Control system for controlling safety-critical processes

Abstract
The present invention describes a control system for controlling safety-critical processes. The control system has a first control unit for controlling a safety-critical process and at least one signal unit linked to the safety-critical process via I/O channels. It further comprises a field bus connecting said first control unit and said signal unit, and a bus master for controlling communication on said field bus. Said first control unit and said signal unit each comprise safety-directed arrangements for ensuring failsafe communication among each other. Said bus master is connected to said field bus separately from said first control unit and said signal unit.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a control system for controlling safety-critical processes, having a first control unit for controlling safety-critical processes and at least one signal unit linked to the safety-critical processes via I/O channels, and further having a field bus connecting the first control unit and the signal unit, and a bus master for controlling communication on the field bus, said first control unit and said signal unit comprising safety-directed arrangements for ensuring failsafe communication among each other.




Use of field buses for data communication between separate units involved in the control of a process is sufficiently known today in control and automation technology. The term field bus is used in this connection to describe a data communication system to which, ideally, any desired units can be connected that communicate with each other via the common field bus. Communication between the units is governed by specified protocols. Such a communication system is in contrast to a point-to-point communication link between two units where other units are completely cut off from the communication between such units. Examples of known field buses are the so-called CANbus, Profibus or Interbus.




In many field buses, communication is controlled by at least one bus master that is primary to the other units connected to the field bus, designated here as stations. This has the result that no data can be sent by any station to any other station without “permission” and control of the bus master. Usually, the bus master is a standard module which implements the protocols specified for the field bus, and which is often relatively complex and, thus, considerably expensive.




Although the use of field buses offers numerous advantages, mainly with respect to the high cabling effort that would otherwise be required, it was not possible heretofore to employ field buses in practical use for controlling safety-critical processes. The reason is that due to their structure being freely accessible for any units, the degree of failsafety necessary for controlling safety-critical processes could not be guaranteed.




The term safety-critical process is understood in the present invention to describe a process which, in case of a fault, would present a risk for people and goods that may not be neglected. Ideally, it must be 100% guaranteed for any safety-critical process that the process will be transferred to a safe state in case a fault should occur. Such safety-critical process may also be partial processes of larger, higher-level overall processes. Examples for safety-critical processes are chemical processes, where it is an absolute necessity to keep critical parameters within predetermined limits, or complex machine controls, such as the control of a hydraulic press or of an entire production line. In the case of a hydraulic press, for example, the material feeding process may be a non-safety-critical partial process, whereas the process of starting the pressing tool may be a safety-critical partial process, as part of the overall process. Other examples of (partial) safety-critical processes are the monitoring of guards, protective doors or light barriers, the control of two-hand switches or the reaction to emergency shut-down devices.




DE 197 42 716 A1 discloses a control and data transmission system, which is based on a field bus, especially the one known as Interbus, and which had for its object to integrate safety-directed modules. It was proposed to achieve this object by implementing safety-directed arrangements in both the bus master, designated as master control unit in the cited publication, and the stations. In addition to the data communication as such, the safety-directed arrangements perform safety functions that guarantee the required failsafety with respect to the control of safety-critical processes. To say it in more concrete terms, the required safety is achieved in this case mainly by making the bus master “safe” through implementing safety-directed arrangements.




However, implementing such arrangements is very laborious and costly in the development and construction of a failsafe control system, since one cannot make use of standard modules for this purpose any longer, but is required to develop the complex bus master as such.




In addition, such an approach is of disadvantage also in operation of a control system based thereon, because in the control of complex processes the safety-directed communication amounts to only 10% of the whole communication volume. The known approach leads therefore to the disadvantage that the bus master is made “safe” at high expense, although this is not necessary for 90% and more of the communication volume controlled by it.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




It is an object of the present invention to provide a control system that provides failsafe communication between units involved in controlling a safety-critical process.




It is another object of the present invention to provide a control system for controlling safety-critical processes that can be build up using standard modules as bus masters.




It is another object of the present invention to provide a control system for controlling safety-critical processes having a control unit and a plurality of signal units, wherein said control unit can communicate with said signal units across a field bus without simultaneously having bus master functionality.




