What Is Safeguarding - ABB IRC5 Product Manual

1.2.5.4. What is safeguarding?

Definition
Safeguarding are safety measures consisting of the use of safeguards to protect persons from
hazards which cannot reasonably be removed or sufficiently eliminated by design.
A safeguard prevents hazardous situations by stopping the manipulator in a controlled
manner when a certain safeguarding mechanism such as a light curtain is activated. This is
done by connecting the safeguard to any of the safety stop inputs at the manipulator
controller.
The safety stops described in
safeguarding.
NOTE!
The safeguarding function may only be used for the purpose and under the conditions for
which it is intended.
NOTE!
The safeguarding function should not be used for normal program stops as this causes extra,
unnecessary wear on the manipulator. For how to perform normal program stops, see section
Stopping programsin Operating manual - IRC5 with FlexPendant.
Safeguarded space
The safeguarded space is the space guarded by the guards. For example, a manipulator cell is
safeguarded by the cell door and its interlocking device.
Interlocking devices
Each present guard has an interlocking device which, when activated stops the manipulator.
The manipulator cell door has an interlock that stops the manipulator when the door is
opened. The only way to resume operation is to close the door.
Safeguarding mechanisms
A safeguarding mechanism consists of a number of guards connected in series. When a guard
is activated, the chain is broken and the machine operation is stopped regardless of the state
of the guards in the rest of the chain.
NOTE!
Use normal program stop for all other types of stop.
3HAC021313-001 Revision: P
What is a safety stop? on page
1 Safety
1.2.5.4. What is safeguarding?
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