At the recent SPS/IPC/Drives show in Germany, Wieland Electric launched a bus system for use with its samos Pro modular safety controller which, it says, will simplify the interconnection of machines and systems.

Until now, says Wieland, when safety functions have been controlled by various distributed safety controls, consistent communication has been possible only via non-safe field buses or industrial Ethernet. The new samos Net system (above) will allow safe signals to be transmitted, processed and evaluated within a machine network via the bus, thus avoiding the need for time-consuming wiring of safety sensors to a central safety controller.

The network can be up to 100m long and can interconnect up to four samos Pro systems, to provide up to 384 safe inputs and 192 safe outputs. The connected devices exchange safety-relevant signals directly without needing extra modules.

To create safe interconnections, users only need to install the new SP-SCON-NET controller in the samos Pro controller. This enables parallel configuration and commissioning of different system parts, thus reducing processing times and downtime, while raising productivity.

Projects are configured and diagnosed centrally via one of the interconnected samos Pro systems using a programming tool. The modular safety controls interconnected via the bus meet the requirements of SIL 3, SIL CL 3 and PL e.