Systems and methods that evaluate distance to potential hazards utilizing overlapping sensing zones

• US 7,522,066 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Issued: 04/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Rollins, George E., Schuster, George K., Delcher, Ray C., Jones, Derek W., Galera, Richard, Dogul, James E., Nair, Suresh R.
• Primary Examiner(s): La; Anh V
• Application Number:
  US11/360,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20070194944A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 340/686.6, 340/686.5, 340/539.13, 340/825.49, 340/988, 340/825.72, 340/5.7, 280/735
• US Class Current: 340/686.6
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/14 the means being photocells or other devices sensitive without mechanical contact

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides industrial automation systems and/or methods that evaluate a proximity to potential hazards. A plurality of sensors can provide redundant detected data. Additionally, a proximity evaluation component can evaluate the detected data, determine a location of at least one of a person and an object, and identify a distance from the location to one or more hazardous zones in a monitored region.

Claims

1. An industrial automation system that evaluates proximity to potential hazards, comprising:

a plurality of sensors that provide redundant detected data;

a proximity evaluation component that evaluates the detected data, determines a location of at least one of a person and an object, and identifies a distance from the location to one or more hazardous zones in a monitored region; and

a safety logic component that utilizes the distance from the location to the one or more hazardous zones to yield a corresponding response, the safety logic component at least comprises a weighting component that weights distance related information based upon a likelihood of accurate measurement related to each of the plurality of sensors.

2. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors provide redundancy by utilizing overlapping sensing ranges.

3. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors includes one or more of thermal energy sensors, electromagnetic sensors, mechanical sensors, chemical sensors, optical sensors, radiation sensors, acoustic sensors, and biological sensors.

4. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors continuously monitor the monitored region.

5. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors intermittently evaluate the monitored region utilizing at least one of a predetermined time interval and a varying time interval.

6. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors monitor the monitored region upon an occurrence of an event.

7. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors each obtain a two-dimensional image associated with a corresponding section of the monitored region facing a respective one of the plurality of sensors.

8. The system of claim 1, the plurality of sensors each being associated with a separate, respective proximity evaluation component.

9. The system of claim 1, the proximity evaluation component continuously evaluates the location and the distance to the one or more hazardous zones.

10. The system of claim 1, the proximity evaluation component individually analyzes the detected data provided from each of the plurality of sensors.

11. The system of claim 1, the proximity evaluation component determines whether the distance from the location to any of the hazardous zones is below a threshold.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a location component that obtains the detected data and identifies at least one of a position, an orientation, and a change in location associated with the at least one of the person and the object.

13. The system of claim 12, the location component analyzes a two-dimensional image obtained from one of the plurality of sensors and identifies disparate shapes other than shapes associated with potential hazards.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a distance analysis component that evaluates a minimum distance between the location and the one or more hazardous zones.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a hazardous zone recognition component that identifies the one or more hazardous zones within the monitored region.

16. The system of claim 15, the hazardous zone recognition component identifies hazardous zones associated with at least one of a movement of machinery, a temperature, a pressure, and an amount of emitted radiation.

17. The system of claim 15, the hazardous zone recognition component further comprises a teaching component that evaluates potentially harmful characteristics associated with the monitored region prior to entry into the monitored region by the at least one of the person and the object.

18. The system of claim 17, the teaching component identifies the one or more hazardous zones by integrating detected motions associated with machinery into an envelope shape for each of the one or more hazardous zones.

19. The system of claim 15, the hazardous zone recognition component further comprises a definition component that dynamically updates at least one of a shape and a contour of the one or more hazardous zones during operation by accounting for account for both constant and changing conditions in the monitored region.

20. The system of claim 1, the safety logic component modifies operation based at least in part upon the distance.

21. The system of claim 1, the modification being at least one of halting, slowing, speeding up, and restarting operation.

22. The system of claim 1, the safety logic component combines distance related information associated with the plurality of sensors.

23. The system of claim 1, the safety logic component further comprises a combination component that aggregates distance related information associated with the plurality of sensors.

24. The system of claim 1, further comprising an optimization component that generates a voting configuration that the safety logic component employs to generate the corresponding response based upon distance related information from the plurality of sensors.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising a control component that causes a machine to modify operating parameters based at least in part upon the distance.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising an alarm component that provides an alarm based at least in part upon the distance.

27. A method that facilitates determining a proximity to a potential hazard in an industrial automation environment, comprising:

redundantly monitoring an industrial automation environment by a plurality of sensors;

identifying one or more hazardous zones existent during operation in the environment;

determining a position of at least one of a person and an object in the environment;

evaluating a distance from the position of the at least one of the person and the object to the one or more hazardous zones; and

utilizing the distance from the at least one of the person and the object to the one or more hazardous zones to yield a corresponding response, wherein distance related information is weighed based upon a likelihood of accurate measurement related to each of the plurality of sensors.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising obtaining a redundant sense of the environment by utilizing a plurality of sensors.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising monitoring areas in the environment in which the at least one of the person and the object one or more of enters, exits, and traverses.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising continuously monitoring the environment, continuously identifying the one or more hazardous zones, continuously determining the position, and continuously evaluating the distance.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

monitoring movement of machinery in the environment prior to entry by the at least one of the person and the object; and

identifying the one or more hazardous zones by analyzing the movement of the machinery to determine corresponding shapes and contours of the one or more hazardous zones.

32. The method of claim 27, further comprising dynamically updating at least one of a contour and a shape associated with at least one of the one or more identified hazardous zones during runtime by accounting for account for both constant and changing conditions in the monitored region.

33. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

obtaining a two-dimensional image associated with a section of the environment facing each of a plurality of sensors;

locating a shape other than the one or more hazardous zones; and

determining a distance from the location of the shape to the one or more hazardous zones.

34. The method of claim 27, further comprising identifying a minimum distance from the position to the one or more hazardous zones.

35. The method of claim 27, further comprising separately evaluating detected data from a plurality of sensors to determine distance related information corresponding to each of the plurality of sensors.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein the response includes at least one of modifying operation and providing an alarm based upon the determined distance being below a threshold value.

37. A system that determines a proximity to a potential hazard in an industrial automation environment, comprising:

means for redundantly monitoring a region, wherein the means for redundantly monitoring includes a plurality of sensors;

means for identifying a hazardous zone in the region;

means for determining a location of at least one of a person and an object in the region;

means for evaluating a distance from the location of the at least one of the person and the object to the hazardous zone; and

means for utilizing the distance from the at least one of the person and the object to the one or more hazardous zones to yield a corresponding response based at least in part upon the distance, wherein distance related information is weighed based upon a likelihood of accurate measurement related to each of the plurality of sensors.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein:

the means for determining a location of at least one of a person and an object in the region determines the location in realtime; and

the means to yield a corresponding response based at least in part upon the distance provides a response which prevents the at least one of a person and an object from entering the hazardous zone.