These sensors allow you to detect moving or motionless objects, temperature distribution, thermal image, and moving direction by measuring the temperature as a person or object moves nearer or further away from the sensor. As the distance from the sensor increases, the field of view expands but angular size appears smaller. As the proximity to the sensor narrows, the sensor can detect accurate temperature and shape.

Secondly, if you can recognise normal operating conditions you can also see when machinery isn’t functioning as well as it should. For example, a higher-than-average operating current could tell you that a motor has been overloaded. This insight means you can schedule maintenance when it’s actually needed rather than pay for routine inspections. You can also fix potential problems straight away and keep unplanned downtime to a minimum.

Motion sensors pick up on physical movement – whether that’s a person, animal or object – in a given area and transform that information into an electric signal. Motion detection has been used in the security industry for years to alert businesses to intruders. They’re found in appliances we use every day, like automatic doors, toilet flushes and hand dryers. And they can also be used to automate building controls like heating and lighting depending on whether or not a space is occupied – helping to reduce both energy consumption and running costs.

For a range of reasons, including safety, security and energy efficiency, it’s useful to know what’s going on around your building at any one time. Building monitoring using contact sensors lets you see the live status of doors and windows around your building, including doors on cupboards, cabinets and fridges. You can automatically detect unlocked doors or cabinets, open or broken windows or a presence in a room, and automate building controls based on live occupancy.

Motion or occupancy sensors work by detecting infrared energy or by sending out ultrasonic waves or radio waves and measuring their reflection off a moving object. We currently supply under-desk passive infrared (PIR) motion sensors. This small, wireless device two slots made of a material that’s sensitive to infrared light. When the sensor is idle, both slots detect the same amount of ambient infrared radiation. When a person enters the sensor’s field of view, the movement reaches one half of the sensor before the other. It’s this change between the radiation detected by the two slots that tells the sensor someone is present.