Safety Door Switches
Omron's door switches detect the opening of guards or doors to prevent unauthorized access to hazardous areas and ensure the safe implementation of emergency equipment stoppages.
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Integrated safety isn’t just a highly effective way to mitigate risk. In fact, it’s a key element in building a high-performing, future-ready manufacturing facility since it’s capable of improving automation efficiency and boosting throughput.
Let’s take a look at the differences between standalone and integrated safety — and why the latter is important for large, highly complex applications.
Basic safety involves an input device, a logic device, and an output device. This configuration can be abbreviated as ILO for “input, logic, output.” One input device, one logic device, and one output device constitute a complete standalone system, and each of these will be a discrete device that’s hardwired.
Detecting human incursion isn’t the only job of a safety system. If a copper wire within the system gets cut, for example, the system will detect that as well, since this could lead to potentially hazardous machine failure or dysfunction within the safety system itself. Discover Omron’s full range of safety solutions >
When you’re got a complex production line that has large assemblies with robots lifting heavy parts right and left, there are lots of forces and individual hazards to deal with. Each of these hazards must be considered within the context of the larger system, so that shutting down one machine on the line won’t necessarily result in an entire line stoppage.
The goal here is to create a network integrated safety system where you’re not simply adding a layer of safety over an already-designed production line. To ensure that all hazards are safeguarded and that the line will function as smoothly as possible, safety can’t just be an afterthought. This is where integrated safety comes in.
In integrated safety, you still need input, output, and logic devices, but you combine multiple smaller safety modules into a comprehensive safety “umbrella” that works like an orchestra. All the ILO devices are tied together via a communication network that can quickly communicate any legitimate safety trips. When someone’s limbs (and possibly life) are in danger, speed is key.
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Integrated safety systems can be either distributed or centralized. Distributed safety is a lot easier to wire, since wiring distances are shorter and there’s more flexibility in designing the safety matrix (the directions that indicate which energy sources should be shut down for different specific hazards).
Each of these remote hubs would collect the individual wiring inputs from the input devices and then communicate their actions via communications line. Centralized wiring would require running all the leads back to the control panel where the distances, complexity, time, and effort of this would be significantly greater.
Omron's door switches detect the opening of guards or doors to prevent unauthorized access to hazardous areas and ensure the safe implementation of emergency equipment stoppages.
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