A novel Gripper LED sensor for printing applications has been launched on to the UK and Irish markets. It has been designed to compete on price withtraditional mechanical counters yet offers the performance of an advanced laser design.

The sensor has been introduced by Denex Systems Technology AB,one of the pioneers of laser sensor counting systems.
Founder and managing director, Christer Olsson, explained, "The new sensor design will help the printing industry overcome the inherent disadvantages of mechanical sensing systems." These are wear, high maintance, component failure and uncertain accuracy. Instead the Gripper LED design has an accuracy better than one copy in 100,000 while its non-contact technology eliminates wear and maintenance problems.
The Gripper LED sensor design is suitable for both existing and new large printing- and mailroom applications. When incorporated into sophisticated information systems, for example, the sensor can contribute to better overall control of production processes by providing accurate information, says Olsson. This helps reduce waste and cuts paper costs that can have a significant effect on profits. Olsson also points out that the average payback time for any of the company's products is normally less than one year.
Benefits from laser design
The advanced technology developed by Denex for its top range laser counters has been exploited in this design. The laser has been replaced by a light emitting diode (LED) that emits a focussed beam of light onto the edge of copies travelling along a gripper conveyor. The reflection of the spot of light hitting the paper is detected by two light sensors mounted above the moving paper stream. The reflected light beam is interrupted as the edge of the paper moves so allowing the in-built electronics to count individual copies.
The sensors are designed to count thick or thin copies without adjustments, giving a wide operating range and are insensitive to colour paper or print. Olsson says that the average lifetime of the sensors are in the region of 50,000 hours.
Denex was the first company to introduce laser counting technology for counting newspaper copies in 1980. Indeed it has several patents on the technique. Today, it is estimated that the company has around 70 per cent of the world market in this type of counting system and has a group turnover of around SEK 25 million.
Along with its patented counting technology, this Swedish technology also offers the printing industry information management systems that combine its counting technology with sophisticated software.

Caption: Combining low cost light emitting diodes with its patented non-contact sensing technology, the Gripper LED device can compete with traditional mechanical counters but has superior performance.






For more information contact:
Cross Graphics Limited
Phil Barton-Carroll, rep. in the UK and Ireland
2 The Old School House
George Street
Hemel Hempstead
Herts HP2 5HJ England
Phone: 01442 216 868
Fax: 01442 246 349