These objects are particularly achieved with a control system as mentioned at the outset, wherein the bus master is connected to the field bus independently of the first control unit and the plurality of signal units.




Due to the safety-directed arrangements, the first control unit is a “safe” control unit, which means that it is in a position to determine, and to correct, both internal and external faults, if necessary by interaction with other safe units. To say it in more concrete terms, this feature means that the first control unit for controlling safety-critical processes on the one hand and the bus master on the other hand are accommodated in separate modules, and they are both connected to the field bus separately. It is feasible to connect the first control unit to the field bus as a simple station, i.e. without any bus master functionality, as will be described hereafter with reference to the Interbus, by way of example. The control of the safety-critical process can then be effected largely independently of the control of any non-safety-critical processes, and also independently of the control of data communication on a common field bus.




The control unit does therefore not require any bus master functionality, and conversely the bus master can be connected to the field bus without any safety-directed arrangements. This allows the use of conventional standard bus master modules.




The invention further provides the advantage that the first control unit, and with it the safety-directed arrangements, have to be adapted only to the comparatively small volume of safety-directed data traffic, as regards their complexity and speed. The portion of non-safety-directed data traffic, which may amount to 90 % and more in a complex overall process, need not be handled via the first control unit or via the safety-directed arrangements. Accordingly, the first control unit and the safety-directed arrangements can be given a relatively simple structure.




According to an embodiment of the above-mentioned feature, the first control unit comprises an independent control program for controlling the safety-critical process.




In this connection, the term independent control program is meant to describe a control program that puts the first control unit in a position to control the safety-critical process independently of other control units. The first control unit, therefore, instead of being merely a redundant element supplementing another control unit, is in a position to control the safety-critical process independently and in a failsafe manner. The feature is especially advantageous insofar as it provides complete separation of the safety-directed parts of the control system from the non-safety-critical parts. This is of particular importance in connection with the certification of a control system by the competent supervision authorities because any influence on the safety-directed part by manipulation of the non-safety-directed part is excluded in this way.




According to a further embodiment, the first control unit is capable of generating a failsafe bus telegram the receipt of which causes the signal unit to transfer the safety-critical process to a safe state.




If the safety-critical process concerns, for example, the monitoring of an emergency shut-down device, a safe state may be reached, for example, by immediately de-energizing the whole process. In the case of a chemical production system making the entire system dead might, however, permit uncontrolled reactions to take place so that in this case the term safe state is defined as the setting of predetermined parameter ranges. The described measure is in contrast to the solution that realizes the transfer of the process to a safe state via additional control lines, separate from the field bus. This was preferred heretofore because a failsafe bus telegram is possible only in conjunction with safety-directed arrangements. In contrast, the described measure provides the advantage that it is now possible to work without corresponding additional control lines, whereby the cabling effort is once more reduced.




According to a another embodiment, the safety-directed arrangements comprise a multi-channel structure.




The term multi-channel structure as used in this connection means that the safety-directed arrangements comprise at least two parallel processing channels that are redundant one with respect to the other. This feature provides the advantage that a fault occurring in one of the processing channels can be discovered, for example, by the fact that one result deviates from the results of the other processing channel or channels, and can then be corrected, if necessary. Thus, this feature contributes in a very reliable manner to ward improving failsafety.




Preferably, the multi-channel structure is based on the diversity principle.




This means that the different channels of the multi-channel structure are built up differently. For example, one channel may be based on a microcontroller from one manufacturer, while another channel is based on a microcontroller from a second manufacturer. Accordingly, the control programs of the micro-controllers will also differ one from the other in that case. Alternatively, one of the channels may have a hard-wired logic, instead of a microcontroller. The described feature provides the advantage that failsafety is once more considerably improved due to the fact that the probability of the same faults occurring at the same time is considerably reduced in structures of a diverse nature, compared with homogenous structures.




According to a further embodiment of the invention, the control system comprises a second control unit for controlling non-safety-critical processes.




