October 29, 2013 - HMS now offers a product family under the IXXAT brand for fast, cost-effective implementation of safe communications solutions in industrial automation devices.With the IXXAT Safe offering, HMS offers an extensive portfolio of solutions for safe communications according to IEC 61508 – from safety protocol software to finished safety I/O modules for integration into customer devices. HMS and its safety development team also support customers in the development of their safety applications, as well as in the certification of end products, also offering customer-specific development as OEM solutions. The new addition to the IXXAT Safe offering is the IXXAT Safe T100, a complete solution for simple and fast integration of safe I/O using a safe communications protocol.
The IXXAT Safe T100 safety module is integrated directly into the customer product or system – for example into welding systems, drives, counter terminals, and many more. Thanks to the comprehensive architecture with safety hardware and software, as well as precertification by TÜV Rheinland, the use of the IXXAT Safe T100 considerably simplifies the development of devices and systems with safe communications. As a result, the user also benefits from significant reductions in development time, cost, and risk. The IXXAT Safe T100 uses the well-known Anybus CompactCom modules from HMS as a communications pathway through the unsafe network – here, safe communications are implemented using the "black channel" principle.
In addition to the first version now released - the IXXAT Safe T100/PS for PROFIsafe on PROFINET, additional variants will soon be available, such as for CIP Safety on EtherNet/IP or Functional Safety over EtherCAT. If there are special requirements in terms of form factor, connectors, or the number of I/Os, custom versions of the IXXAT Safe T100 can also be implemented. The IXXAT Safe offering also includes protocol stacks for Functional Safety over EtherCAT (FSoE), CIP Safety on EtherNet/IP, CIP Safety on Sercos, and openSAFETY. Like the IXXAT Safe T100, these protocol stacks are also precertified by TÜV and permit the implementation of safe communications in suitable hardware.
Integration can be carried out by the device manufacturer themselves, but HMS is ready to assist with implementation, porting, and certification services. The advantage for the customer of using a precertified safety protocol stack is the significant reduction it provides in development time, cost, and risk.
