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Application of Fixed Industrial Barcode Scanner in Industrial 4.0

Release Time:2016-06-16

Fixed industrial barcode scanner in the application of industrial 4.0, "industrial 4.0" concept is gradually popular, some manufacturing enterprises began to enter the project implementation stage, from the concept to practice shows that: "industrial 4.0" involves the intelligent factory, intelligent production and intelligent logistics these three themes, all of them need the support of multi-source information perception, product identification and tracking (RFID, barcode/two-dimensional code identification and reading), field communication (industrial Ethernet, Modbus, PROFINET, CAN, etc.), industrial robots, system software, big data and other technologies.

In the aspect of product identification and tracking, because bar code/two-dimensional code has the characteristics of low cost, high reliability and ease of use (for example, some products are marked by direct parts marking two-dimensional code, DPM), bar code/two-dimensional code and its identification and reading technology have become the main product identification and tracking means in the process of modern manufacturing supply chain and production control management, and are widely used in high-level resource management planning systems (such as ERP), or the manufacturing execution system (such as MES) in the middle layer, and the production control system (such as SCADA) in the bottom layer to obtain accurate and real-time information about the material in-process and finished products.

In the process of bar code/two-dimensional code reading, the traditional manual entry method has been unable to meet the needs of large-scale automated industrial production due to its low efficiency and low accuracy. Therefore, a more specialized and highly automated bar code/two-dimensional code identification, reading and barcode scanner equipment-image-type fixed industrial bar code reader is needed.

Category and comparison of barcode reading equipment

2.1 categories of barcode reading devices

Bar code reader (also known as bar code scanner, bar code scanning gun, bar code scanner, bar code scanning gun and bar code reader, etc.), it is used to read the information contained in the bar code reading equipment, the use of optical principle, the bar code The content of the decoding is transmitted to the computer, server or other equipment, device through the communication interface. Widely used in supermarkets, logistics express, libraries and other scanning goods, documents bar code. The structure of the bar code reader usually includes these parts: light source, receiving device, photoelectric conversion component, decoding circuit, communication interface.

Ordinary bar code readers usually use the following four technologies: light pen, CCD, laser, image type red light. The specific classification criteria are:

(1) According to the use and installation method, it can be divided into two types: handheld and fixed;

(2) According to the optical type, it is mainly divided into two types: image type and laser type.

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Comparison of 2.2 Handheld and Fixed Barcode Readers

Handheld bar code reader used in many fields, this kind of bar code reader is particularly suitable for bar code size diversity, read complex occasions, bar code shape is not regular applications. The fixed bar code reader does not need to be held by human hands when scanning, and is suitable for labor-saving, manual labor-intensive (such as scanning settlement tables in supermarkets) or unmanned automatic identification applications.

In the field of industrial automation, hand-held bar code readers need to be manually aligned with the bar code for reading, and the speed is slow and the degree of automation is low. These shortcomings make it unable to meet the needs of industrial production. The fixed barcode reader does not require manual operation, and the information in the barcode can be automatically read when the product or component with the barcode passes through the effective scanning area of the scanner. For the articles on the industrial conveyor belt, it can be fully automatic scanning without manual intervention; for the articles handled manually, it can also be made to pass through the effective scanning range of the fixed scanner naturally on the moving route to complete the scanning action.

The main disadvantage of fixed bar code readers is the high initial investment cost. However, with the gradual development of industrial automation level, especially the concept of "smart industry" and "industrial 4.0", and the introduction of industrial Internet of Things technology, the cost of fixed bar code readers (fixed bar code readers) continues to decrease, which will promote the rapid increase of market share of fixed bar code readers in the field of industrial bar code identification and reading.