Preferably, the second control unit is a standard control unit, i.e. a control unit available as a standard module. This feature is particularly advantageous where the control system is to be employed for controlling complex overall processes as in this case all non-safety-critical processes can be controlled separately from the safety-critical partial processes. In addition, the first control unit can be relieved of non-safety-critical tasks. This allows the first control unit and, in addition, the entire control system to be given an especially low-cost and efficient design.




According to a further development of the before-mentioned measure, the second control unit is connected to the field bus separately from the first control unit.




This feature provides the advantage that safety-directed processes are separated even more strictly from non-safety-directed processes, which reduces the risk that the safety-directed controls may be influenced unintentionally still further. Moreover, it is thus rendered possible to retrofit a first control unit for controlling safety-critical processes in an existing overall system, without having to exchange a standard control unit previously used in that control system. This permits existing control systems that include safety-directed components to be retrofitted easily and at low cost.




According to a further embodiment of the measures described before, the second control unit is free from safety-directed arrangements.




This means that the second control unit does not comprise safety-directed arrangements. This feature provides the advantage that the second control unit, too, is kept free of unnecessary ballast. This permits low-cost standard modules to be used for the second control unit.




According to a further embodiment of the feature discussed before, the bus master is incorporated in the second control unit.




This feature provides the advantage that it reduces the number of units connected to the field bus employed. Moreover, control units with integrated bus master are available as standard modules from different manufacturers. Consequently, the described feature can be implemented at low cost and efficiently.




According to a further embodiment of the invention, the field bus provides circulating telegram traffic between different units connected to the field bus. To this end, the field bus, preferably, is an Interbus.




Field buses with circulating telegram traffic are known as such in the art. The Interbus, used by preference, may serve as an example in this connection. In principle, such field buses are designed in the manner of a shift register where the units connected to the field bus are the sequentially arranged storage positions. Controlled by the bus master, a data word is sequentially shifted from one unit to the next. Due to suitable measures, which may be different for different field buses, a connected unit will recognize that a shifted bus telegram contains portions intended for it.




The described feature provides the advantage that it permits a very efficient control system to be implemented in a simple way and with extremely low cabling effort. The use of an Interbus as field bus moreover provides the advantage that a unit is capable of identifying bus telegrams intended for it in an especially simple way. This makes the system little susceptible to faults.




According to a further embodiment of the invention, the first control unit is arranged upstream of the signal unit, relative to the circulating direction of the telegram traffic.




This feature is especially advantageous insofar as it guarantees, in a simple way, that the signal unit will receive only such data that have been generated by the first control unit.




According to a further embodiment of the previously described measure, the first control unit comprises means for replacing any telegram data, addressed to the signal unit, by failsafe telegram data.




The described feature is a very simple and, thus, advantageous way of guaranteeing that the signal unit involved in a safety-critical process will exclusively receive failsafe telegram data. To say it in more concrete terms, the sequentially circulating telegram traffic is utilized for this purpose insofar as a telegram is permitted to reach the specified signal unit only if it was generated by the first control unit.




According to a further embodiment of the invention, the control system comprises at least two first control units for controlling at least two safety-critical processes.




This feature provides the possibility to control very complex overall processes, comprising different safety-critical partial processes, individually and independently one from the other and in an extremely simple and low-cost way. It is a particular advantage in this connection that none of the first control units is required to have a bus master functionality, which contributes to keeping the cost of the overall system low.




It is understood that the features recited above and those yet to be explained below can be used not only in the respective combination indicated, but also in other combinations or in isolation, without leaving the context of the present invention.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




Exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings and are explained in more detail in the description which follows. In the drawings:





FIG. 1

shows a diagrammatic representation of a preferred embodiment of the invention, with an Interbus used as field bus;





FIG. 2

shows a diagrammatic representation of a communication module by which the first control unit is connected to the Interbus in the embodiment illustrated in

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 3

shows a diagrammatic representation of a receiving module additionally comprised in the first control unit in the illustrated embodiment;





FIG. 4

shows a diagrammatic representation of a bus telegram for the Interbus; and





FIG. 5

shows a diagrammatic representation of the procedure of replacing safety-directed data frames by failsafe telegram data in the bus telegram according to FIG.


