Pinnacle Systems, Inc. - Safety Light Curtains, Safety Mat Systems and Ergonomic Palm Buttons |
Page: Model MG Design Criteria |
Model MG
Metal Box Controller and Light
Curtain
Design Criteria
Diverse Redundancy Design
Concept
Pinnacle safety light curtains utilize the diverse
redundancy design concept. This gives the safety light system a higher level of redundancy and control
reliability. The two microprocessors are of different design, and the microprocessor or parallel programs are
run and made up from different instruction sets written by different
programmers.
Self-Checking
Circuitry
Pinnacle safety light curtains self-check every 20 milliseconds. Self-checking is the
ability to electronically verify that all of the systems critical internal circuit components and their redundant
counterparts or back-ups are operating properly.
Extra Safe Design
The MicroGuard® provides two methods of fail-safe design. One utilizes two
microprocessors and two captive contact relays, and the other uses four watchdog timers monitoring the system and
the captive contact relays.
Redundant Captive
Contact Safety Relays
Redundant relays assure safety if an output relay should fail. The MicroGuard®
utilizes safety relays which have force-guided contacts. This is a configuration where the contacts are
mechanically locked together so that if one set of contacts weld, the other contacts cannot change state. If one
should fail, the code "Relay Fault" will be displayed on the diagnostic message display. The complete guarding
system consists of two miniature pylons with a controller for system diagnostics and wiring
interface.
External Diagnostic
Message Display
Standard on all Pinnacle MicroGuard® safety lights is the "External Diagnostic
Display."
Alpha-numeric Plain
English Messages
The scrolling message display shows status and fault codes of the unit. This is an
excellent safety and maintenance feature, which is unparalleled in the machine guarding industry for enhancing
machine utilization.
Control Reliable
System
Critical components of the MicroGuard® are duplicated so that a single component
failure will not cause an unsafe condition. If a component does fail, the units self-checking circuitry recognizes
the situation and initiates a safe stop of the machine. The fault is then displayed on the message
display.
Powerful Infrared Light
Source
Pinnacle safety lights utilize powerful, safe and predictable infrared light as its
sensing source. This gives the system greater reliability and enhances machine utilization by minimizing nuisance
trips and shutdowns caused by dirt, coolants, lubrication mists and machine oils. Pinnacle safety lights are highly
immune to EMI, RFI, and ambient light conditions and are unaffected by strobe lights and weld flash generated light
sources.
Extensive
Testing
Pinnacle safety lights incorporate extensive testing and burn-in to establish a high
degree of product reliability and safety.