To cater to growing demand & enhance their operational output, the largest UK-based Brick manufacturer chose to upgrade their ‘Dehacking’ line by installing a new robot palletiser system that included an integrated stretch wrapper, allowing for a higher volume of bricks to be processed and packaged during each production cycle.
Yet, the safety system that the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) had initially suggested did not meet the required level of safety that the brick manufacturer was looking to achieve.
While enhancing production efficiency was a pre-requisite of this upgrade project, the brick manufacturer also sought to safeguard against unexpected machine restart, defined EN ISO 14118: Safety of Machinery – Prevention of Unexpected Start-up, which was highlighted as a major concern during the Risk Assessment process.
Unsure about unexpected start-up?
As the Dehacking line has several access points which typically require frequent access by authorised operators and/or maintenance personnel, there may be times where personnel could be hidden from sight while they work inside the machines hazardous area.
Consequently, unsuspecting operator may inadvertently restart the machine while one of their colleagues continues to work inside the danger zone, potentially resulting in a serious or fatal injury.
The Key to Personnel Safety
To overcome this, each guard was interlocked with a PROFI-enabled amgardPro guard-locking switch from Fortress Safety. Each safety device incorporated the use of safety keys that are to be kept on an operator’s person while they work inside the danger zone.
This provided a means of guaranteeing personnel protection, as the guard door cannot be locked closed, and thus power to the machine cannot be restarted, until the operator has returned the safety key to its corresponding lock on the guard locking device.
For added simplicity, each networked device included basic machine control functionality as the machine restart button and an e-stop for emergency purposes had been built into the body of the unit, eliminating the need for additional hardware, and associated wiring costs.
Securing Machine Uptime
Finally, the installation of PROFI-enabled safety gate switches provided an unprecedented level of diagnostic coverage. Engineers could use standard internet browsers to access diagnostic displays with accurate topology views of the network for rapid fault detection.
This form of fault detection drastically decreased production downtime by allowing authorised personnel to access network displays remotely so that engineers could diagnose system faults without being on site.