Take control of your machine safety application

Citation

(2005), "Take control of your machine safety application", Industrial Robot, Vol. 32 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2005.04932ead.003

Take control of your machine safety application

Take control of your machine safety application

Sick’s new range of UE400 Safety Related Control Units offers a unique solution for machine safety. The UE400 is specifically designed for safety related control applications that would otherwise use two to five conventional safety relays.

The programming interface and the physical hardware are designed specifically for use on packaging machines, palletisers, power press, hydraulic press, robot cells and other relatively small scale safety related control tasks. A unique feature of the UE400 series is that, although the systems are flexible, they are easy to use.

Technology often overrides the initial requirement for simple, flexible solutions. This is why Sick has introduced the UE400 range to fill the gap between safety relays and complex programmable modular interfaces or Safe PLCs.

For machine safety applications involving gate switches, e-stops, light curtains, laser scanners or other control signals (such as enable switches and position sensors), the UE400 range is likely to be the most economic programmable solution available.

The UE440 (Plate 3) is able to handle 15 inputs plus the direct connection of Sick laser scanners (S3000) or light curtains (C4000) using safety serial data channels. The inputs can be configured to operate dual channel or single channel up to BS EN954-1, SIL3 IEC61508. There are four non-safety outputs for indication and control as well as two dual OSSD safety outputs, with or without delays.

Plate 3 The UE 440 is a easy to use

A key objective of this product was to make the user interface the most intuitive yet, allowing the user to concentrate on the design and management of the safety application rather than learning complex programming principles. The use of certified function blocks and an automatic assistant means the safety engineer should become fully familiar with the programming process within an hour.

There are no cumbersome memory cards or chips to program. The unit has a non-volatile memory with three levels of security access for operators, the “competent person” and service personnel.

For machines with multiple operating conditions, the UE400 has five programmable operating modes, selected using an external key switch. All the input signals can be combined in certified logic blocks (AND, OR, NAND, NOT).

For more information, contact: Ann Attridge or Andrea Hornby Erwin Sick Ltd, Waldkirch House, 39 Hedley Road, ST ALBANS, Hertfordshire AL1 5BN, Tel: 01727 831121; Fax: 01727 856767; E-mail: info@sick.co.uk; web site: www.sick.co.uk