Active Safety Management for Automatic Cutting Machines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic cutting machines face productivity losses and safety concerns due to the need for operator intervention, which results in machine stoppages and loss of cutting tool position information, especially when detecting obstacles or requiring manual operations during operation cycles.
Innovation Solution
An active safety management method that divides the work area into zones, allowing the cutting tool to maintain or adjust speed and program modifications to continue operation without complete stoppages, ensuring operator safety while minimizing productivity losses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the machine stops completely when an operator intrusion is detected, then operator safety is ensured, but productivity is reduced due to loss of cutting tool position information and interruption of the cutting program
Solution Approach 1:
The work plan is divided into multiple zones (first zone, second zone, third zone) with different safety characteristics. This segmentation allows the system to apply different responses to operator intrusions depending on which zone is involved, enabling continued operation in safe zones while protecting operator safety in hazardous zones.
Solution Approach 2:
Different zones of the work plan are assigned different quality characteristics regarding operator safety. The first zone is designated as a hazardous area where tool movement is suspended, while other zones allow continued operation. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by maintaining productivity in safe areas while ensuring safety in hazardous areas.
2Productivity
If the machine continues operating at normal speed when an operator intrudes into a non-contiguous zone, then productivity is maintained, but operator safety may be compromised if the operator moves into a contiguous zone
Solution Approach 1:
The detection means continuously monitors operator position and provides feedback to the control means. When an operator intrudes into a monitored zone, the system receives real-time information and adjusts tool movement accordingly - suspending movement in contiguous zones while maintaining it in non-contiguous zones, thus balancing productivity and safety dynamically.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts tool movement based on real-time operator position. Rather than a static stop-all-operations approach, the system flexibly modifies operation in specific zones based on operator location, allowing continued productivity in safe zones while ensuring safety in hazardous zones.
3Reliability
If the machine slows down when an operator intrudes into a contiguous zone, then operator safety is improved, but productivity is reduced due to reduced cutting speed
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the response based on zone contiguity. When an operator intrudes into a non-contiguous zone, tool movement continues at normal speed in other zones. Only when intrusion occurs in a contiguous zone is movement suspended or slowed, minimizing the impact on overall productivity while maintaining safety where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Different quality responses are applied to different zones based on their spatial relationship to the operator intrusion. Contiguous zones receive enhanced safety protection (suspended or reduced speed), while non-contiguous zones maintain normal operation, thus resolving the contradiction locally rather than globally.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for managing an active safety for an automatically operating machine which comprises a worktop and a working tool displaceable according to a pre-set operating program. The inventive method consists in dividing (100) the worktop in several areas and in carrying out, while performing the operating program and when detecting an operator intrusion into the first area whereas the tool is activated in the second area, at least one of the following actions: to maintain (210) the tool programmed displacement at a normal speed if the tool displacement is programmed in the area non-contiguous to the first area, to maintain (220) the tool programmed displacement at a reduced speed if the tool displacement is programmed in the area contiguous to the first area and in modifying (230) the operating program if the tool displacement is programmed in the first area in such a way that the tool is enabled to continue to work in the area other than the first area.