Integrated Safety Circuit for Material Testing Actuator Shutdown
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional material testing systems often fail to comply with international safety standards and require costly off-the-shelf safety components, which can compromise operator safety and system reliability.
Innovation Solution
Integration of a safety system within the material testing system using embedded electronics and circuit boards, featuring machine state indicators, redundant monitoring, and direct hardware shutdown capabilities to ensure compliance with ISO safety standards, reducing the need for external wiring and components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional off-the-shelf safety components are used, then operator safety can be improved, but system cost and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the safety system with the existing material testing system electronics by integrating safety monitoring functions into the control circuit board. This eliminates the need for separate external safety components and their associated wiring, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining safety functionality through unified monitoring of machine states and actuator control.
2Reliability
If conventional off-the-shelf safety components are used, then operator safety can be improved, but system cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The safety system is merged with the existing control electronics of the material testing system. By utilizing the existing circuit board and electronics infrastructure, the patent eliminates the need to purchase and install separate off-the-shelf safety components, thereby significantly reducing system cost while maintaining comprehensive safety monitoring and actuator control capabilities.
3Device complexity
If integrated safety system is implemented, then system complexity is reduced, but safety monitoring capability must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The control circuit board is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it controls the actuators for normal operation and monitors machine states for safety compliance. This multi-functional approach allows the integrated system to maintain comprehensive safety monitoring capability while reducing overall system complexity by eliminating separate dedicated safety components.
4Device complexity
If integrated safety system is implemented, then external wiring is eliminated, but safety standard compliance must be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated safety system continuously monitors machine states and provides feedback to the control circuit board. This feedback mechanism ensures that the system can detect unsafe conditions and respond appropriately, maintaining compliance with safety standards like ISO 13849-1 without requiring external wiring to separate safety components.
Data Source
AI summary
Safety systems and material testing systems including safety systems are disclosed. An example material testing system includes: an actuator configured to control an operator-accessible component of the material testing system; an actuator disabling circuit configured to disable the actuator; and one or more processors configured to: control the actuator based on a material testing process; monitor a plurality of inputs associated with operation of the material testing system; determine, based on the plurality of inputs and the material testing process, a state of the material testing system from a plurality of predetermined states, the predetermined states comprising one or more unrestricted states and one or more restricted states; and control the actuator disabling circuit based on the determined state.