SICK CSS: the innovative color sensor with dynamic touch and color range

Until now, color detection was a tough task: the color sensor had to be very close to the object to be detected and maintain a fixed distance from the object. With the new CSS color sensors, SICK opens the door to much more flexibility. Thanks to their innovative automatic probing distance control and high resolution, they register the smallest color nuances at varying probing distances.

The new color sensor CSS comes in two versions. The CSS High Resolution captures color nuances that cannot be seen with the eye, and does so accurately at sensing distances of up to 500 mm. This also makes the High Resolution variant an attractive option for those environments where colors must be perceived very precisely, for example in the graphics and paint industries. For environments where it comes down to production speed, SICK offers the CSS High Speed. This sensor convinces with its high switching frequency and fast color registration.

The CSS sensors are equipped with a TFT color display that not only shows the color values in RGB or L*a*b, but also indicates whether the detected color matches the taught one.

Via the IO-Link interface, up to 24 colors per identification command (job) can be transferred and stored externally. This increases process flexibility. Thanks to the application-specific setup help, each CSS can be installed quickly and easily via the SOPAS software. Good to know: at the CSS High Speed simple data transfer of up to 15 colors is also possible without interfaces such as IO-Link.

Core information

• Innovative color sensor with dynamic color range and automatic probe distance control
• Detects color nuances and can handle varying sensing distances and materials with coarse surface texture
• High color resolution
• Sensing distances: CSS High Resolution 50 to 500 mm; CSS High Speed 13 or 60 mm
• Switching frequency: CSS High Resolution 4kHz; CSS High Speed 13.8 kHz
• Response time: 120 µs
• Output of color values (L*a*b/RGB) and matches between detected and learned color
• Teaching to single color (accurate) or value-added color (robust)
• Distance measurement to object in mm via IO-Link available (High Resolution)
• Up to 24 colors per jobs
• IO-Link interface, setup assistance via SOPAS
• TFT color screen
• Applications: sorting objects based on color, quality control of production or printing processes, object detection