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Tab Safety-related values

Miscellaneous standards and guidelines (e.g., the machinery directive 2006/42/EC) require that the probabilities of failure be calculated for machines and safety functions. For this reason, the manufacturers of devices state safety-related values for their devices / components. For example, the value "MTBF" indicates the frequency with which a device fails or supplies incorrect results (MTBF: short for "Mean Time Between Failures").

A complete higher-level function involves a large number of devices with differing safety-related values. Depending on usage, there are differing values for the failure of such higher-level function for the overall higher-level function. These values are calculated by way of auxiliary programs following the planning. The values of all devices used must be known for the calculation.

Enter the safety-related values in this tab. This data can be specified several times per part.

Tip:

But easier and more convenient than the manual capture of the values is the import into parts management. The device manufacturers provide the safety-related values in the standard XML exchange format of VDMA. The abbreviation "VDMA" stands for "Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau" ("German Engineering Federation") and designates the association of machine tools and plant engineering. It represents approx. 3,000 primarily medium-sized member enterprises and is one of the most influential trade associations in Germany.

In order to add safety-related values to existing parts, the Import records dialog includes the "VDMA 66413" file type. Via this entry, you can import XML files with safety-related values that are set up according to the VDMA exchange format.

Overview of the main dialog elements:

Use cases:

The usage of a device is known as a so-called "use case". Each use case has its own set of safety-related values, i.e., depending on how a device is used, differing safety-related values must be used. Differing uses cases may be derived, for example, from the differing use of a device. Thus, for example, a drive can be operated with or without brakes, which in turn means differing safety-related values.

The use cases can be structured in up to five hierarchical levels. There must be at least one hierarchical level. The safety-related values are located at the lowest hierarchical level. If use cases have hierarchical levels with the same designation, this creates a tree-like structure.

Input (Collect) / Logic (Generate report) / Output (React):

Function ranges (safety-relevant parts of controls, subsystems) of the safety function: The relevant device is assigned functionally within the safety function on the basis of this division; for example, a position switch is identified as input ("collect"). Please note that at least one of these function ranges must be selected for each use case.

Safety-related values:

The following abbreviations are used in the fields for the actual safety-related values:

Popup menu:

The popup menu provides - depending on the field type (date, integer, multilingual, etc.) - the following menu items:

See also