4


.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




In

FIG. 1

, a control system according to the invention is indicated in its entirety by reference numeral


10


.




The control system


10


is based on a field bus


12


, in the present case an Interbus. Connected to the field bus


12


are a first control unit


14


, a second control unit


16


and a total of four signal units


18


,


20


,


22


and


24


shown by way of example. The first control unit


14


is a safe control unit, while the second control unit


16


is a standard control unit.




An automated overall process, containing two safety-critical partial processes


28


, shown by way of example, is indicated by reference numeral


26


. The parts of the overall process outside the safety-critical partial processes


28


are not safety-critical, i.e. they do not require any safety-directed additional measures. The overall process


26


relates, by way of example, to the automated control of a press, where the feeding processes for the parts to be processed (not shown), represent non-safety-critical partial processes, among others. The safety-critical partial processes


28


relate in this case, for example, to the control and monitoring of a two-hand switch and a guard.




Reference numeral


30


is used to indicate a process that is entirely safety-critical, such as the monitoring of an emergency shut-down device.




The control units


18


to


24


are connected to the processes


26


to


30


to be controlled via I/O channels (input/output channels)


32


. The I/O channels


32


provide inputs and outputs through which status information signals characteristic of the processes to be controlled can be read in, and control signals for controlling the processes can be output. In practice, sensors and/or actuators—not shown in the drawing—are connected to the I/O channels


32


.




In addition to other components that are known as such, the second control unit


16


comprises a microcontroller


34


and a master protocol chip


36


. In the present case, the master protocol chip


36


has bus master functionality for an Interbus, and will be described hereafter also as bus master. Such master protocol chips are available as standard modules from different manufacturers.




The first control unit


14


is connected as a station to the field bus


12


via a communication module


38


, the structure of which will be described hereafter with reference to FIG.


2


. In addition, the first control unit


14


comprises in the present case a receiving module


40


connected to the return signal path of the field bus


12


.




Moreover, the first control unit


14


comprises a safety-directed arrangement


42


including, in the present case, a multi-channel diversity-based microcontroller system. The multi-channel microcontroller system is symbolized in the present case by two redundant microcontrollers


44


from different manufacturers, which therefore require different programming. The safety-directed arrangement


42


implements error control measures which, in connection with the safety-directed arrangements in the signal units


18


to


22


described below, permit failsafe data communication. Examples of possible error control measures are described in a paper entitled “Bus-Software mit Feuermelder (Bus Software with Fire Alarm)”, published in “iee”, 43th edition 1998, No. 8, pp. 46 to 48.




The first control unit


14


further comprises a memory


46


in which a control program


48


is stored. The control program


48


is autonomous insofar as it puts the first control unit


14


in a position to control the safety-critical process


30


, and the safety-critical partial processes


28


, independently of the second control unit


16


(except for the communication on the field bus


12


controlled by the bus master


36


).




The signal units


18


to


24


are each connected as stations to the field bus


12


, via a slave protocol chip


50


. The slave protocol chip


50


likewise is a standard module available from different manufacturers. Moreover, the signal units


18


,


20


and


22


comprise safety-directed arrangements


52


which again include a two-channel microcontroller system


44


. According to the example of signal units


18


and


20


, all signals transmitted through them may be handled with the aid of the safety-directed arrangements


52


. Accordingly, the signal units


18


and


20


are entirely “safe” signal units. The signal unit


22


is a “safe” signal unit only in part, i.e. only part of the signals handled by that unit is subject to control and monitoring by the safety-directed arrangements


52


. In contrast, the signal unit


24


does not have any safety-directed arrangements and is, as such, a “non-safe” standard signal unit.




Signal unit


18


is connected to the safety-critical process


30


, signal unit


20


to one of the safety-critical partial processes


28


. These processes are exclusively and autonomously controlled by the first control unit


14


. The signal unit


22


is connected, with its safe part, to the second safety-critical partial process


28


, while producing with its non-safe part a control signal for the remaining non-safety-critical overall process


26


. Accordingly, signal unit


22


is controlled, with respect to its safe part, by the first control unit


14


and, with respect to its non-safe part, by the second control unit


16


. This makes it possible to address both a safe and a non-safe signal unit under one and the same bus address.




