Both shaping steel in cold and hot rolling mills and manufacturing steel plates, strips and sheets require huge forces that are transferred to the metal by rotating rollers. This process also, however, poses a significant accident risk for machine operators and other personnel. This is why special safety requirements apply to the mill stands used in rolling mills. Safety-certified overspeed switches for the main drives help ensure the required level of safety in compliance with the applicable standards.
Better technical personnel protection
Dangerous situations for operating staff in rolling mills always occur when work is required during machine operation with rotating rollers, for example when adjusting the roll gap or carrying out maintenance work with the power supply switched on. To minimize the risk of accidents in such situations, the system is usually operated at so-called safely limited speed (SLS). When it comes to ensuring the required level of safety, however, conventional encoders that control the speed on the mill stands and coiler motors are insufficient.
Reliable safely limited speed with Hübner Giessen
Our rolling mill customer contracted us to find a solution for the safe operation of one of its systems at reliable safely limited speed that complied with the applicable standards. We achieved this by fitting our encoder with an independent overspeed switch that is certified in accordance with IEV 61508 and PL d according to DIN EN ISO 13849 up to SIL 2. You can find out more about the safety functions provided by our EGS 41 and how its parameters can be conveniently configured by reading our case study on “Rolling mills / Main drives: the EGS 41 electronic overspeed switch ensures safe rolling mill operation”.