Trapped-key interlocking system improves safety at chrome smelter

摘要

Industrial automation specialist Rockwell Automation installed a trapped-key interlocking system to improve safety, sequential operation of the furnace power switching and access control at a chrome smelter in Steelpoort, in Mpumalanga province, says Rockwell Automation commercial engineer Roy Plotz. Three of the previously used trapped-key systems at the smelter needed to be replaced because of problems caused by their operations in the harsh environment, while the fourth system, an existing Prosafe interlocking key system, was still performing properly.