PHOTOELECTRONIC SENSOR

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photoelectronic sensor which can be set to the various reference distances of an article within a range where the sensor is observed without using a high accuracy mechanical regulating device. SOLUTION: This photoelectronic sensor has an optical transmitter 2 for transmitting a transmitting optical beam 8 into an observed domain and an optical receiver for receiving a receiving optical beam 10, which is formed of the transmitting optical beam reflected in the direction of the optical receiver from an article 9 within the observed domain, and the optical receiving beam 10 is at a variable beam angle to the transmitting optical beam 8 depending upon a space between the article 9 and the sensor 5. The sensor has a control estimating unit 7 for processing the output signal of the optical receiver. The optical receiver has a multielement optical sensor 5 having at least four independent sensor elements mutually adjacently arranged so that different sensor elements may depend upon the beam angle to be irradiated by the receiving optical beam 10.