Lady Liberty’s New Fire and Safety Technology

Tower Elevator Systems’ newly installed rescue elevator, part of a $27-million Statue of Liberty renovation, makes the most of Safety PLC hardware, PROFIBUS Ethernet and the SIMATIC Comfort Panel HMI. One of the most-recognized structures on earth, the Statue of Liberty, recently underwent a $27 million renovation that brought the 19th century icon into the 21st century. Fire and safety features on the statue, inaugurated by President Grover Cleveland in 1886, were revamped... Read More

---

PC-based Control Improves Tire Test Control

ASM and CTI improve tire testing and optimization system in rubber capital of the world with Siemens’ integrated PC-based real-time controls, networking, drives, interfaces and more. Most people don’t think about car tires until there’s a problem, but tires are a critical contributor for both safety and comfort. Forming rubber into products that can support more than a ton and absorb shock while rolling down rough highways at high speeds is a very challenging manufacturing... Read More

---

Introducing the New SITOP Selectivity Module with Single Channel Signaling

Siemens Industry, Inc. introduces a line of SITOP PSE200U 24V DC Selectivity modules featuring single-channel signaling to detect and deactivate overloads or short circuits in individual circuits.  The new, four-channel devices offer three-color LED indicators per channel and enhance the current SITOP portfolio for reliable selective circuit protection. The status output of the modules provides channel specific status signaling.  A pulse-pause signal can be evaluated with a... Read More

---

Understanding Safety Regulations and Standards

Global safety regulations vary widely.  Here are some pointers. Regulators around the globe agree on one thing: safety systems should use suitable technical equipment to keep potential hazards from both people and the environment without restricting industrial production. When accidents are minimized with minimal impact on output, productivity should rise. But that’s where the agreement ends. There are different concepts and requirements to guarantee safety in the various... Read More

---

Wireless Networks and Machine Safety: Lessons Learned in a Non-Industrial Environment

Safe control of large concrete doors when elephants are in outside pen. Designing a system to control a myriad of large hydraulic gates at the Elephant Community Center at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park provides lessons learned in an application that involves hydraulics, solenoids, wireless, and safety PLCs. Making sure he doesn’t scare elephants isn’t normally in Barry Stringer’s list of challenges for the day. But when his team was designing a control system... Read More

---

Critical Role of Documentation in Risk Assessments

Proper documentation helps drive success in designing, verifying and validating machine safety. There are very few people who raise their hand when asked the question “who here likes documentation?” Documentation can be seen as an impediment to progress and efficiency, not to mention innovation. But in the long run, proper documentation goes along with proper and efficient planning. When it is looked at as a record of an effective plan, it isn’t too hard to see that documentation... Read More

---

Reducing Security Risks Through Authentication and Encryption

Take these security steps to prevent automation system damage Long gone are the days when automation systems could rely on security through obscurity to avoid computer attacks. Assaults on industrial systems are an ever increasing threat and the potential losses from an attack are large. The good news is that with careful system design and security-aware practices, security risks can be controlled. Network design complying with the ISA-99 standards places barriers between external... Read More

---

Safeguards for the World’s Most Powerful Laser

Designing the world’s most powerful lasers is no mean feat. But researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are equally proud of a complementary system they’ve created, one that protects humans from the powerful beams. The Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) system set the record when it delivered a petawatt of power in a pulse just 40 femtoseconds long at a pulse rate of one hertz in July. If delivering 1015th watts of power in a quadrillionth of a second isn’t... Read More

---

Is Your Burner Management System Outdated?

Learn how safety PLCs can improve your BMS design. Burner Management Systems (BMS) are traditionally defined as systems to monitor and control fuel burning equipment during all startup, shutdown, operating, and transient conditions. Their primary purposes are: To protect against startup when unsafe conditions exist. To protect against unsafe operating conditions and admission of improper quantities of fuel to the furnace. To provide the operator with status information. To initiate... Read More

---

How To Determine “Acceptable” Risk

Start with these best practices in assessing risk, direct from UL experts. Noted science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, once said that living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. Accordingly, we are all building wings. In fact, anyone involved in risk management will tell you that risk is always present, that we are all living at risk; the goal is to reduce it to an acceptable level. Risk explains the likelihood and... Read More

---