Integrated safety and reliability

The new EC machinery directive will come into force on the 29th of December 2009, with no transition period. It includes safety and health protection requirements when designing and constructing of machinery. For manufacturers, this means that they must perform a risk assessment in order to subsequently reduce the risk to an acceptable residual level through suitable protective measures.

We all know that prevention is better than cure, and this is particularly true in the case of safety engineering. It is therefore important to minimise risk and integrate safety solutions when designing a system. Safety functions cover the entire control sequence – including compressed air preparation, drives, valves and controllers. Despite all of the measures taken in advance there is still always a residual risk. This can be reduced to an acceptable level by using safety-related pneumatic components.

Solo performer or team player?
Festo offers individual safety components as well as modules that perform a complete safety function. Thanks to integrated solutions, customers can achieve protection objectives easily without any further engineering. Examples include the clamping units KEC-…-S and DNCKE-S, with which Festo provides components for the safety function “stops movement”. Alternating loads, pressure failure or pressure drop, fluctuating operating pressure and leaks in the system have no effect on the clamping unit KEC-…-S.

Quick and reliable
The soft start/quick exhaust valve MS6-SV stops the compressed air supply in systems that are critical to safety in the event of a sudden emergency stop by means of rapid exhausting. It thus provides safety for man and machine. The exhaust rate is 6,000 l/min, which is 1.5 times higher than the pressurisation. The redundant two-channel design of the valve helps to prevent repeat errors. Safe venting of the system is thus ensured even in the event of a valve fault. Use of the valve certified according to DIN EN 954-1, Category 3 or the new standard DIN EN IS0 13849-1, PL d enables the plant engineer to provide maximum safety for the operator.

The perfect solution
In general, the more straightforward the safety engineering is employed, the more efficient it is. The complexity of safety engineering lies in the large number of possible risks, which must be dealt with individually. Achieving standardisation in the implementation of safety engineering is therefore very difficult. Consequently, solutions are generally designed individually with respect to safety engineering both in factory automation and in process automation – resulting in a perfect solution for the respective application. A major advantage for customers lies in the protective measures integrated in the product, as complex calculation and proof of non-compliance are no longer required, thus saving a great deal of time and expert knowledge.

Guaranteed quick exhaust of the MS6-SV stops the compressed air supply in seconds.

The clamping unit KEC-...-S brakes within strictly defined tolerances.

“S” for safety: DNCKE-S is a ready-to-install combination of standard cylinder DNC and clamping unit KEC-…-S.

Courtesy of Festo