Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemaelectronic components

Sensors Attributes

Sensors is not one category. Under a single nav node sit inductive and capacitive proximity switches, photoelectric sensors, ultrasonic rangefinders, Hall-effect and reed switches, and pressure, temperature, flow and level transducers. They share a supply voltage and an output stage and little else.

Buyers are controls engineers, OEM machine builders and MRO planners replacing a failed part against a nameplate. They filter on output polarity and body style before reading the description.

Three things make the data hard. The headline number is conditional: rated sensing distance (Sn) under IEC 60947-5-2 is measured against a 1 mm Fe360 mild-steel target, and a real aluminium or 304 target reads far shorter. Variants explode: one family multiplies barrel size, shielding, output polarity, cable-versus-M12-connector, cable length and jacket into hundreds of orderable MPNs separated only by a suffix — and the suffix is the spec. And the specs live in family datasheets, where one PDF matrix covers 200 part numbers with the differences in footnotes.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Sensor Type
enum
Inductive Proximity

The first filter on every rail and the branch that decides which spec set applies. Inductive, photoelectric and pressure sensors share almost no attributes.

Rated Sensing Distance (Sn) / Measuring Range
range · mm / psi / °C by type
4 mm (Sn, Fe360 target)

The headline filter. Valid only against the IEC 60947-5-2 standard target; store the value, the unit and the reference target together.

Output Type
enum
PNP-NO 3-Wire

Decides whether the sensor works with a sinking or sourcing PLC input card. Wrong polarity is the single most common wrong-part return.

Voltage - Supply
range · V DC
10 V ~ 30 V DC

Control panels are 24 V DC; a 10–30 V part drops in, a 5 V board-mount part does not. Also gates 2-wire AC/DC variants.

Package / Case (Body Style)
enum
Cylinder Threaded - M12 x 1

Barrel thread or block size sets the mounting bracket and panel cutout. M12 and M18 are not interchangeable in an existing fixture.

Termination Style
enum
Connector, M12 4-Pin

Fixed cable vs M12 connector changes the install and the BOM: a connector part needs a cordset, a cable part does not.

Operating Temperature
range · °C
-25 °C ~ 70 °C

Gates washdown, weld cells and outdoor use. Suppliers ship °F and °C in the same feed; store min and max as numbers.

Ingress Protection Rating
enum
IP67

IP67 survives washdown splash; IP69K survives high-pressure hot water. Food and beverage buyers filter this first and will not accept a blank.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
E2B-M12KS04-WP-B1 2M

The only reliable key across supplier feeds, datasheets and cross-reference tools. Option suffixes encode cable length and output — never truncate them.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
GTIN-13, stored 14-digit zero-padded

How aggregators and marketplaces match your listing to the same physical part. No GTIN means the SKU never merges into a comparison.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Shielding (Flush Mountable)
enum
Shielded (flush mountable)

Shielded sensors mount flush in metal; unshielded need a clear zone and read longer. Wrong choice means false triggering in the bracket.

Material - Body
enum
Stainless Steel 316L

Nickel-plated brass corrodes in washdown; 316L stainless does not. Plastic bodies survive weld-spatter fields that brass does not.

Accuracy / Repeatability
number · % FS / % of Sn
±0.25 % FS; ±3 % of Sn

Measuring sensors are bought on accuracy (% FS); switching sensors on repeatability (% of Sn). Both are compared spec-to-spec across brands.

Communication Interface
enum
IO-Link v1.1 (COM3)

IO-Link parts carry parameters and diagnostics over the same 3-wire cable. Integrators filter for it and need the version and COM mode before buying.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

RoHS / REACH Status
enum
RoHS3 Compliant; No SVHC > 0.1%

EU-bound orders and most OEM BOM gates reject parts with no declared status. Track REACH SVHC separately from RoHS.

Product Lifecycle Status
enum
Active

Active, NRND, Last Time Buy or Obsolete decides whether an engineer can design it in. Stale status is how a customer's BOM dies mid-build.

Country of Origin / HTS Code
identifier
JP; HTS 8536.50; ECCN EAR99

Drives duty, tariff exposure and customs paperwork on every cross-border line. Quoted without it, landed cost is a guess.

Hazardous Area Certification
enum
ATEX II 1G Ex ia IIC T4 Ga

Zone 0/20 installs will not accept a part with no Ex marking. Buyers in oil, gas, grain and chemical filter on it and will not substitute.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most sensors catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Target Material Correction Factor

Manufacturer datasheets print a correction table (Fe360 1.0, 304 stainless ~0.7, brass ~0.5, aluminium ~0.4, copper ~0.3). Distributor catalogs carry only the single Sn number.

A 4 mm sensor spec'd against an aluminium target switches near 1.6 mm. It ships, never triggers, and comes back as a warranty return, not a restock.

Competitor signal
+ Cable Length and Jacket Material

Competitor rails let buyers filter cable length and PVC/PUR/PTFE jacket. Most catalogs bury both in the MPN suffix ('...-B1 2M') and the datasheet ordering matrix.

Buyer needing 5 m PUR for a drag chain gets 2 m PVC. PVC cracks under flexing and cutting oil — a field failure weeks after the return window.

Marketplace signal
+ IO-Link Version, COM Mode and IODD Reference

IODDfinder publishes vendor ID, device ID and the IODD file for every IO-Link device. Distributor catalogs at best carry a yes/no 'IO-Link' feature flag with no version or IODD link.

Integrator cannot confirm master compatibility before ordering, so the RFQ goes to whoever publishes the IODD. The part is never evaluated.

