Data and Database Management Software
Software verifies functional safety of protection devices.
Press Release Summary:
Supporting manufacturers in calculation of failure limit values, as required by standards IEC 62061 and pr EN ISO 13849-1, PAScal Safety Calculator separates safety functions into their component parts, calculates overall probability of dangerous failure per hour, and verifies data with prescribed performance level of safety integrity level. Software also takes into account potential architectures and variations if subcomponents are connected together and parameterized.
Original Press Release:
Software Tool, Called the Safety Calculator, Verifies the Functional Safety of Protection Devices on Machinery
Calculations without the headache
(CANTON, MI) - Pilz launches a software tool called PAScal, which verifies the functional safety of protection devices on machinery in light of current standards. The Safety Calculator supports manufacturers in the calculation of failure limit values, as required by standards IEC 62061 and prEN ISO 13849-1. The software tool enables a reduction in costs and the amount of time spent on the task, particularly as figures need to be recalculated each time the safety functions are modified.
The PAScal Safety Calculator separates the safety functions into their component parts, calculates the overall probability of a dangerous failure per hour (PFHD value) and verifies the data with the prescribed performance level or safety integrity level. The software tool also takes into account potential architectures and variations if sub-components are connected together and parameterized.
Division into sub-systems
According to the approach of IEC 62061 (sector standard from IEC 61508 for safety in machine control systems), safety-related functions are divided into sub-systems such as sensors, inputs, logic, outputs and actuators. So the architecture for each sub-system can be specified separately. The sub-systems can be combined as required.
The Safety Calculator not only considers the factors listed in prEN ISO 13849-1 for evaluating the common cause failure (CCF), but also takes into account the parameters that depend on logic or electronics, which affect diagnostic coverage (DC). These include detection of shorts between contacts or synchronicity monitoring on multi-channel sensors, for example.
Based on a database
The basis for the Safety Calculator is a comprehensive database that already contains details of Pilz products. Users can also define their own components and store them in the database, provided the necessary numeric values are known. The Safety Calculator uses this data to calculate the PFHD value.
The PAScal Safety Calculator provides support to manufacturers when designing safety-related control elements. For new design procedures are required now that EN 954-1 has been replaced by prEN ISO 13849-1 for the design of safety-related control systems and standard IEC 62061 has been published.
The software tool also allows for the flexibility that engineering requires. Safety functions can change from machine to machine, so that calculations need reworking again and again. The Safety Calculator absorbs the associated costs.
Pilz: The World Leader in Safe Automation
Pilz Automation Safety is the world leader in the development and manufacture of safety automation systems, products, and services. Its history of innovation since 1948 includes the development of the first Emergency Safety Relay, the PNOZ product line, which has become the industry standard; the world's first all-electronic safety relay, the PNOZe1p; the first 16-amp safety relay, the PNOZpower; and one of the first Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). In 2004, Pilz Automation Safety L.P. celebrated 10 years at its North American headquarters in Canton, MI. For more information, contact Pilz at 1-734-354-0272, or visit www.pilz.com.
