Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2023 - MD-13

system because LCO considers Pilz to be " the cat's meow for
industrial safety equipment, " according to De Vera. In addition
to protecting people, a safety system is needed to help
protect equipment in case of a malfunction.
The process for designing a safety system began by determining
the potential risks and how to mitigate them, De
Vera said. After a lot of back and forth between the two
organizations and various design iterations, the system was
developed and installed in 2012.
Thomas Hoertig, Technical Service Engineer at Pilz said,
" The safety system consists of the Pilz PNOZmulti
Configurator software and the PNOZmulti controller. The
software is used for programming the controller, which has a
number of I/Os (input/outputs) for uses such as emergency
stops, motion controls, interlocks access doors, and motor
drives. Safety contactors provide power to the amplifier
stages of the motor drives, and speed monitors ensure
" speed limits " are not exceeded.
In addition, LCO developed custom software that interfaces
with the Pilz hardware. The controller has Ethernet to
enable an internet connection. " We communicate with it
and basically monitor it for any faults that it might flag, " De
Vera said.
When a fault is flagged, he added that LCO can sometimes
fix the problem remotely. However, if an issue requires onsite
attention, LCO telescopes are primarily located in areas
with other telescopes, so local service technicians are available
who are on contract with LCO.
" For product information and help, we're able to contact
Blair Randle, Pilz Territory Manager, for assistance
if needed, " De Vera said. The number of failures can be
counted on fingers of one hand, he noted, and are due to
instances such as water entering the system and shorting the
high-voltage line into the Pilz I/O circuit. Basically, the Pilz
safety system allows access to an observatory only when it is
at standstill status. " If someone unlocks the entry door to a
dome, the machine stops, " De Vera said.
Once all the systems were installed, he said they have
been functioning as designed, enabling LCO to continually
sell telescope time, or telescope as a service. " They've been
operating for over 10 years, and we've not really touched
the design. "
Pilz reports that it has introduced its second-generation
safety controller, the PNOZmulti2. The company stated:
" With the eventual end of life for the Multi, there will be a
need to supersede that product with the Multi2 with equivalent
I/O and communications. It can then suggest they
[LCO] start to develop solutions with Multi2 to replace the
Multi. "
Although he is aware of the planned upgrades, De Vera
said because of the success of the Pilz system, LCO does not
currently plan to redesign the system to integrate the new
hardware in the near term.
In addition, LCO looks to grow its network by partnering
with existing telescopes that are automated and whose owners
are interested in connecting to the LCO network via
software, De Vera said.
This article was contributed by Pilz (Canton, MI). For
more information, visit www.pilz.us.
Motion Design, June 2023
TB TBTV Motion Control Ad 0623_1.indd 1
MOTION CONTROL CHANNEL
Sponsored by
FEATURED SPONSOR VIDEO:
Yaskawa Helps Eagle Make the Cut
Yaskawa servo systems help Eagle's Talon 3000 saw cut an
imperfection out of a board in the blink of an eye, keeping
productivity high while preserving the appearance of a beautiful
hardwood.
www.techbriefs.com/tv/eagle
Ingenuity Helicopter
Inspires Future Flights
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
made history when it achieved
the first powered, controlled
flight on another planet. See how
NASA continues to push the
flight envelope, this time with the
" Mars Science Helicopter. "
www.techbriefs.com/tv/
ingenuity-helicopter
Smart Drones Navigate
Using Liquid Neural
Networks
MIT researchers exhibited a new
advance in autonomous drone
navigation, using brain-inspired
liquid neural networks that excel
in out-of-distribution scenarios.
www.techbriefs.com/tv/
drones-navigate
A Highly Dexterous
Robot Hand
Columbia Engineering has
developed a robot hand that
combines an advanced sense
of touch with motor learning
algorithms to achieve human-like
dexterity.
www.techbriefs.com/tv/
dexterous-robot-hand
www.techbriefs.tv
13
5/15/23 4:51 PM
http://www.techbriefs.com/tv/eagle http://www.techbriefs.com/tv/ingenuity-helicopter http://www.techbriefs.com/tv/drones-navigate http://www.techbriefs.com/tv/dexterous-robot-hand http://www.pilz.us http://www.techbriefs.tv
Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2023
