SafetyNews from safety-related automation
With increasing cycle times, machine functions are becoming more and more complex - against this background, the topic of functional safety is becoming increasingly important. Computer&AUTOMATION shows a selection of current products relating to this topic in a picture gallery.
The Allen-Bradley Guard-Logix 5580 and Compact Guard-Logix 5380 controllers from Rockwell can be scaled from SIL 2/PLd to SIL 3/PLe safety system levels. This scalability helps engineers to optimize the design of a safety system and can reduce system costs. At the same time, the current regulations on machine safety are complied with. The controllers also help engineers to consolidate the number of controllers used in complex machines. Integrated Gigabit Ethernet in both controllers provides increased communication capacity to support the growing number of intelligent devices. This means that data-intensive smart manufacturing goals can be achieved without additional hardware. When used with the 'Studio 5000' integrated development environment and the 'Kinetix 5700' servo drive, the controllers support safe stop, safe speed, safe positioning and other safety monitoring functions. These functions are implemented via integrated safety commands available in the 'Studio 5000' software. The safety functions can also be used to support applications such as collaborative robots.