The signal unit


24


is exclusively connected to non-safety-critical parts of the overall process


26


and is addressed exclusively by the second control unit


16


.




In contrast to the embodiment shown, it would likewise be possible, in principle, to control the standard signal unit


24


via the first control unit


14


, although in this case completely failsafe communication cannot be guaranteed.




Another safe control unit, the structure and function of which correspond to the first control unit


14


, is designated by reference numeral


54


. Reference numeral


56


designates another safe signal unit. First control unit


54


and safe signal unit


56


can be connected to the field bus


12


in addition to the units described before, which is indicated by a broken line. For the sake of simplicity it will, however, be assumed in the discussion of the operation of the control system


10


that the safe control unit


54


and safe signal unit


56


are not connected to the field bus


12


.




The communication module


38


contained in the first control unit


14


and shown more detailed in

FIG. 2

comprises a slave protocol chip


58


connected to the field bus


12


on its input via a first bus connection


60


and on its output via a second bus connection


62


. The protocol chip


58


corresponds to the protocol chips


50


contained in the signal units


18


to


24


, and is often designated as “Serial Microprocessor Interface” (SUPI) in the case of the Interbus to which the present description relates.




In addition, the protocol chip


58


comprises further inputs and outputs, with one input FromExR (From External Receiver), two inputs ToExR


1


and ToExR


2


(To External Receiver) and one clock output CLKxR being indicated in the drawing by way of example. A signal line


64


is connected to the output ToExR


1


, a signal line


66


is connected to the input FromExR. The signal line


66


connects the protocol chip


58


to a receive memory


68


. In addition, the communication module


38


also comprises a transmit memory


70


. The signal line


66


connects the input FromExR of the protocol chip


58


, via means illustrated as a switch


72


, selectively with the output ToExR


1


or the transmit memory


70


. The operation of the communication module


38


will now be described as follows:




The protocol module


58


receives at its bus connection


60


a bus telegram that has been output to the field bus


12


by the bus master


36


. The data contained therein are made available at the output ToExR


1


and supplied to the receive memory


68


via signal line


64


. When switch


72


occupies a position in which the signal line


66


is connected to the output ToExR


1


, the telegram data received are simultaneously supplied to the input FromExR and are then transmitted by the protocol chip


58


via bus connection


62


to a downstream station, here the safe signal unit


18


. In this case, the data contained in the bus telegram are, on the one hand, loaded into the receive memory


68


and, on the other hand, passed through protocol chip


58


unchanged. In contrast, in case that the switch


72


connects the input FromExR with the transmit memory


70


, telegram data taken from the transmit memory


70


are sent by protocol chip


58


to a downstream unit. By throwing over the switch


72


it is thus possible to replace the data contained in a bus telegram optionally and selectively by data from the transmit memory


70


. This can be made very selectively, down to the bit level.




The receiving module


40


of the first control unit


14


, illustrated in

FIG. 3

, is based on the same slave protocol chip (SUPI) as the communication module


38


. For purposes of differentiation, the protocol chip is indicated here by reference numeral


74


. Being a receiving module, the protocol chip


74


has its output ToExR


1


solely connected to a receive memory


76


.




Via the communication module


38


, the first control unit


40


is thus in a position to take up any bus telegrams sent by the bus master


36


via the field bus


12


and to retransmit them to the subsequent signal units


18


to


24


optionally and in a selectively modified way. In addition, the first control unit


14


is capable, through the receiving module


40


, of receiving and logging the bus telegrams returned by the signal units


18


to


24


.




The first control unit


14


is thus in a position, even without a bus master functionality of its own, to communicate with the signal units


18


to


24


via the field bus


12


. Due to the safety-directed arrangements


42


,


52


this permits failsafe data communication and control, independent of the second control unit


16


.




In

FIG. 4

, a bus telegram, shown diagrammatically, as used with the Interbus is indicated in its entirety by reference numeral


78


. The bus telegram


78


has an exactly defined structure, divided into different segments. Each bus telegram begins with a start word, usually described as Loop Back Word (LBW). The start word is followed by different data frames


80


in which useful data, such as control commands or measuring signal values, are transported.




