Integrated safety helps control system design

摘要

Advancing technologies and industry standards have made single-system platforms for safety and standard control easier and more cost-effective to design, implement, and maintain. Single-system platforms for safety and standard control have become easier and more cost-effective than ever to design, implement and maintain, spurred by advancing technology and changes in industry standards. Automation designers use recent technology advancements to deliver greater flexibility in how they implement safety systems to help streamline costs and improve productivity. Economic factors - namely the aim to increase the bottom line without losing sight of safety - are driving the evolution of safety systems, from older hardwired to networked to contemporary integrated configurations. The more designers can integrate the innovative safety functions of a control system with nonsafety functions, the better the opportunity to minimize equipment redundancies, improve productivity, and minimize costs. Hardware costs can be decreased because standard and safety portions of the application can share system components.