Safety control system having configurable inputs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10558189-B2
Application number	US-201615152018-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2016
Priority date	Nov 13, 2013
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

A safety control system for switching on and safely switching off at least one actuator, including at least one input module for evaluating an input signal of a safety transmitter and for generating an output signal, and at least one output module for the safe actuation of the at least one actuator as a function of the output signal of the input module. The input signal has different signal parameters as a function of the type of safety transmitter. Furthermore, the safety control system includes a setting unit having a memory in which the signal parameters for the input module are stored, and the input module evaluates the input signal as a function of the signal parameters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A safety control system for switching on and safely switching off an actuator, comprising:
an input module that evaluates an input signal received from a safety transmitter, which is connected to the input module via feed lines, and for generating an output signal based on the evaluation,
an output module that actuates the actuator based on the output signal received from the input module, and
a setting unit having a memory in which signal parameters are stored,
wherein the input module is configured to derive an expected signal profile of the input signal from the stored signal parameters and to evaluate the input signal based on the expected signal profile of the input signal,
wherein the stored signal parameters comprise information indicative of signal characteristics selected from the group consisting of pulse period or frequency, pulse duration, and delay time or offset between input and output pulses,
wherein the input signal is a dynamic clock signal with test pulses having a defined test period and duration, wherein the defined period and duration represent a first signal parameter and a second signal parameter of the signal parameters used by the input module to derive the expected signal profile of the input signal, and wherein the safety transmitter is configured to modulate the test pulses onto the input signal supplied to the input module.

2. The safety control system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the input module has a first input for connecting the safety transmitter and at least a second input for connecting an additional safety transmitter, wherein a first set of signal parameters may be stored in the setting unit for the safety transmitter, and a second set of signal parameters may be stored in the setting unit for the additional safety transmitter.

3. A safety control system for switching on and safely switching off an actuator, comprising:
an input module that evaluates an input signal received from a safety transmitter, which is connected to the input module via feed lines, and for generating an output signal based on the evaluation,
an output module that actuates the actuator based on the output signal received from the input module, and
a setting unit having a memory in which signal parameters are stored,
wherein the input module is configured to derive an expected signal profile of the input signal from the stored signal parameters and to evaluate the input signal based on the expected signal profile of the input signal,
wherein the stored signal parameters comprise information indicative of signal characteristics selected from the group consisting of pulse period or frequency, pulse duration, and delay time or offset between input and output pulses,
wherein the input signal is a dynamic clock signal with test pulses having a defined test period and duration, and wherein the defined period and duration represent a first signal parameter and a second signal parameter of the signal parameters used by the input module to derive the expected signal profile of the input signal, and
wherein the input module has at least one test output for providing to the safety transmitter a test signal comprising the dynamic clock signal with the test pulses, and wherein the safety transmitter transmits in response to the test signal the input signal having a signal profile that is used by the input module to derive the expected signal profile of the input signal.

4. The safety control system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the safety control system has a configuration system with a communication interface for configuring the setting unit, via which a set of signal parameters may be transferred to the setting unit.

5. The safety control system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the signal parameters are combined in a set for the safety transmitter and are stored in a sensor definition file, wherein the sensor definition file includes a sensor data section with safety transmitter-specific parameters of the safety transmitter and an application data section with application-specific parameters.

6. The safety control system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the sensor definition file has an individual checksum and the configuration system authenticates the sensor definition file based on the checksum.

7. The safety control system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the configuration system has at least one check algorithm for checking plausibility, which checks the application data section with respect to the sensor data section.

8. The safety control system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the safety transmitter generates in response to the test signal the input signal with a delay time Δt relative to the test signal, and wherein the delay time Δt is a parameter of the signal parameters used by the input module to derive the expected signal profile of the input signal.

Assignees

• Pilz Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Hutt Thilo
• Seizinger Dietmar
• Kluge Marco
• Lehmann Stephan

Classifications

• G05B2219/1138

  Configuration of I-O · CPC title

• G05B2219/24008

  Safety integrity level, safety integrated systems SIL SIS · CPC title

• G05B2219/21087

  Define sensor type, resistance, thermocouple, thermistor, voltage, current · CPC title

• G05B19/048 Primary

  Monitoring; Safety · CPC title

• G05B2219/1144

  Program, program I-O module · CPC title