System for safeguarding a person from an autonomously operating machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10909439-B2
Application number	US-201916274515-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2019
Priority date	Feb 16, 2018
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

System for safeguarding a person from an autonomously operating machine. The system comprises a safety controller for asserting control over the autonomously operating machine based on an input signal generated by a body-worn. The body-worn device comprises safety means for ensuring failsafe locking and arrangement of the body-worn device on the person in a predefined manner. Furthermore, the body-worn device is configured to generate the input signal only when the body-worn device is locked and arranged in said predefined manner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for safeguarding one or more persons from an autonomously operating machine that operates in a predefined workspace, the system comprising:
at least one body-worn device, wherein each body-worn device is configured as a safety sensor and
a safety controller configured to:
combine a plurality of input signals from a plurality of safety sensors and
execute a safety function that asserts control over the autonomously operating machine based on the plurality of input signals,

wherein each body-worn device is configured to generate a respective one of the plurality of input signals for the safety controller and
wherein the each body-worn device comprises a safety device configured to:
ensure failsafe locking and arrangement of the body-worn device on a person wearing the body-worn device in a predefined manner and
generate, in response to the body-worn device being locked and arranged in the predefined manner, the respective one of the plurality of input signals.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety device of each body-worn device comprises a failsafe interlocking device configured to lock the body-worn device on the person in the predefined manner.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety device of each body worn device comprises a sensor configured to determine whether the body-worn device is arranged on the person in the predefined manner.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the sensor of each body-worn device is configured to detect a vital sign of the person only when the body-worn device is locked in the predefined manner.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the vital sign is a heartbeat of the person.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein each body-worn device comprises an evaluation unit configured to evaluate a status of the safety device of the body-worn device in a failsafe manner.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the evaluation unit comprises two individual processing units configured to be redundant with each other.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety controller is further configured to:
determine a position of each body-worn device in a defined surrounding of the autonomously operating machine and
control the autonomously operating machine based on the determined position.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein:
each body-worn device comprises a positioning device configured to determine a current position of the body-worn device and
each body-worn device is configured to transmit the determined current position to the safety controller.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the autonomously operating machine is configured to:
determine whether each body-worn device is within a defined surrounding of the autonomously operating machine and
assert control over the autonomously operating machine in conjunction with or independently of the safety controller.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
each body-worn device comprises a communication device configured to communicate via a radio communication network and
the system further comprises one or more receivers associated with the safety controller and configured to communicate with each body-worn device via the radio communication network.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the safety controller is configured to:
determine a location of each body-worn device relative to components of the radio communication network and
assert control based on the determined location.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the radio communication network is a dedicated short-range radio communication network using ultra wide band technology.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety controller is configured to log in and trace each body-worn device within a defined workspace in which the autonomously operating machine operates.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the safety controller is further configured to:
control access to the defined workspace and
allow access only to persons having respective ones of the body-worn devices.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein:
the safety function is configured to transfer the autonomously operating machine into a safe state and
the safety controller is configured to, for each logged-in body-worn device, execute the safety function in response to interruption of the respective input signal being received from the logged-in body-worn device.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the safe state comprises the autonomously operating machine being stopped safely.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety controller is further configured to, for each body-worn device:
register the body-worn device either automatically or manually,
grant the person wearing the body-worn device access to the workspace only when the body-worn device is registered,
track the registered body-worn device within the workspace, and
execute the safety function in response to losing contact with the body-worn device.

19. A body-worn device for safeguarding a person from an autonomously operating machine that operates in a predefined workspace, the body-worn device comprising:
a safety device configured to ensure failsafe locking and arrangement of the body-worn device on the person in a predefined manner and
a transmitting device configured to, only in response to the body-worn device being locked and arranged in the predefined manner, generate an input signal to a safety controller that combines a plurality of plurality of input signals from a plurality of safety sensors and executes a safety function that asserts control over the autonomously operating machine based on the plurality of input signals.

20. A method for safeguarding one or more persons from an autonomously operating machine that operates in a predefined workspace, the method comprising:
by a safety controller, combining a plurality of input signals from a plurality of safety sensors;
by each of at least one body-worn device:
ensuring, using a safety device of the body-worn device, failsafe locking and arrangement of the body-worn device on a person wearing the body-worn device in a predefined manner and
generating, in response to the body-worn device being locked and arranged in a predefined manner, one of the plurality of input signals; and

asserting control, by the safety controller, over the autonomously operating machine based on the plurality of input signals.

Assignees

• Pilz Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Tournois Jan
• Veenman Max

Classifications

• B25J19/06

  Safety devices · CPC title

• B25J9/1674

  characterised by safety, monitoring, diagnostic · CPC title

• F16P3/147

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

• G05B2219/40202

  Human robot coexistence · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title