Increased functionality for safety system design software

SAB, which is designed to help machinery automation system engineers save time when designing safety systems, automates the safety-selection process to help speed system design and minimise human error. 

It allows users to import an image of the machinery they wish to safeguard and answer questions using a drop-down menu and help screens to identify and select the necessary safeguards. The software then compiles all product selections, generates a bill of materials, and compiles necessary data to populate SISTEMA (Safety Integrity Software Tool for the Evaluation of Machine Applications).

David Reade, business development consultant, Safety and Sensing, EMEA at Rockwell Automation, said: "One of the biggest advantages it offers is that it can act as a multi-language front-end to the IFA's SISTEMA software, a utility that provides developers and testers of safety-related machine controls with comprehensive support in the evaluation of safety in the context of ISO 13849-1.

"Because SISTEMA has a limited language set, the use of SAB helps augment the process of report generation in additional languages. This allows developers in more countries to use SAB in their own language and then import this data into SISTEMA where a final report can then be generated in one of the core languages offered by SISTEMA. This is especially useful for cross-country projects where machines are being developed and then exported.”

 

In addition to the enhanced language set, SAB is also said to exhibit multiple additions to its safety function library, a library of pre-configured, pre-engineered design documents containing detailed information for many safeguarding methods, including specific functionality, Performance Level category data and required input, logic and output components. These documents also include parts lists, electrical drawings, a SISTEMA project file, and verification and validation plans. The huge uptake of the software has also enabled Rockwell Automation to significantly expand the help files based on extensive user experiences.

New SAB languages include Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Hungarian, Finnish, Romanian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.