According to Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee, WI, manufacturing operations can harness the power of data to substantially improve their safety compliance and performance with two recently introduced safety solutions from the company. The new devices are said be capable of delivering valuable insights, such as where safety-related failures are occurring or if workers are following standard operating procedures.
- The Allen-Bradley SafeZone 3 laser scanner with CIP Safety over EtherNet/IP provides area detection inside a work cell. The addition of CIP Safety allows users to simultaneously operate multiple safety zones instead of switching from one to another. It also extends the scanner’s field range and provides vital diagnostic data over a single EtherNet/IP connection. The company notes that this can improve productivity, such as by notifying workers with an alarm if they are nearing a hazard to help prevent a machine from slowing down or stopping. In addition, the CIP Safety capability expands available diagnostic data to alert users of common failures, such as the presence of dust on the scanner’s lens.
- The Allen-Bradley GuardShield 450L light curtain with CIP Safety over EtherNet/IP plug-in protects personnel from injuries related to hazardous machine motion. The CIP Safety plug-in gives users more access to diagnostic data to improve productivity and flexibility. For example, users can see exactly which beams are tripped on the light curtain to better understand the cause of a downtime event. Or they can take a sample of the light screen every 100 milliseconds to track profiles of products running through it and identify potential quality issues.
CIP Safety is an extension to the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), the application-layer protocol for EtherNet/IP. Smart products that use CIP Safety with technologies such as GuardLink help improve safety and productivity and simplify wiring. They also offer premier integration with an Allen-Bradley Compact GuardLogix SIL 3 control system by using the Studio 5000 Logix Designer application.
These and other smart products, such as the 843ES safety encoder and CompactBlock Guard Safety I/O universal encoder module, are part of the Rockwell Automation safety portfolio that combines simpler connectivity and powerful data for smarter, higher-performing production.
Click Here to Learn More About the SafeZone 3 laser scanner with CIP Safety over EtherNet/IP.
