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Technologies + Products
| News for Factory Automation 1/2016
AS-Interface
The new KE4 module can safely monitor
speed and position simultaneously. When this module
is used in combination with the Safety Monitor, it is pos-
sible to implement decentralized solutions for a wide
range of safety-related architectures.
Some of them can lift up to several hundred tons, weigh several tons
themselves, and heave their loads to dizzying heights: It is clear that
safely controlling these machines is particularly important in ensuring
that people, materials, and the environment are not put at risk. That is
why rotary encoders and speed modules are often used, for example,
to limit the pivoting range of cranes.
“With the technology that was previously used, you had to decide if you
wanted to monitor the position or the speed,” explains Dr. Konrad Kern,
Product Manager for Systems at Pepperl+Fuchs. “The KE4 module
enables position-dependent speed monitoring.” This technology offers
the key advantage of being able to monitor both position and speed, not
just for cranes but for other machine movements, too.
“Other potential applications include position and speed monitoring
in driverless transport systems, speed monitoring in production lines,
or in deceleration ramps for stacker cranes,” Kern continues. Even small,
decentralized safety applications can be implemented in a cost-
effective manner using the KE4 module, as in the case of rotary tables
or stacker cranes. The KE4 module knows the end positions and
permissible speeds, initiates timely braking, and ensures that the
device safely comes to a standstill in the correct place.
Large achines Monitored
with a Compact System
M
Picture: Liebherr Tower Cranes
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