Area guarding of linear transfer cars
The increasing automation of machinery and systems places growing demands on the necessary safety concepts. Classic concepts, such as muting, are often pushed to their limits here. Our innovative safety solutions guarantee gapless safety, efficient material flow and high availability of your system, even with automated processes.
If the travel paths of railbound side-tracking skates cross, all movements during the travel process need to be taken into consideration when creating the safety concepts. Even the necessary safety functions need to be considered holistically – before the release of travel, during travel and upon reaching the fi nal position. If the necessary functions for area guarding are integrated in the side-tracking skate itself, this can have a considerable infl uence on the design of the skate. In addition, this requires an exact, on-board position determination. Our safety solution offers an autonomous alternative for these applications. It ensures gapless area guarding while simultaneously providing maximum process reliability.
Requirement:
The side-tracking skate crosses the travel path at regular intervals. During the entire movement process, the relevant part of the travel path is to be safeguarded against the entry of persons. The side-tracking skate should, however, be able to pass through the monitored area fully automatically.
Solution:
The relevant part of the travel path is safeguarded by safety laser scanners. These use their protective fields to detect the entry and presence of persons. During the travel process, the contour of the skate is dynamically blanked out of the protective fields. The entire area thereby remains optimally protected at all times.
Operating principle:
With their protective fields, the safety laser scanners protect the part of the travel path in which the side-tracking skate moves. They simultaneously detect the presence of persons and the position of the skate in the monitored area. During travel, the safety system uses this information to blank out the contour of the skate by changing over the protective fields from the monitored area. The monitored area is thereby fully protected and the safety level is maintained during the entire process.
Advantages for you
- Monitoring for the entry and presence of persons
- Gapless safety during the entire process
- No restrictions during part transfer – even parts that protrude are possible
- Autonomous system with simple integration in the safety circuit of the primary control
System components and safety parameters
| Safety sensor: RSL 400 safety laser scanner | |
| System control: Siemens SIMATIC S7 | |
| Leuze safety program | |
| PL d in accordance with ISO 13849-1, SILCL 2 in accordance with IEC 62061 | |
| 2-channel safety output |