In the case of the Interbus, the bus master


36


generates a bus telegram


78


, as mentioned before, and transmits it serially to the downstream communication module


38


. The latter receives the bus telegram


78


and stores those data from the data frame


80


, that are relevant for the first control unit


14


, in the receive memory


68


. At the same time, it transmits the bus telegram


78


to the downstream protocol chip


50


of the signal unit


18


, for which purpose is may optionally replace data contained in the data frame by data from the transmit memory


70


. The bus telegram


78


is then sent by the protocol chip


50


of the signal unit


18


to the signal unit


20


and from there to signal units


22


and


24


. At the end of the signal chain, the signal unit


24


, being the last signal unit connected, returns the bus telegram


78


to the bus master


36


, the bus telegram


78


passing once more all protocol chips


50


as well as the communication module


38


on this way. As soon as the start word LBW is received by the bus master


38


, this is taken as an indication that the bus telegram


78


has run sequentially through the field bus


12


a full cycle.




Due to the data flow described before and to the arrangement of the communication module


38


shown in

FIG. 2

, the first control unit


14


can communicate with any signal unit


18


to


24


, provided the structure of the network is known to it. This means that it is first of all necessary for the first control unit


14


to know at which point of the field bus


12


each signal unit


18


to


24


addressed by it is arranged. In the control system


10


illustrated in

FIG. 1

, the signal units


18


,


20


and


22


are arranged in the positions


2


,


3


and


4


, if the units connected to the field bus


12


are counted beginning with zero for the bus master


36


. For example, in order to transmit control data to the signal unit


20


, the first control unit


14


must, accordingly, put the control data into the data frame


80


designated as D


3


. This is symbolized in

FIG. 5

by the data frame


82


with modified data D


3


*. The data D


3


originally contained in that data frame are overwritten by the new data.




Since both the first control unit


14


and the signal unit


20


contain safety-directed arrangements


42


,


52


it is possible to build up between them failsafe communication without the necessity for any of these units to have a bus master functionality.




The same applies to the communication of first control unit


14


with the signal units


18


and


22


; with regard to communication with the signal unit


22


it will, as a rule, be sufficient to replace the data by modified data D


4


** only in part. The data intended for the non-safe standard part of the signal unit


22


are not modified by the first control unit


14


.




The following is a table by means of which communication across field bus


12


can be followed up once more:























Control





Signal




Signal-




Signal




Signal-




Control







unit




Control unit




unit




einheit




unit




einheit




unit







16




14




18




20




22




24




16



















Step




OUT




IN




OUT




IN/OUT




IN/OUT




IN/OUT




IN/OUT




IN









0




LBW





ED1




E*D2




E*D3




E*D4 +




ED5













ED4






1




AD5




LBW




LBW




ED1




E*D2




E*D3




E*D4 +




ED5













ED4






2




AD4




AD5




AD5




LBW




ED1




E*D2




E*D3




E*D4 +














ED4






3




AD3




AD4




A*D4 +




AD5




LBW




ED1




E*D2




E*D3









AD4






4




AD2




AD3




A*D3




A*D4 +




AD5




LBW




ED1




E*D2










AD4






5




AD1




AD2




A*D2




A*D3




A*D4 +




AD5




LBW




ED1











AD4






6





AD1




AD1




A*D2




A*D3




A*D4 +




AD5




LBW












AD4














Each line of the table contains the data present at the input and output shift registers of the different units connected to the field bus


12


, at the end of a complete shifting step. The abbreviations used in this table have the following meaning:




EDx: Input data in data frame Dx;




ADx: Output data in data frame Dx;




E*DX:Modified (safe) input data in data frame Dx, and




A*Dx:Modified (safe) output data in data frame Dx.




In data frame D


4


, only the data intended for the safe part of the signal unit


22


are modified by the first control unit


14


. The data intended for the non-safe standard part of the signal unit


22


remain unchanged so that the respective part of the signal unit


22


is addressed by the second control unit


16


.




