News

Pilz’ New Compact PNOZmulti 2 Standalone Safety Relay

September 28, 2022 by Damond Goodwin

Pilz has added the PNOZ m C0 to their PNOZmulti 2 product lineup, an easy-to-program, standalone safety relay that provides customers with a compact solution for smaller machines.

Safety relays are an integral part of a number of plant processes and are vital to the safe operation of many types of plant machinery. Pilz has created the latest addition to their safety relays, the PNOZ m C0, capable of monitoring safety circuits for smaller machine applications. 

 

Pilz PNOZ safety relays for industrial automation

Pilz PNOZ safety relays for automation and machine safety. Image used courtesy of Pilz

 

Safety Relays and Controllers

Safety Relays and safety controls are used for automation and machinery to help protect equipment and workers from damage in the case of malfunction or emergency. Safety circuits and relays have certain parameters built into them to create a fail safe system in the case of an emergency to keep workers safe. Normal, non safety, relays have the possibility of failing in an energized state, meaning that in the case of an emergency, energy may still be supplied to the machinery. 

Safety relays and controllers are built with certain safety parameters that are designed to make them fail in an open state so machinery automatically stops in the event of a failed relay. Safety relays are also controlled by a minimum of two input signals that need to fire within a certain time of each other to introduce redundancy to the system. 
 

Pilz PNOZ m C0 Safety Relays for smaller machine applications

Pilz' newest safety relay, the PNOZ m C0—a compact and economical safety solution. Image used courtesy of Pilz

 

The PNOZ m C0 Safety Relay

Pilz' new PNOZ m C0 unit has purposely been designed to be compact for space saving applications. With only a width of 22.5 mm, the PNOZ m C0 has a size similar to that of a normal safety relay, with functionality that more resembles that of a safety controller. Pilz hopes that the size of the device will help to save costs for designers and end users in whatever application it is used in. 

The safety device contains four safe semiconductor outputs to be controlled by eight safety inputs, allowing it to monitor up to four different safety circuits. Dependending on the intended application, the relay is able to monitor light curtains for safety, safety gate monitoring, two hand control, and e-Stop monitoring. 

An intuitive software tool is available to help with the configuration and creation of all safety circuits monitored by the PNOZ m C0. The basic version of the software is free to customers and is available with different options for purchase. Since it comes as a standalone unit, the device does not need to be paired with a PLC and can be programmed directly via a USB cable. It is capable of monitoring safety functions up to PL e/SIL CL 3, and comes with pre-approved software safety blocks of logic for programmers to use. Version 11.1 of the PNOZmulti Configurator is needed in order to access the preprogrammed safety blocks.
 

Pilz offers programming options for safety relays

Programming for the PNOZ m C0 can easily be done with Pilz' intuitive software. Image used courtesy of Pilz

 

Built In Flexibility

In addition to pre-programmed safety blocks, Pilz hopes to save customers more time and costs with flexible programming options. The relay can be programmed with either a USB cable to be saved directly or saved to a chip card. This allows end users to easily update and change safety relays in series anytime it becomes necessary in the future. 

Pilz has designed the PNOZ m C0 to be easily expandable should manufacturers ever need to expand their plant processes. Any time the safety requirements grow for a particular machine, modular units can be easily added and programmed in conjunction with the base unit. The units all feature common fieldbus connections for easy integration to give customers greater flexibility should they need it. 

 

Safety in Mind

The interational German-born automation company, Pilz, has been in business since 1948. Safety is at the core of their business—in addition to their safety relays, Pilz' products include sensors, servo drives, and software.