ABB has developed a method of using standard human machine interface (HMI) products such as control panels, industrial PCs and mobile devices to reconfigure safety control functions.
Using ABB’s AC500-S safety programmable logic controller (PLC), operators of equipment such as harbor and factory cranes, hoists, elevators, airport passenger bridges, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), robots, mining and pulp & paper machinery can select, modify and amend their safety control functions. This allows them to achieve high functional safety standard requirements while benefiting from the convenience and low costs of using standard HMIs.
Operators of these industrial applications need to reconfigure their safety control functions to adapt to changed application conditions and to optimize machine productivity. These reconfigurations, known as safety actions, are often performed using mechanical or electro-mechanical mode selector switches connected to the digital safety inputs of a safety PLC.
This method suffers from limited user-friendliness, inability to make modifications to switch layout and function, limited number of selection options and relatively high costs for the mode selector switches and digital safety input channels.
ABB solves these challenges by allowing standard HMIs, such as control panels, industrial PCs and mobile devices to interface with an ABB AC500-S safety PLC to carry out these safety actions.