TÃœV Certified Safe Motion

B&R Industrial Automation has received TUVRheinland certification for a fully digital servo drive safety system includingeverything from sensors to actuators. The system is integrated into thecompany's Automation Studio to provide a single software tool for developingstandard PLC programming, safety systems and visualization needs.

"The key to thisrelease is that it really includes the complete product range including safeIOs, safe PLCs that control the safe IOs and safe motion drives," says StephanStricker, product manager for B&R Industrial Automation. "The importantthing is that we don't need any additional hardware for safe motion because itis implemented in the drives. We cantalk directly from the safe PLC over Ethernet Powerlink to the servo drives."

Stricker says thatsome other companies have safe input devices, or safe input devices and a PLC,but fewer vendors can provide the whole product line-up and the completesolution integrated into the company's development software.

"The integratedsoftware solution is important where you have one tool to develop the completesystem including the standard PLC, safety, motion and visualization components,"says Stricker.

Because the safetysoftware is fully integrated into the Automation Studio, software informationcan be directly exchanged between the control part andthe safety part of the machine. All data is stored in a single project, allowingusers to copy and share their project software very easy.

With the servodrives from the ACOPOSmulti product family that were certified in February 2010by TUV Rheinland, error response times are reduced by a factor of 10 and themaximum impact energy produced is reduced by a factor of 100. Excellent machinedynamics and increased productivity with maximum safety are now no longer acontradiction.

A relay-free SafeMCsafety circuit installed in all ACOPOSmulti drive units automatically monitorshow the motor responds to instructions from the servo drive. This is done usingfully digital encoders that are certified according to EN ISO 13849. Electronicsintegrated directly on the drive avoid increasing response times.

The safe servodrives promote optimal use of safety equipment because double wiring is nolonger necessary and external monitoring modules are provided. In addition,ACOPOSmulti with SafeMC can be seamlessly integrated in the existing systemwith the SafeLOGIC safety controller and the X20 Safe I/O. Stricker says thismakes B&R one of the first manufacturers to provide a certified and fullynetwork-integrated safety system including intelligent drive safety functions. Thesystem increases machine efficiency and productivity and, at the same time,improves workplace safety.

SafeMCwith ACOPOSmulti and B&R synchronous servo motors are based on the opennetwork-based safety standard openSAFETY. This combination is the logicalcomplement to B&R's portfolio of integrated safety components for machineand systems manufacturing, which is proven in the field and has already beencertified for quite some time.