The new safety laser scanner, PSENscan from Pilz (pictured above), safely monitors up to three separate zones simultaneously, significantly increasing plant productivity. Up to four safety laser scanners can be connected in series in accordance with the master-slave principle, which reduces the cabling and set-up work considerably. Thanks to the free configuration of warning zones and protection zones plus the ability to adapt to existing structural conditions, PSENscan can easily be integrated into the most varied applications.

Pilz is expanding its automation portfolio with this new product group of flexible, configurable safety laser scanners: the application range extends from stationary area monitoring to automated guided vehicles (AGV) and human-robot collaboration (HRC). When combined with the configurable small controllers PNOZmulti or the controllers in the automation system PSS 4000 from Pilz, you have a complete, economical, one-stop solution.

Minimum effort for maximum safety

The safety laser scanner offers two-dimensional area monitoring with a large opening angle of 275°: so applications in which several adjoining sides of a machine or AGV are to be monitored can be implemented with fewer devices, when compared with an 180° scanner. That reduces capital expenditure and increases the cost-effectiveness of the application.

PSENscan is flexible and can be used in a variety of situations because different zone configurations can be stored. For example, safety zones and warning zones of various sizes can be defined for set-up and production mode or zones can be adapted to suit the workpiece that is currently being processed. The ability to adapt simply and flexibly to the most varied structural conditions saves time and effort during set-up mode.

Scanner for higher performance

Up to three separate zones can be monitored simultaneously and up to 70 switchable configurations can be set up. As a result, the application is more productive. Series connection in accordance with the master-slave principle – up to four scanners are possible – reduces the cabling and set-up work considerably. Also, with a protected field range of 3 to 5.5 meters for the safety zone, even large areas can be covered with just one device. The warning zone covers up to 20 meters and enables a person to be warned in good time, by an audible signal for example, or enables a machine reaction such as deceleration to be triggered. This protects the application from standstill and at the same time increases safety and productivity.

Flexible design for safe laser automation

The software tool PSENscan Configurator is used to configure PSENscan. The Ethernet port is used to connect PSENscan to the configuration computer. Safety and warning zones plus all other settings can then be made flexibly using the software tool. The safety laser scanner uses a teach-in mode to record fixed obstacles in its environment, which can then be excluded from the monitoring zones from the outset. That simplifies set-up and reduces commissioning times.

As the complete configuration can be stored on an exchangeable memory module, if you need to swap a device, the new scanner can simply be fitted with the existing memory module; there is no need to repeat the configuration.

Sensitive, but robust to dust

The safety laser scanner, PSENscan, is designed to protection type IP65, but that's not all; the whole structure of the device has been optimized so that errors triggered by dust particles are detected and thereby avoided. The device shows status information or error messages, such as a cleaning prompt, on the integrated display. If any persons or objects are within the warning zone or safety zone, this will be signalled on the display with a colored highlight, so that it can be easily identified at long distance. As a result, PSENscan ensures high availability.