Supplier signal
+ Wetted / Port Material and Media Compatibility

Pressure sensor datasheets name the wetted parts (316L diaphragm, brass port, FKM seal) and the media they tolerate. Catalogs publish the pressure range and stop there.

A brass-port sensor sold into an ammonia or seawater loop fails within weeks. The buyer eats the downtime and blames the distributor.

Search signal
+ Weld-Field Immunity / PTFE Spatter Coating

Buyers search 'weld immune proximity sensor' and 'weld field immune M18'. Catalogs with no such field return zero results — while the variants sit in the supplier line.

The search dead-ends on your site and converts on a competitor's. A stocked, higher-margin variant never surfaces to the buyer who wanted it.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way electronic components suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Output Type
PNP NOPNP-N.O.3-wire PNP normally openSourcing, N.O.PNP/NOP NO 3 wire
PNP-NO 3-Wire

Sinking vs sourcing is a hard compatibility gate. Six spellings split one filter value into six buckets, each holding one SKU.

Rated Sensing Distance (Sn)
4mm4 mm0.157"Sn=44mm nom.0.16 in
4 (unit: mm)

Imperial and metric on one rail breaks the range slider. Store a number and a unit, never a display string.

Ingress Protection Rating
IP-67IP 67Ip67IP67/IP69KIP67, IP68NEMA 6P
IP67

Multi-rating strings never sort. Split IP69K and NEMA into their own fields — they are different tests, not synonyms.

Operating Temperature
-25...+70°C-13°F to +158°F-25C~70C-25 to +70 deg C-25°C/+70°C
min -25 °C, max 70 °C

Suppliers ship °F and °C in the same feed. A numeric min and max in °C is the only form a temperature filter can use.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • It's rated 4 mm — will it actually see an aluminium target at 3 mm?
  • Is this PNP or NPN? My PLC input card is sinking.
  • Can I mount it flush in a steel bracket, or does it need clearance around the face?
  • Does it ship with a fixed cable or an M12 connector, and how long is the cable?
  • Will the jacket survive cutting oil in a drag chain, or do I need PUR?
  • Is it IO-Link, and which version — will it talk to the master I already have?
  • Is this part still active, or has it gone last-time-buy?
  • Is it IP69K or just IP67? This is a washdown line.

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Own parametric filter rail
Sensor TypeRated Sensing Distance (Sn), numeric + unitOutput TypeVoltage - SupplyTermination StyleIngress Protection Rating
ECIA Authorized / TrustedParts
Manufacturer Part NumberManufacturer name (normalized)Product Lifecycle StatusRoHS / REACH statusDatasheet URLCountry of Origin
Octopart / Nexar
Manufacturer Part NumberManufacturerGTIN / UPCDatasheet URLPackage / CaseProduct Lifecycle Status
IODDfinder (IO-Link devices)
IO-Link Vendor IDIO-Link Device IDIODD file referenceIO-Link version / COM modeManufacturer Part Number

Sensors data, in practice

Why do two catalogs list different sensing distances for the same sensor?

Because they are quoting different distances. IEC 60947-5-2 defines rated sensing distance (Sn), measured under lab conditions against a standard target — a 1 mm thick Fe360 mild steel square sized to the sensor face or 3×Sn, whichever is smaller. The standard then derates it: effective (Sr), usable (Su), and assured operating distance (Sa), which absorbs temperature, supply voltage and unit-to-unit tolerance and lands at or below 81% of Sn. One catalog publishes Sn, another publishes Sa, and neither says which. Store the number, the symbol and the reference target as separate fields and a 4 mm part and a 3.2 mm part stop looking like different sensors.

Do inductive, photoelectric and pressure sensors need separate schemas?

They need a shared spine and separate branches. Every sensor SKU carries the same core: sensor type, output type, supply voltage, body style, termination, operating temperature, IP rating, MPN, lifecycle status. Below that the specs diverge and should not be forced into one field. An inductive sensor has Sn, shielding and a target correction factor. A photoelectric has sensing mode (diffuse, retroreflective, through-beam), light source and range. A pressure sensor has pressure type (absolute, gauge, differential), span, accuracy in % FS, port style and wetted materials. Collapsing 'Sensing Range' across all three gives a filter returning mm, metres and psi in one dropdown.

What is the minimum set to publish a sensor on a parametric rail?

Sensor type, the primary range with its unit as a number, output type, supply voltage range, body style with thread size, termination style, operating temperature as numeric min/max, IP rating, MPN and lifecycle status. Ten fields, all normalized. That is enough for a buyer to filter to a shortlist. It is not enough for them to buy without a phone call — cable length, jacket material, shielding and target correction factor are what turn a shortlist into an order, and those are the fields usually still sitting in the PDF.

How should IO-Link sensors be modeled?

As a standard sensor record plus four fields: IO-Link version (1.0 or 1.1), COM mode (COM1 4.8 kBaud, COM2 38.4 kBaud, COM3 230.4 kBaud), minimum cycle time, and a reference to the IODD via vendor ID plus device ID. IO-Link is standardized as IEC 61131-9 and runs over the same unshielded 3-wire cable as a switching sensor, so integrators treat it as a drop-in — but only if they can confirm the master supports the version and that the IODD exists, before they order. A boolean 'IO-Link: Yes' does not answer that, and the buyer will go find a catalog that does.

More electronic components schemas

CapacitorsConnectorsRelaysResistorsSemiconductorsTerminal Blocks

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