The Pen Barcode ScannerPen or wand barcode scanners are ...

The Pen Barcode Scanner

Pen or wand barcode scanners are considered to be > The Pen Barcode Scanner

Pen or wand barcode scanners are considered to be the original type of barcode reader. It has been tried and tested in the field such as healthcare, laboratories, and office environments for nearly 40 years. They are the simplest type of scanners because they are designed with no moving parts. They are more economical and most durable and can be tightly sealed against dust, dirt, and other environmental hazards. Although barcoding technology has evolved through the years, the pen or wand barcode reader is still in widespread use today.

A pen barcode reader is ideal for scanning barcodes that are close together, as the barcode wand/pen reader is used in contact with the barcode. Wand Barcode Scanner is limited because they must come into direct contact with a barcode to read it. Because of their small size and low weight, wand Barcode Scanner are ideally suited to portable (laptop) or very low volume scanning applications.

Pen-type readers consist of a light source and a photodiode that are placed next to each other in the tip of a pen or wand. The barcode scanner features brightened and concentrated reflected light reflecting from the barcode image thereby benefiting a more reliable inlet signal. In addition, the energy used can be saved while the reliability is increased.

To read a bar code, drag the tip of the pen across the barcode at a steady, even pace. The photodiode measures the intensity of the light reflected back from the light source and generates a waveform that is used to measure the widths of the bars and spaces in the bar code. Dark bars in the bar code absorb light and white spaces reflect light so that the voltage waveform generated by the photo diode is a representation of the bar and space pattern in the bar code.

There are a wide range of barcode readers available in the market today. But then many people like to use handheld scanners because they can move them around rather than having to position the barcode to be read underneath the scanner itself.