Best way to measure Linear position on a water cooled abrasive cutoff machin

[Jochen]

If you are really interested in an answer to this question please provide some details.

Best regards,

Jochen Klier
National Instruments Germany

[Esmith413]

I had a nice description typed up... I dont know why it didn't post with the message.  Anyway, the machine is an abrasive cutter using 14"-16" inch blades.  As it cuts through material pieces of the blade and the material are flying around, as well as water being dumped at 20gpm onto the blade and part.  I need some way to measure the distance from the blade to the piece being cut so as to provide better automated control.  It is nessecary to measure this distance everytmie because each cut that is performed removes some of the balde so the distance is always changing.  Just wondering if anyone has any ideas.  Thanks.

[Jochen]

Sounds like you don't want to be around when this machine is running . Anyway, the only type of sensor that I could imagine to work reliably in this type of environment is an ultrasonic sensor. As I haven't worked with these kind of sensors before I can't give you an advise which vendor to choose but Google returns a bunch of results when you search for "ultrasonic distance sensor"

Best regards,

Jochen Klier
National Instruments Germany

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

Without the detailed problem description, I can't tell for sure if they would suffice, but how about laser displacement sensors? Keyence is a major manufacturer of such devices. Long standoffs, high resolution, small spot size, fast response.