Product category:
Shutdown, SIS and safety systems
News Release from: AS-Interface UK | Subject: ASi-safe and Profisafe
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 May 2006
Safety 'partnership' at Profibus
conference
The AS-i UK Expert Alliance is to unveil a new way of connecting functional safety hierarchies at the forthcoming Profibus International Conference at Coombe Abbey on June 27/28th
The UK Expert Alliance is to unveil a new way of connecting functional safety hierarchies at the forthcoming Profibus International Conference at Coombe Abbey on June 27/28th A paper jointly delivered by two Expert Alliance members on Day 2, will show how data from an AS-i functional safety system can be shared with higher level Profisafe networks based on Profibus
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 8 Dec 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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ASi-tech 2004 conference programme
An "Installation Workshop" is one of the highlights of the ASi-tech 2004 Conference programme, to be held at at Durham County Cricket Club on March 2nd and Gloucestershire Cricket Club on March 4th
Paul Hingley from safety vendor Siemens Automation and Drives and Ken Davies of safety integrator Functional Safety Engineering will jointly deliver a presentation entitled "Achieving Functional Safety by combining ASi-safe and Profisafe".
The paper will describe how newly available products enable the sharing of safety data between ASi-safe and Profisafe networks.
The concept links AS-interface functional safety systems based on low level on/off sensors such as emergency stops and proximity sensors with higher level devices running on Profibus, to allow safety functionality to be extended across wider areas of the plant.
Further reading
'Expert Alliance' to offer free advice and support
The AS-Interface UK Association is re-launching itself as the AS-Interface 'Expert Alliance' at Drives and Controls, October 12-14, Telford, where it will be explained on the AS-Interface stand
Wago and Belcom join the AS-I 'Expert Alliance'
WAGO, and cable distributor Belcom have become the latest UK companies to join the AS-Interface Expert Alliance, which was launched to provide free support to the AS-Interface end user community
This enables broader-based safety zoning and inter-cell coordination to achieve more effective functional safety plant-wide, especially in large production lines.
The unique challenges of integrating two levels of safety data will be covered.
Geoff Hodgkinson, chairman of the Expert Alliance, commented: "This development highlights the excellent 'partnership potential' of AS-interface and Profibus in modern automation.
No other fieldbus collaboration is as effective.
Not only can both offer control and safety together but now they can collaborate too.
This achieves wider-area safety and extends the scope of safety systems to meet growing demands for closer linking of control and functional safety in large plants such as in automotive manufacturing." The Expert Alliance has also announced that Geoff Hodgkinson has been chosen to chair the afternoon conference session on Day 2, which includes other safety-related papers.
On show at the table-top exhibition running alongside the Conference will be at least two working AS-i systems, one demonstrating the benefits of AS-i in pneumatics and the other, a conveyor system, showing how devices from multiple vendors can interoperate on a single AS-i network.
AS-i SW, the solution for connecting panel switches and indicators to an AS-i network, will also be demonstrated.
Members of the UK Expert Alliance are: Belcom, Burkert Fluid Control, Bihl + Wiedemann, Controlled Lubrication, LCA/Functional Safety Engineering, IDEC Electronics, IMI Norgren, Johnson Mathey, Kinetrol, Kuhnke UK, Manchester Metropolitan University, Siemens A and D, Sigmapi Systems, Tyco International, and Wago.
The Expert Alliance exists to support and promote the use of the AS-interface networking in process automation and discrete manufacturing environments.
The Safety at Work profile allows functional safety to be included on the same network cable as used by control and monitoring systems.
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