Industrial safety technology has always been an integral part of automation technology. Whether it's a standalone solution or an integrated safety concept with convenient diagnostic capabilities, the ideal technological state is achieved only when safety technology can continuously assist and even improve production processes. Production process flexibility is one of the key challenges of Industry 4.0. Future factories will gradually eliminate the distance between humans and machines, and teams where robots work alongside humans will emerge.
The ability to flexibly design highly automated production processes while simultaneously ensuring the safety of people, machines, and equipment is the challenge currently facing machine and equipment operators.
As a technology and market leader in industrial safety technology, SICK offers a comprehensive, one-stop safety solution: Safe Motion Control, which includes innovative safety features specifically designed for monitoring drive and machine motion safety. This means that instead of indiscriminately shutting down the machine when a worker approaches, the machine's speed is appropriately reduced or its direction of movement is adjusted. This ensures personnel safety without interrupting production, minimizing downtime and reducing cycle times. It improves machine availability and efficiency while ensuring maximum safety.
Safe motion control – an external integrated safety solution
Safety-driven and motion monitoring are implemented based on relevant safety or control schemes.
Advantages of external security solutions:
■ Separating safety and automation tools ensures a high level of operational protection.
■ Independent of the drive system
■ The entire security solution resides in a single software application, saving time and costs.
■ Monitoring multiple drive units in one system
■ The proven and industry-specific SICK application package reduces engineering design work.
For general-purpose motion control sensors used in both fixed and mobile safety applications, certified safety encoders with integrated safety features, such as the DFS60S Pro, are preferred. This reflects the complex requirements of both mobile and fixed applications and the complexity of safety technology evaluation.
Do security encoders simplify the design and construction of security solutions?
The applications of safety encoders vary greatly across different security fields and machines. Achieving security with a standard encoder requires more sensors and I/O interfaces compared to a standard encoder, which also means increased power consumption. Furthermore, there are certification requirements: evaluating the equipment or machine, ensuring that components meeting specific quality standards are used and documenting this process, and much other work. If you want to avoid this effort, you can simply use the certified safety encoder DFS60S Pro and easily integrate its performance parameters from the SISTEMA library into your system.
What additional benefits does using the DFS60S Pro security encoder bring?
To achieve the same level of safety, two standard encoders must be used on the drive monitor to enable dual-channel operation. Both the two components and the additional wiring mean a greater workload, both in engineering design and installation. This also highlights the greatest advantage of safety encoders: simplicity. We opened the door to safety technology with drive monitors, and now we've gone a step further by simplifying its implementation.
In which applications is the DFS60S Pro security encoder suitable?
The primary application area is industrial vehicles, as these vehicles are evolving towards smaller, more flexible, and more agile designs. The integration of loading and unloading processes with equipment safety in logistics is one example. Cranes and winches are also noteworthy, where combining safety encoders with asynchronous motors opens up numerous applications. These motors are cost-effective and suitable for many tasks with high power requirements and low dynamic demands. Furthermore, they can be used in hazardous areas of high-bay warehouses where personnel are not permitted to enter or drive into.
What does security mean for encoders?
In addition to electrical safety, the assessment of mechanical connections and their safety technologies is also crucial. To this end, the IFA developed and published a new testing principle describing how to test and certify angle and measurement systems used for functional safety. Through close collaboration with testing organizations, SICK designed and certified the DFS60S Pro safety encoder based on this testing principle. This testing principle defines and specifies the functional safety requirements for encoders for the first time, aiming to create a unified market standard. Therefore, the DFS60S Pro is the first safety encoder to comply with this testing principle and meet the latest functional safety requirements.
Founded in 1946, SICK has become a highly influential supplier of intelligent sensor solutions after years of development and accumulation. Its products are widely used in various industries, including packaging, food and beverage, machine tools, automotive, logistics, transportation, steel, airports, electronics, and textiles. SICK China currently has branches in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, and Hong Kong, forming an organizational structure and business network covering all major regions of China.
For more details, please visit www.sickcn.com or call our national customer service hotline at 4000 121 000.
