey

12.00

Raw Board

11.00

Black

10.00

Calculated

9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
Distance

250

450

The third unit, OD2-P120 is also an advanced unit with calibration adjustment but
with a limited measurement range of 60 180mm. This unit has a stated accuracy of
+/- 300um. The output value was calculated for each distance and the actual value for
each distance on each background was plotted. Results are tabulated below:Output Current
Distance White
Grey
Raw Board Black Calculated
60
3.96
3.90
3.97
3.85
4.00
80
6.66
6.53
6.60
6.44
6.67
100
9.32
9.22
9.30
9.04
9.33
120
11.99
11.87
11.97 11.79
12.00
140
14.70
14.57
14.63 14.39
14.67
160
17.35
17.15
17.30 17.03
17.33
180
19.96
19.91
19.97 19.68
20.00

20.00
19.00
18.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
14.00

White

13.00

Grey

12.00

Raw Board

11.00

Black

10.00

Calculated

9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
Distance

120

CONCLUSION
As can be seen by the charts, there is some variation in the output current depending
on the colour of the surface. The worst performer was the first unit, which tended to
output a higher current than expected the greater the distance from the object, the
worst case being Grey at 300mm with an error of 15%
The second unit was very accurate, repeatable and linear. The greatest error
encountered was on Raw Board at 150mm with an error of just 0.5%.
The third unit, the unit with the highest resolution, gave good results and was quite
linear over the limited range it operated over. The highest error was 3.75%, but this
was at the minimum sensing distance of 60mm.
Some of the inaccuracies can be attributed to the measurement procedure. As the
second unit was the only one with the ability to display the actual distance being
measured, the other units had to be positioned next to a tape measure to be able to
repeat the distances for each colour. Even allowing for any inaccuracies in the
positioning, the first unit still displayed consistent scaling errors on each colour.
On each unit, a datum on the body was chosen to align with the tape measure
to achieve a reasonable repeatability. The second units display appeared to read
approx. 3-4mm low compared to the tape measure value read from the datum. In
saying that, it is unknown exactly where within the body of the sensor it is measuring
from, so the 3-4mm could be the distance from the datum to the internal sensing
device, however the offset was consistent over the total distance being measured.
Although the third unit has a resolution of 300um, it is not a requirement for
this project. The second units accuracy of 2mm is sufficient for this project and
considering a $300 differential is therefore financially the better choice as well as
consistently better. It also has a greater sensing range as well as a digital readout and
ease of use.

Allan Kitchingman