Safety control system having configurable inputs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016252891-A1
Application number	US-201615152018-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 11, 2016
Priority date	Nov 13, 2013
Publication date	Sep 1, 2016
Grant date	—

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 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 actuator as a function of the output signal of the input module,
wherein the input signal has different signal parameters as a function of the type of safety transmitter, wherein the safety control system includes a setting unit having a memory in which the signal parameters for the input module are stored, wherein the input module evaluates the input signal as a function of the signal parameters.

2 . The safety control system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the input signal is a dynamic clock signal with test pulses and wherein a first signal parameter represents the test period between the test pulses and a second signal parameter represents the test pulse duration.

3 . 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.

4 . The safety control system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the safety control system has at least one test output for providing a test signal, and the safety transmitter generates the input signal with a delay time Δt as a function of the test signal, wherein the delay time Δt is a parameter of the signal parameters.

5 . The safety control system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the safety transmitter is connected to the safety control system via an electric line having specific characteristics, wherein the signal parameters have additional parameters which represent the specific characteristics.

6 . 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.

7 . The safety control system as claimed in claim 6 , 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.

8 . The safety control system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the sensor definition file has an individual checksum and the configuration system authenticates the sensor definition file based on the checksum.

9 . The safety control system as claimed in claim 7 , 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.

10 . A method for switching on and safely switching off at least one actuator, including the steps of:
providing a safety transmitter for generating an input signal as a function of a safety-critical process to be monitored; providing a safety control system having at least one input module and one output module; storing signal parameters for the input signal as a function of the type of safety transmitter in a setting unit of the safety control system, evaluating the input signal via the input module as a function of the signal parameters stored in the setting unit; generating an output signal for the output module as a function of the evaluation; actuating the actuator via the output module as a function of the output signal.

11 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , including the additional steps of:
detecting signal parameters for a safety transmitter in a sensor definition file; ascertaining a checksum for the sensor definition file; transferring the sensor definition file to the safety control system; authenticating the sensor definition file based on the checksum.

Assignees

• Pilz Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G05B2219/21085

  Define type of I-O, analog, digital, pulse · CPC title

• G05B19/048 Primary

  Monitoring; Safety · CPC title

• G05B2219/21087

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

• G05B2219/23265

  Select device driver for actuator, sensor · CPC title

• G05B2219/1138

  Configuration of I-O · CPC title