Ready-to-use social distance people counter monitoring system

RS Components offers the availability of the PC-10 People Counter from miniature PLC manufacturer BARTH Elektronik GmbH. Formerly designed as a maker project to assist social distancing through the COVID-19 pandemic, a ready-to-use version has now been created to allow customers to quickly ‘plug-and-count’.

The device monitors the amount of people entering and leaving a room and employs a simple traffic light display coupled with a buzzer to control the flow. This is extremely beneficial in environments such as catering, retail, pharmacies or service providers, where the number of people in confined spaces can make managing the safe recommended distance from others challenging.

The whole system is presented in a heavy-duty aluminium enclosure (350mm length x 360mm width x 1180mm height), with a stainless-steel base and weighing 12kg. This houses two SICK visible light barrier beam sensors that identify the direction of movement, along with a lococube BARTH mini-PLC STG-800, which offers a CAN bus and five I/O interfaces. The device can operate offline, and so needs no internet connection, continuously calculates the number of people moving in and out of the room in real-time. A password-protected BARTH DMA-15 2.4in CAN colour HMI touch screen is placed on the rear of the unit and provides the user interface, enabling store owners to pre-set the maximum people limit. The PLC also drives five 12V/3W power LED modules included, that work as a ‘traffic light’ system, illuminating Go in green when access is granted and Stop in red when access is denied. The buzzer, also located on the rear, serves as an audio alert.

The device is quick and easy to install in as little as five minutes. Power is supplied by a DC connector that plugs into the 12V AC/DC power adaptor. A 90-230VAC mains socket is sufficient for operation.