At the beginning of March 2013, members of the EPSG openSAFETY workgroup met in Grsten, Denmark, one of the design and production facilities of Danfoss. In its March meeting, the workgroup focused on electrical drive technology. Consequently, in Denmark mainly EPSG member companies from this area met. In addition to Danfoss as the host, other names in drive technology attended the meeting, among them Yaskawa, Control Technique and NORD Drivesystems.
Stefan Schnegger, general manager of the Ethernet POWERLINK Standardization Group (EPSG), says: "The drive market is rapidly changing. The suppliers are confronted with requirements that are increasingly difficult to meet, the effort required for the implementation of many different standards within a single product, however, is immense." This is why, based on openSAFETY, the industry is pursuing integrated safety concepts that are independent of the various control and field bus systems.
The aim of the workgroup meeting in Denmark was the preparation of generally accepted SafeMotion profiles that can consequently be established as standards. They will be instrumental in further simplifying the integration of complex safe reactions and in the mitigation of interface issues between safe applications and the underlying safety technology.
For more information about the EPSG openSAFETY workgroup please visit www.ethernet-POWERLINK.org.
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