As our second week assignment we needed to research and test Break Beam sensor and VNCL4010.

Break Beam

IR Break Beam Sensor with Premium Wire Header Ends - 5mm LEDs

Break beam sensor is a simple sensor.

Basically it has an emitter component and a receiver component. So we connected this with Arduino easily.

Here are the specifications on the data sheet.

• Sensing Distance: Approx 25cm / 10"
• Transmitter/Receiver LED Angle: 10°
• Response Time: <2 ms so fast

Then we tested out if the spec correct.

Actually the sensing distance the data sheet mentions is quite different from our experiment.

In our experiment, we can still use them for 19 inches.

I assume the data sheet spec depends on the temperature, humidity and air pressure.

Then we discussed the pros / cons and applications.