Summary
Heavy-duty industrial presses can cause serious injury without adequate safety precautions. The use of safety light-curtains (AOPDs) for hand protection allows unobstructed access without increasing the operating cycle-time. YBES Extended Slim Type 4 light-curtains are unobtrusive and maximize the available obstruction-free working area; open-fronted presses are now the norm. Wireless configuration and monitoring via Bluetooth® and ContriApp reduces changeover time and cost.
Customer Values
- Highly reliable, cost-effective active safeguarding
- Improved workplace ergonomics without compromising safety standards
- Increased productivity arising from unimpeded loading and unloading
- Reduced changeover times as immediate access is available for engineers
- Simple installation and commissioning via Bluetooth® and ContriApp
- Easy alignment with the aid of inbuilt alignment LEDs
Specific Product Benefits
- Slim profile – only 26 × 26 mm
- No blind zone
- Permanent auto-control
- IP65 protection
- Non-contact operating principles
- Excellent safety rating to EN/ISO 13849-1 Cat. 4 PL e and IEC 61508 SIL 3
- AOPD (active optoelectronic protective device) with aluminum housing and M12 cable connector
Customer Application
Heavy-duty industrial presses can cause serious injury if operated without adequate safety precautions. Traditionally, moveable interlocked guards prevented operators from accessing high-risk areas of a machine during the operating cycle; this approach, while robust, imposes significant penalties on productivity and flexibility. The ready availability of affordable safety light-curtains for hand protection has facilitated significant change in the design of manufacturing press-shops.
In a factory operating multiple presses as part of a flexible manufacturing system, the ability to make rapid changes in set-up without compromising safety standards is a key factor. The emphasis is on versatility and minimization of changeover times, with non-contact safety systems preferred to inflexible physical barriers. A single operator may service more than one manually operated press, and Type 4 AOPDs, with high levels of fault-tolerance, are mandatory for safe access control.
Line balancing, where the operator loads a press during the cycle time of the one immediately preceding it, is essential for optimum throughput. Successful balancing is only possible with the use of AOPDs, which allow unobstructed loading and unloading without introducing unwanted waiting time into the operating cycle.
Customer Solution
Contrinex YBES Extended Slim safety light-curtains are ideal for power-press applications; because of the risk of severe injury, equipment designers typically specify Type 4 light-curtains for hand-protection with a beam width of 30 mm. The YBES range is TÜV-, CE- and UL-certified according to IEC 61496-1/2, IEC 61508-1/2/3 and ISO 13849-1, meeting all applicable product standards.
With a space-saving profile – only 26 x 26 mm – and with no blind zone, thanks to their innovative internal design, Extended Slim light-curtains are easily fitted and unobtrusive; open-fronted presses are now the norm, allowing operators immediate access to the working area for loading and unloading. During changeovers between products, engineers no longer spend time removing guards or fencing, saving time and money.
With an operating range of up to 5 meters and detection heights ranging from 170 mm to 1610 mm, YBES light-curtains maximize the available obstruction-free working area. They are rated to IP65, and rugged aluminum housings ensure that they are well-suited to the press-shop environment, readily withstanding shocks and vibrations. Connection to the machine control system is via a 0.3m pigtail cable with M12 connector.
With integrated External Device Monitoring (EDM) that includes a relay-monitoring function, users can also avoid the cost of additional wired monitoring relays. The units’ start and restart interlocks can be set to operate manually or automatically, while three beam-coding options are available. YBES light-curtains feature permanent auto-control and optical synchronization; commissioning is also simplified as YBES light-curtains are configured and monitored wirelessly via a Bluetooth® signal and free ContriApp smartphone app.