Patent attributes
The present invention provides a penetration detecting apparatus which is applicable for various kinds of applications. Although an interval between processing machines and the conveying of an object W is suspended to wait for processing, a muting function of the penetration detecting apparatus is effective. Another feature of the present invention is to provide a penetration detecting apparatus which can avoid the muting function continuously being activated when a trigger sensor for initiating the muting function is malfunctioning. According to the present invention, there is provided a penetration detecting apparatus having a muting function that has a muting terminator for terminating the activated muting function based on the comparison performed by the muting timer and a signal representing a passage of the object provided from a passage sensor when the differential time is within the predetermined criterion, and for terminating the activated muting function based on a signal representing a passage of the object provided from a passage sensor when the differential time is not within the predetermined criterion.
