April 04, 2010
Safety technology is a major topic in mechanical engineering and plant construction. Murrelektronik supplies the best fieldbus components with passive safety technology for MASI, Cube67, and MVK Metal. They enable applications reach performance Level E according the EN 13849-1 standard.
A safe shut-off prevents machine and material damages and - even more important - helps operating personnel avoid risks. Therefore, the requirements for safety components in installations are high! For many years, these requirements have been described in standard EN 954-1. Currently, the standards are changing and the transition period for this change lasts until December 31, 2011. Many companies, however, especially with new projects, are already working according the requirements of the next standard EN 13849-1.
Murrelektronik offers fieldbus components for safety technology that comply with both standards. The components for MASI, Cube67, and MVK Metal - easily recognizable as safety-related products because of their yellow sockets - are suitable for applications up to category 3 according to standard EN 954-1. For classification according to the new standard, it is important (because of fault exclusion) that no dangerous failures occur with these products as they fulfill the requirements explained in EN 13849-2.
Murrelektronik fulfills these requirements, for example, by making sure that the passively safe fieldbus modules keep air and creepage distances. The circuit boards have spaces wide enough to exclude cross circuits. Furthermore, Murrelektronik equipped the modules with optocouplers that provide high galvanic isolation. Most of the components are resistant to environmental influences, meeting IP67 protection requirements, and thus exceed the requirements of the standard (IP54).
These measures ensure that no external power can interfere with the system after it has been switched off and after the safety function has been released. Now users can be sure that dangerous accidents won’t happen. Technically this means: The MTTFdvalue that represents the average time until a dangerous failure becomes infinitely high. In view of this, these products do not have to be taken into account when calculating the DCavg.
With a single channel safety function, MASI, Cube67, and MVK Metal safety components enable applications to reach performance Level D, according to EN 13849-1. Even if the safety function is carried out in a redundant or diverse (two channel) structure, Murrelektronik has solutions so the application can reach the performance requirements of Level E.