How to guard machinery and improve production cycle performance
Production processes may require an intensive supervision of production cycles to reduce the occurrence of faulted parts. In such cases, the analysis of the production process must be carried out along with a risk assessment in order to design a guard fencing system which responds to the needs of maximum safety and minimum impact on the production cycle.
The perimeter protection systems developed by Accessafe in accordance with EN 13849-1 eliminate defective parts generated in the event of an emergency stop.
The production of mechanical components for automotive is one of the eccellence sector of the Italian industry and Is one of the most sensible to the safety theme which are in continuous evolution. We want to take into consideration the aspects correlated to the piston rods production which requires the maximal geometrical precision and the obsessive control of the production cycles. In order to obtain these results there must be a workplace which Standardize itself for cleanness and process safety.
According to the technical praxis on the safety subject “the more the implant is complex, the faster are the response times, the more the safety must be focused on the machinery perimeter”, which remain free to produce without interference but at the same time in consent the staff to closely check the productive process.
In the case of the perimeter protection system, Accessafe had to take these specific requirements into account, designing the guards with maximum transparency and incorporating practical systems for transporting parts and scrap.
The production line is formed by several workstations which carry out the various steps in the manufacturing and finishing of the piston rods and are supported by a robot manipulator which loads the parts and moves along a rail 25 metres in length. The finished parts and the waste are downloaded into moving crates at the back of the machine by means of small conveyor belts.
In the broader framework of the 42/2006 Machinery Directive, the safety distances to avoid upper limbs reaching the areas at risk -UNI 13857:2008 have been defined. Having identified such a risk as the most impending, we measured the Cartesian robots action range in order to calculate the minimum and maximum height and distance of the guard system.
The guards installed are conformant with the standards in regards to the general requirements for the design and engineering of fixed and mobile guards – UNI EN953; 2009 achieved by installing our CE certified Meta® fixing system.
All accessories have been designed according to the needs connected to this specific production line i.e. To delay door opening to after the entry request, in order to guarantee the completion of the current production cycle and avoid damaging the parts in production. Such a solution was implemented by setting the switches at the maximum level of standard conformant with EN 13849. In this case, we opted for a series of Euchner TP1 sensors fitted with a safety contactor and breakdown exclusion management through a PLD equipped with a solenoid for electromagnetic retention of the actuator until machinery PLC authorises door release.
Once installation was complete and the functionality of the switches and controls had been tested, Accessafe issued the CE certification for the perimeter protection safety component associated with the machine, which was then integrated into the daily production cycle, resolving the issue of defective parts that were generated every time an emergency shutdown occurred.
Characteristics of the guard fencing system installed
- PENTA modular panels with mesh barriers 20×100 mm size 3 mm, panel frame T20; colour black code RAL9005 h 1900mm
- Patented Meta Brackets 60×60 conformant with new Machinery Directives 42/2006 colour yellow code RAL018 h 2020mm
- Access points with electromagnetic interlocks Euchner TP1 with positive actuator with dual channel contact and solenoid.
