5 Business Cases for Using AC Drives with Integrated Safety

May 27, 2019

If you still only view safety as a matter of compliance, you’re missing the bigger picture in the era of smart manufacturing.

Smart, networked safety can deliver measurable business benefits. And it can push the boundaries of what’s possible in your operations.

Low-voltage AC drives with integrated safety are a perfect example of what networked safety can do for you. When connected to a safety PLC over Ethernet, they can give you more insights into your operations, reduce system wiring and components, and add precious minutes back to production. And yes, they can also help you be compliant – and maybe even reduce safety risks.

To put these benefits in the context of the bottom line, here are five business cases for using AC drives with integrated safety:

1. Increased Productivity: Lockout/tagout (LOTO) has long been a core element of industrial safety. But it can also constrain productivity.

AC drives with integrated safety allow you to use safety functions in place of LOTO procedures in certain instances. Safety functions – like safe limited speed, safe torque off and safe brake control – can help workers service equipment in a fraction of the time and still be compliant.

Consider a task like cleaning augers and rotating drums. Using LOTO procedures, workers must continually start and stop the assets to clean them. Safety functions like safe limited speed and safe direction allow workers to clean the equipment while it rotates at a slow speed.

2. Enhanced Safety: Workers sometimes bypass LOTO procedures to stay productive. And that creates serious safety risks. AC drives with safety functions that allow workers to more quickly service machines can reduce incentives for bypassing safety procedures.

Also, safety functions can support passive safety systems to reduce risks for new workers. Passive safety systems perform functions with little or no worker effort required. This can help mitigate the risks of inexperience, such as workers placing their hands in hazardous areas.

3. Reduced Complexity: Traditional safety products are hardwired separately from a standard controller and can require extra hardware like safety relays. A networked safety product like an AC drive with integrated safety can share the same Ethernet network as a standard controller and reduce the need for added hardware. This can simplify your system and reduce its costs.

Networked safety and control products can also be programmed, configured and maintained in one software environment, further reducing complexity.

4. Better Insights: An AC drive with integrated safety can give you access to rich analytics to help you improve your performance.

For example, you can track the time, location, frequency and duration of when the drive’s safety functions are being used. This can help you better track safety-related downtime and identify changes to improve uptime. Drive diagnostics can also help you see where safety-related failures occur to speed up troubleshooting and recovery.

5. Greater Flexibility: An AC drive with integrated safety can grow and change with your business.

For example, you can use the advanced safety functions later if they’re not needed today. The drive delivers integrated safety through a card that you can add at any time.

You can also easily change the drive’s safety applications as your requirements evolve over time. A hardwired safety solution can require complex planning and rewiring to meet new safety requirements. But a networked solution only requires updating code in your safety PLC.

Safety as a Business Enabler

Networked safety products offer more than compliance – they can help you maximize the performance of your business. Especially today, if you want to digitize your operations to be more competitive, networked safety products can help make you more intelligent, more connected and more productive.

Learn more about low-voltage AC drives with integrated safety here.

For more information, vists HERE.

Put to the Ultimate Test – Part 1: Torsion Tests by HELUKABEL

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Cables and wires in industrial robots and other moving machine parts are often required to withstand extreme stresses caused by torsion. Constant repetitive movements put materials under considerable strain. At the same time, operators expect components to function perfectly and reliably throughout their entire service life to avoid disruptions, outages and safety hazards.

For this reason, at HELUKABEL, we simulate intensive and continuous torsion stresses under realistic conditions with our high-tech testing equipment in Windsbach. We have several types of apparatus for doing this because some of our customers, for example those in the automotive industry, have very precise specifications for how a torsion test is carried out. The tests show that our cables and wires withstand speeds up to 1,000°/s, accelerations up to 2,000°/s² and torsion angles up to 720°. Hence, we make sure that each product always meets our customers’ high standards, and that they receive the impeccable quality they rightly expect from us as a leading supplier of cables, wires and accessories for more than 40 years.

What Is Torsion?

To learn the answer, click here

30 Minute Live Webinar 2:30 PM ET January 19th, 2023

With PC-based automation, you can implement applications and solutions that far exceed the functions of a classic controller. SIMATIC PC-based products offer you a flexible, innovative platform with long-term availability that give you a home field advantage when meeting the challenges of the digital factory for your machines and plants.

Festo Didactic at the Forefront of Developing Canada’s Future Work Force

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With Canadian manufacturing suffering from a growing labour shortage, the participation of industry in skills development is emerging as a vital component in hiring and retention.

The needs are stark: The Canadian Exporters and Manufacturers Association says almost 40% of its members have jobs they can’t fill. Five years from now, 60% expect to be short-staffed, especially when it comes to skilled trades. Statistics Canada forecasts the country’s labour force growth rate will remain below 0.2% for the rest of the decade, below replacement levels.

This growing shortage is affecting companies of all sizes. Already, some manufacturers acknowledge losing out on contracts because they can’t find the manpower to fulfill them.

In reality, the challenge is two-fold: to replenish and expand the workforce to help close the gap between the number of job seekers and vacancies through 2030 when the last baby boomers reach age 65, and ensure workers get opportunities throughout their careers to upgrade or add to their skillset as current technologies evolve and new ones emerge. Festo, through Festo Didactic, one of the world leading provider of equipment and solutions for technical education, intends to help Canada meet this challenge on both fronts. In essence, the approach Festo has always taken is that the learning never stops.

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