Cooperation Area Safety Monitoring With Sequenced Protective Fields
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety systems in industrial environments, such as those used in robot cells, struggle to reliably detect when personnel have left the secured area, leading to the need for manual restarts and potential safety hazards.
Innovation Solution
A method and monitoring device that utilize multiple optoelectronic sensors to create configurable protective fields, allowing for machine-side and operator-side sequence monitoring. This setup ensures that the machine and operator maintain safe distances and that the machine can automatically restart once it is safe to do so.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional sensors and light curtains are used to secure the machine area, then safety is improved, but the system requires manual restart after each intrusion and cannot reliably detect when personnel have left the area
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring area is divided into multiple protective fields arranged in sequences from both the operator side and machine side. Each protective field is a segmented zone that can be independently evaluated, allowing the system to track the precise location and movement of objects through the area rather than treating the entire space as a single monitored zone.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically evaluates combinations of protective field intrusions based on real-time sensor data. Instead of static monitoring, the evaluation adapts to the sequence and pattern of intrusions, enabling automatic determination of when it is safe to restart the machine based on the movement sequences detected by the sensor system.
2Reliability
If multiple protective fields are monitored simultaneously to improve safety coverage, then safety monitoring capability is improved, but computational intensity increases and flexibility is not fully utilized
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring area is divided into multiple protective fields arranged in sequences from both the operator side and machine side. Each protective field is a segmented zone that can be independently evaluated, allowing the system to track the precise location and movement of objects through the area rather than treating the entire space as a single monitored zone.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-configures sequences of protective fields from both operator and machine sides, establishing evaluation rules beforehand. This preliminary setup allows the real-time evaluation to focus on matching detected intrusions against predefined safe patterns, reducing computational intensity during operation while maintaining comprehensive safety monitoring.
3Area of stationary object
If the protective field covers the entire area in front of the machine, then detection coverage is improved, but the machine triggers the protective field during normal operation
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring area is divided into multiple protective fields arranged in sequences from both the operator side and machine side. Each protective field is a segmented zone that can be independently evaluated, allowing the system to track the precise location and movement of objects through the area rather than treating the entire space as a single monitored zone.
Solution Approach 2:
Different protective fields have different evaluation criteria based on their location and function. Fields in the operator sequence and machine sequence have distinct intrusion patterns that are evaluated differently, allowing the system to distinguish between safe machine operations and hazardous intrusions by applying local quality rules to specific zones.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides enhanced collaborative safety by ensuring that both workers and machines maintain safe distances, reducing the need for manual restarts and minimizing the risk of accidents. It achieves this with a more compact and cost-effective setup compared to traditional systems.
Implementation Method 1
at least one optoelectronic sensor (10a, 10b, 10c) monitors a portion of the protective fields for protective field intrusions
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
Figure 6~8
AI summary
A method for non-contact safety at a cooperation area (48) of a machine (40) is specified, wherein an access area (44) for a worker (46) is arranged on a first side of the cooperation area (48) and a working area (42) of the machine (40) is arranged on a second side, wherein several protective fields (38) configured in the vicinity of the cooperation area (48) are monitored for protective field intrusions by at least one optoelectronic sensor (10) and at least two of the protective fields (38) are arranged in a first sequence from the first side, so that a worker (46) intrusions into these protective fields (38) successively when approaching the cooperation area (48), and wherein the protective field intrusions are evaluated in order to safeguard the machine (40) in the event of an impermissible combination of protective field intrusions.In this process, at least two of the protective fields (38) are arranged in a second sequence from the second side, so that the machine (40) intervenes in these protective fields (38) one after the other when approaching the cooperation area (48).