Apart from the control system for controlling safety-critical automated processes, as described above, such modification of data in individual data frames


80


,


82


generally can be used also with a field bus


12


with sequentially circulating telegram flow to provide a slave-to-slave communication between stations none of which has a bus master functionality. It is sufficient for this purpose that the protocol chip


58


of a station, that intends to send data to other stations, be supplemented by a transmit memory


70


and, if necessary, by a receive memory


68


, in the manner illustrated in FIG.


2


. In addition, the station authorized to send needs to have information as to where its addressee is positioned in the field bus


12


, in order to modify the correct data frame


80


.




This way, it is basically possible to also incorporate a plurality of standard control units, provided with a communication module


38


,


40


, into the field bus system in order to distribute the control task for non-safety-critical applications to several standard control units.



Claims
  • 1. A control system for controlling safety-critical processes, havinga first control unit for controlling said safety-critical processes, a plurality of signal units each comprising I/O channels, said plurality of signal units being linked to said safety-critical processes via said I/O channels, a field bus connecting said first control unit and said plurality of signal units, said field bus being an Interbus, and a bus master for controlling communication on said field bus, said bus master initiating circulating telegram traffic transporting telegram data in a predetermined circulation direction across said field bus, and said bus master being connected to said field bus separately from said first control unit and said plurality of signal units, wherein said first control unit is arranged upstream of said plurality of signal units with respect to said circulation direction, and said first control unit comprising a replacer for replacing telegram data addressed to said plurality of signal units.
  • 2. The control system of claim 1, wherein said first control unit and said plurality of signal units each comprise safety-directed arrangements for ensuring failsafe communication across said field bus.
  • 3. A control system for controlling safety-critical processes, havinga first control unit for controlling said safety-critical processes, at least one signal unit comprising I/O channels, said at least one signal unit being linked to said safety-critical processes via said I/O channels, a field bus connecting said first control unit and said at least one signal unit, and a bus master for controlling communication on said field bus, wherein said bus master is connected to said field bus independently from said first control unit and said at least one signal unit, and wherein said first control unit and said at least one signal unit each comprise safety-directed arrangements for ensuring failsafe communication across said field bus.
  • 4. The control system of claim 3, wherein said first control unit comprises an independent control program for controlling said safety-critical processes.
  • 5. The control system of claim 3, wherein said safety-critical processes are either in a safe or in an unsafe state, and wherein said first control unit is capable of generating failsafe bus telegrams, the receipt of which causing said at least one signal unit to transfer said safety-critical processes to said safe state.
  • 6. The control system of claim 3, wherein said safety-directed arrangements comprise a multi-channel structure.
  • 7. The control system of claim 6, wherein said multi-channel structure is based on a diversity principle.
  • 8. The control system of claim 3, further comprising a second control unit for controlling non-safety-critical processes.
  • 9. The control system of claim 8, wherein said second control unit is connected to said field bus separately from said first control unit.
  • 10. The control system of claim 8, wherein said second control unit does not comprise specific safety-directed arrangements.
  • 11. The control system of claim 8, wherein said bus master is incorporated in said second control unit.
  • 12. The control system of claim 3, wherein said bus master provides a circulating telegram traffic across said field bus.
  • 13. The control system of claim 12, wherein said field bus is an Interbus.
  • 14. The control system of claim 12, wherein said circulating telegram traffic has a predetermined circulation direction, and said first control unit being arranged upstream of said at least one signal unit with respect to said circulation direction.
  • 15. The control system of claim 14, wherein said telegram traffic comprises telegram data, and wherein said first control unit comprises a replacer for replacing telegram data addressed to said at least one signal unit by failsafe telegram data.
  • 16. The control system of claim 3, further comprising at least two first control units for controlling at least two safety-critical processes.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
199 28 517 Jun 1999 DE
CROSSREFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of copending international patent application PCT/EP00/05763 filed on Jun. 21, 2000 and designating the U.S., which claims priority of German patent application DE 199 28 517.9 filed on Jun. 22, 1999.

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Entry
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Continuations (1)
Number Date Country
Parent PCT/EP00/05763 Jun 2000 US
Child 10/029894 US