Control system for controlling the access to processing machinery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10513409-B2
Application number	US-201615767825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2016
Priority date	Oct 13, 2015
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

The system includes a fence inside which machines are arranged that are potentially dangerous for the operators, forming part of a processing plant for processing web material and producing rolls. A passage counting the number of operators entering the fence and exiting therefrom is so controlled as to be accessible only when the machines are not working and to allow a partial operation of the machines inside the fence under particular safety conditions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A web material processing line comprising processing machinery with moving members comprised of at least one unwinder for reels of web material and at least one machine downstream of the at least one unwinder, and a system for controlling safe access to the processing machinery; wherein the system comprises:
at least one fence enclosing an area including one or more of said moving members of the processing machinery, said at least one fence being structured to prevent uncontrolled access to the area enclosed by said at least one fence;
a first passage to access the area enclosed by the at least one fence;
a control arrangement functionally connected to the first passage, the first passage and the control arrangement being configured to count the number of operators entering the area enclosed by the at least one fence and exiting therefrom;
and wherein:
the control arrangement and the first passage are configured to allow the first passage to be opened only when the one or more of said moving members in the area enclosed by the at least one fence is in a safety condition different than a normal operating condition of the processing machinery; and
the control arrangement and the first passage are configured to prevent a return to the normal operating condition of the one or more of the moving members, following an access of an operator through the first passage into the area enclosed by said at least one fence, until a same number of operators who entered the area enclosed by the at least one fence through the first passage has exited the area enclosed by the at least one fence through the first passage.

2. The processing line according to claim 1 , wherein at least one risk area is provided in the area enclosed by the at least one fence; a number of safety actuators, functionally connected to the control arrangement, are arranged in the at least one risk area enclosed by the at least one fence; and wherein the first passage is controlled so that only a number of operators not greater than the number of safety actuators are allowed to enter the area enclosed by the at least one fence.

3. The processing line according to claim 1 , wherein at least one risk area is provided in the area enclosed by the at least one fence; a number of safety actuators are arranged in the at least one risk area enclosed by the at least one fence; and the first passage is controlled by the control arrangement to allow an at least partial activation of at least one function of the processing machinery in the at least one risk area only by simultaneous activation of a number of safety actuators equal to the number of operators who entered the area enclosed by the at least one fence.

4. The processing line according to claim 3 , wherein the control arrangement is configured so that, if a number of operators greater than the number of safety actuators enter the at least one risk area enclosed by the at least one fence, the partial activation is prevented at least until the number of operators in the at least one risk area enclosed by the at least one fence decreases so as to be equal to or lower than the number of safety actuators.

5. The processing line according to claim 1 , wherein the control arrangement is configured and arranged so that, in case a piece of information about the number of operators passed through the first passage has been lost, the control arrangement prevents return to the normal operating condition of the one or more of the moving members of the processing machinery until a reset routine of the one or more moving members has been performed.

6. The processing line according to claim 1 , comprising a second passage to access the area enclosed by the at least one fence; wherein the second passage is controlled to allow the second passage to be opened only when the one or more moving members of the processing machinery is in a safety condition different than the normal operating condition of the one or more moving members.

7. The processing line according to claim 1 , wherein the first passage comprises a first access door and a second access door arranged in series and configured to allow only one operator at a time to enter the one or more areas enclosed by the at least one fence and to exit therefrom.

8. The processing line according to claim 7 , wherein the first passage comprises:
a first control member, arranged in an area outside of the at least one fence, to control opening of the first access door;
a second control member, arranged between the first access door and the second access door, to control opening of the second access door;
a third control member, arranged in the area enclosed by the at least one fence, to control opening of the second access door;
a fourth control member, arranged between the first access door and the second access door, to control opening of the first access door.

9. The processing line according to claim 7 , wherein the control arrangement is configured to allow the second access door to be opened from the area outside of the at least one fence only when the first access door is closed; and the first access door to be opened from the area enclosed by the at least one fence only when the second access door is closed.

10. The processing line according to claim 8 , wherein the control arrangement is configured to allow the second access door to be opened by the second control member only when the first access door is closed; the first access door to be opened by the fourth control member only when the second access door is closed; the second access door to be opened by the third control member only when the first access door is closed; the first access door to be opened by the first control member only when the second access door is closed.

11. The processing line according to claim 7 , wherein between the first access door and the second access door an arrangement is provided that prevents the second access door from being opened from the area outside of the at least one fence if more than one operator is present between the first access door and the second access door, and prevents the first access door from being opened from the area enclosed by the at least one fence if more than one operator is present between the first access door and the second access door.

12. The processing line according to claim 1 , wherein the first passage comprises a reading member to read a unique identification code of an operator passing through the first passage.

13. The processing line according to claim 1 , wherein the area enclosed by the at least one fence is subdivided into a first area and a second area, between which the processing machinery is arranged; the first area is separated from the second area so that there is no passage for an operator from the first area to the second area; the first passage is arranged so as to allow access to the first area; and a third passage is provided to allow access to the second area.

14. The processing line according to claim 13 , wherein the third passage is controlled to allow the third passage to be opened only when the one or more moving members of the processing machinery is in a safety condition different than the normal operating condition of the processing machinery.

15. The processing line according to claim 14 , wherein the control arrangement is configured and arranged to prevent return to the normal operating condition of the one or more moving members of the processing machinery after an access through the third passage until a reset routine of the one or more moving members has been performed.

16. The proc

Assignees

• Perini Fabio Spa

Inventors

• Rocca Mauro
• Lorenzi Fabrizio

Classifications

• G05B2219/50193

  Safety in general · CPC title

• F16P3/147

  using electro-magnetic technology, e.g. tags or radar · CPC title

• G05B9/02

  electric · CPC title

• B65H18/08

  Web-winding mechanisms · CPC title

• B65H26/00 Primary

  Warning or safety devices, e.g. automatic fault detectors, stop-motions, for web-advancing mechanisms (safety devices in general F16P; investigating chemical or physical properties of materials in general G01N; indicating devices in general G08B) · CPC title