Armin Glaser, Pilz: "With the new emergency stop buttons, safely monitored lighting enables safe activation and passivation."

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Who isn't interested in the future developments and projects that automation technology manufacturers are working on beyond the current trade fair innovations? Armin Glaser, Head of Product Management at the specialist for safe automation from Ostfildern, reveals in advance what can be expected from Pilz in the coming year: "One project we are currently working on is a new family of emergency stop buttons that can be activated electrically and whose lighting indicates whether they are switched to active or passive." The background to this development is the revision of the relevant EN ISO 13850 standard to ensure that safety functions can also be practically implemented in modern production concepts with their corresponding requirements for flexible machine use. In concrete terms, this means that these standards now define for the first time that a third 'passive' state is also defined for safety devices. In the case of the emergency stop button, safely monitored lighting therefore enables safe activation and passivation.

According to Armin Glaser, with 'PITestop active' Pilz is one of the first suppliers to have developed "a solution for modular plant and machinery that can be used according to these aspects, in which parts are temporarily shut down during operation or are required in a different configuration. Mobile operating panels no longer need to be locked away, but simply passivated safely."

In addition to the electrically activatable emergency stop buttons, Pilz will also be presenting a prototype of a tactile fabric in Nuremberg, which can be used in the form of a step mat for safe HRC applications, for example. This tactile sensor system is based on a technology developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF). As the sensitive layer is located on the inside, it is possible to integrate a spatial resolution in the mat itself. In this way, the tactile sensor technology supports the machine manufacturer in visualizing and determining the location of people and, according to Armin Glaser, is "a promising way to achieve more dynamics in human-robot cooperation". The system can also be further developed so that the direction of movement of objects or people can also be displayed via the spatial resolution.

As well as looking to the future, Pilz also presented various new products at SPS IPC Drives 2016 that are already available on the market - including, for example, the new generation of the remote I/O system 'PSSuniversal'. Its head module communicates with Profinet/Profisafe in its basic function. In the next stage, Pilz will expand the system to include a communication module with EthernetIP/CIPsafety interface and further I/O modules.

The 'PSENopt slim' photoelectric sensors are also new. With their slim design, they are ideal for use in space-critical applications and in door systems. Depending on the requirements, the type 2 and type 4 photoelectric sensors provide finger and hand protection. Thanks to the cascading function without dead zones, they offer effective overreach and step-behind protection.