In the context of Industry 4.0, digitalization, AI and robotics, the safety requirements for industrial automation technology are growing. Manufacturers worldwide are now expected to implement intelligent, state-of-the-art safety functions. To ensure that machines meet the criteria of functional safety, all components in the safety path must be developed, manufactured and operated in a functionally safe manner. Manufacturers of components without safety-oriented certification run the risk of falling behind, while the highly dynamic market is leading to ever faster innovations, such as new intelligent safety functions based on improved sensor technology.

Under the name "bel.guard", Brinkmann Electronic Berlin GmbH (BEL) has developed a modularly structured platform for integrating safety technology into existing applications. As a combination of software, hardware and documentation, bel.guard can be adapted to customer-specific safety requirements. The flexibly adaptable safety solution covers a wide range of applications defined as safety-critical in accordance with IEC 61805. The areas of application range from drive and control technology, robotics and sensor technology to handheld devices with emergency stop or dead man functions. The bel.guard core module includes all central components such as safety management with parameterization, system configuration and various diagnostic functions, thus eliminating the time-consuming setup of diagnostic features, self-tests or error handling. Thanks to its equipment with common interfaces, bel.guard enables targeted networking with the entire safety environment, including the connection of safety protocols and the control and evaluation of safety I/Os.

The modular bel.guard safety platform ensures functional safety in existing automation systems.

© Brinkmann Electronic Berlin

With the basic package, Brinkmann supplies comprehensive software for monitoring and controlling safety functions. The software can be implemented in different hardware systems and can monitor up to eight axes of a drive. The functional core is the safety function module with its stop and monitoring mechanisms for controlling, triggering and monitoring the safety functions STO, SBC, SS1, SS2, SLS, SDI, SLP and SP. A specially developed configuration tool with user interface is available to users for standard-compliant parameterization of the bel.guard safety monitoring system. The bel.guard software library is executed directly in a microcontroller or logic module, independent of the operating system. For connection and communication with the safety environment, bel.guard currently supports the two standardized safety protocols FSoE (FailSafe over EtherCAT) and Profisafe. FSoE is configured via the bel.guard configurator, while Profisafe is configured via the Siemens TIA portal.