What is the relationship between Industry 4.0 and the changes in EU safety regulations?
Text: E-Totaal
The European Parliament recently announced an update on the EU Machinery Regulation, which explicitly focuses on safety in mobile machinery. What do you need to know as a machine builder about the changing regulations for machinery and what is the relationship between Industry 4.0 and the changes in EU safety regulations? During the Machinebouw event, Sep Schraven and Yuan Lee from HMS Networks will delve deeper into this topic. Here is a preview of what they will tell you.
Since 2006, the world of machine builders has changed drastically. All kinds of new developments such as wireless communication, cobots and not to forget mobile machines require a revision of the guidelines. This year, a new EU safety regulation has been introduced that will come into effect on 1 January 2027.
Developing safety features
Safety used to be something that was completely separate from the control of machines. A completely separate circuit was used for all safety functions. In the meantime, the fieldbus came along and the safety circuits could not lag behind. Separate buses were created for this purpose. However, developments continued and we see that more and more is being integrated and that only one controller and one communication bus are used for both the control of the machine and for the safety functions.
Wire is also being replaced by wireless. This always offers much more flexibility. A production line can therefore be converted much more easily to make another product. Setting up machines differently does not also require completely different construction of the control. Only the software has to be adjusted.
All this wireless communication, and certainly if the safety functions also run through it, require adjustments to the guidelines. The new EU safety regulations have therefore also drawn up standards for this.
Mobile machines
Since 2006 we also see that more and more mobile machines have been added. Previously these were simple self-driving vehicles that could drive along fixed paths, now these are almost completely independently driving devices that find their way with the help of many sensors and Machine learning plus Artificial Intelligence.
These high-end AGVs cannot function without wireless communication. But what about safety? A simple emergency button on the AGV is not enough. The signal that the AGV must stop must also have further consequences. For example, the machine that makes the products that the AGV must remove must also stop. And vice versa – if the production machine stops, the AGV must also stop in a controlled manner in a place that is safe for both man and machine.
The 2006 directive did not mention AGVs. Before the law, such a machine was a vehicle and the rules for self-driving vehicles applied. This has now been adjusted in the new directive and the AGV is also part of the Machinery Directive. Mobile robots can also be found in the new directive. These were also previously 'vehicles', but are now also seen as machines within EU regulations.
Industry 5.0
The era of mobile robots in factory automation has placed new demands on secure data communication. New methods had to be found to unravel the security functions of wired networks, enabling communication in a constantly moving environment. Security over wireless technologies is therefore the key to the new freedom of mobile machines.
Industry 5.0 refers to robots and smart machines working together with humans, including additional resilience and sustainability goals. Industry 4.0 focused on technologies such as the Internet of Things and big data. Industry 5.0 adds the human, ecological and social aspects to the whole and this in relation to the safety integration that is important.
The most widely used and well-known wireless communication technology is the wireless LAN as described in the IEEE802.11. Regular updates of this standard take into account the increasing number of network devices, data latency, roaming delays or data throughput in these networks. New is the emergence of 5G as a new technology for industrial networks, in addition to the IEEE802.11. It is a trend that shows how the initially much slower wireless technologies are trying to catch up with the proven, high-bandwidth wired network technologies.
The lecture
As mentioned, Sep Schraven and Yuan Lee will take you through the new issues during the Machinebouw Event. It promises to be a lecture that you should not miss. So put December 12 in your agenda and come to 1931 Congrescentrum 's-Hertogenbosch. The lecture we are talking about here will be held at 12:30.
Nederlands