AMRs: safety without compromising design
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As AMRs gain ground, manufacturers are placing increasing emphasis on both functionality and appearance. In this customer project, IDEC helped a leading AMR developer integrate safety edge switches into a curved chassis design while maintaining the required safety performance levels.
The customer’s challenge:
This market leader in production logistics, providing Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) solutions to industry, had entered the development phase for their next generation AMRs. During this process they recognised the need for the best aesthetics in design, appealing to the needs of their customers. However, their challenge was to find safety components that were as adaptable to their AMR design which included curved body components and a smart curved chassis. To solve this the company approached IDEC to review the recently launched HK2 “safety edge switch” series.
The initial system in place:
The customer’s previous AMRs had straight lines, not curves and appeared “boxy”. The need for improved aesthetics was important and set the benchmark in design.
These early design discussions were perfectly timed for both the customer and IDEC. And, whilst there are several companies providing safety edge switches, most cannot offer a “curved” or bent solution. Here we experienced IDEC’s competence with the HK2 series of edge switches.
Within this newly launched series from IDEC there are 9 differing products to consider, each with their own nuances in specification.
The solution we provided:
During the detailed discussions with the client relating to the AMR design, consideration on how to apply the IDEC edge switch as a “bumper” was critical to help meet the aesthetics needed. Product selection required bending and our offer was based around the HK2D variant. This edge switch can achieve a minimum bend radius of R80 – well within the scope of the project.
Then, ensuring the edge switch was suitable for safe operation, we used the IDEC HR6S safety relay as its interface. This solution permitted the 4-wire edge switch configuration to connect to the relay and achieve the required PLd safety performance.
Each AMR has 4 safe edges installed, each edge switch is connected in series and interfaced to the IDEC HR6S safety relay.
👍 Successful solution and happy client – good work team IDEC!
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