Software Engineering

Companies operate machines to make money, not stress. We engineer our control systems so that the people that run and maintain the machines can do so efficiently and profitably.

We design our control systems with machine ownership in mind and writing good, well structured and commented software is integral to those objectives. Our engineers think beyond the design and commissioning stage and consider the long and critical period of machine ownership. So our clients can optimise their machine productivity, availability and profitability.

Isn’t that why companies run machines?

A vitally important part of the systems that we engineer is the functional software – the software that resides in SCADA systems, PLC’s and intelligent drives. Well constructed and commented software is a given, however, the sequential PLC code that we write is done using state transition techniques. This system allows us to express the functionality of a machine independently using graphical methods then to implement that functionality using traditional ladder tools. The upshot is an efficient, easy to follow structured software product. This has three significant benefits:

  • The machine functionality can be confirmed before software is written
  • Thorough testing of the software is possible prior to shipment
  • Ownership of the system is made much easier due to the ease of fault diagnosis should the system suffer a field component failure.

Need more information? Browse various projects here. Our industry-specific pages also provide details about the control system projects we have completed over the years.

Recent Posts

Safety Scanner Issues and EN999

Optima were recently asked to advise on a safety guarding application for one of our customers. 

There had been a number of false trips of the laser scanner causing the machine to stop. As a result of this, a plastic chain ‘barrier’ had been fitted as a temporary measure with instructions to operators to not breach the barrier whilst the machine was running. 

The customer naturally wanted this rectifying as soon as possible, so Optima performed a short-notice service visit to site.

On the site visit, our engineer noted that the scanner was showing a code which indicated that the front screen required cleaning.

Once the screen was cleaned thoroughly the scanner did not show any faults or errors and was in normal run mode.

However, we performed further checks on the original software to ensure that the scanner configuration still met the requirements of the safety guarding application. 

The diagrams to the left show the Warning Field configuration (Yellow) and the Protective Field (Red). Both of these were confirmed to be operational. 

The warning field causes the klaxon to operate and the protective field caused an emergency stop of the machine.

We did, however find a few concerns that needed to be addressed.

1. None of the scanner safety circuit had been documented on any drawings.

2. Non-compliance with EN999 ‘Safety of machinery – the positioning of protective equipment in respect of approach speeds of parts of the human body’ includes a formula to be used to calculate the distance from a hazard that a safety zone must be triggered. Based on the stopping times of the machine, the scanner was placed too close to the machine to be effective in an emergency.

We are working closedly with our customer to assist them with this application and help them achieve a safe and effective solution to this.

If you need any support with safety applications or other upgrades, please get in touch.

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