Anti-bacterial sensor

Omron has introduced what it claims is the first inductive proximity sensor with a special anti-bacterial housing, helping food and pharmaceuticals processors in their efforts to reduce the risk of contamination.

The housing has been developed in cooperation with plastics specialist Ensinger, and actively reduces the number of bacteria and germs on its housing through an FDA approved additive.

Food processing is an industry characterised by a focus on hygiene and absolute cleanliness, but even so micro-organisms can quickly build up on equipment after extended periods of downtime, whilst bacteria can flourish in mechanical troublespots on products and systems - such as threads, indents and corners.

This increases the risk of contamination of the foods being produced, especially where washdown procedures are not 100% effective. But with the launch of the anti-microbial E2F-D family of inductive proximity sensors, Omron has developed a sensing solution that actively combats the formation of bacteria, so reducing the risk of food contamination.

Effective against a broad range of micro-organisms as bacteria, fungi, algae and viruses, the microbe-reducing performance of the material has been thoroughly tested, but can be most easily demonstrated by looking at the effects of simply touching the housing with an unprotected finger. The multitude of germs and bacteria that are instantly transferred to the housing are almost completely removed after 12 hours.