Recent advances in electronics and network design have made it possible for the industry to take advantage of transparent, secure ethernet communications to drive increased process visibility and improve the operational profitability of their plants.
These same advances also make it possible to design common safety controllers that integrate control and safety features in a single system.
Good design practices derived from industry standards dictate that control systems must keep process control functions separate and operationally independent from safety functions. This is intended to ensure the process control system has no ability to compromise the safety system in the event of a failure and vice versa. However, today’s hardware design allows the required degree of separation mentioned in the standards to be obtained by design within a single common safety platform.
In the right application, common safety offers the opportunity for industry to digitise their safety systems. When combined with the performance, networking and security features of a world class safety ePAC a plan can be built to yield significant gains in operational profitability and to do it both safely and securely.
Schneider Electric Ltd
Stafford Park 5
Telford
Shropshire
TF3 3BL
0870 608 8 608
www.schneider-electric.co.uk
