Smart ideas increase safety
Good ideas were needed not only for automating the system in the TIA Portal, but also for the safety of the operators: Berner and his team developed a special steel block equipped with a sensor. It is used during maintenance or cleaning work or for setting up an assembly for a new profile. The roller table is raised to make the machine accessible. The steel block can be used to secure the position of the table so that it doesn't accidentally fold down and injure someone. If the safety block is forgotten, the sensor registers this. If someone now enters the danger zone monitored by a laser scanner, an alarm sounds and the motors are immediately stopped. "Communication via Profinet works very well," explains Berner, "and the laser scanners from a third-party supplier could be integrated without problems – we really appreciated that." So that certain parts of the machine can be cleaned, the rollers must rotate very slowly – a not insignificant dangerous process. The retrofit professionals from GAP Engineering have installed a special pedal for this purpose. It must be constantly operated during the cleaning process, otherwise the machine stops immediately.
