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Vital upgrade covers strict requirements

A Jokab Safety UK product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 20, 2006

When engineers at Cooper Tire and Rubber were tasked with upgrading the safety system on an crucial manufacturing machine built in the 1960s, it was important to minimise downtime.

The Cooper Tire and Rubber Company Europe manufactures Avon brand tyres and are recognised as a world leader in the pneumatic tyre market.

The business evolved in 1885 and it was during 1890 the company relocated to Melksham in Wiltshire, UK.

By 1901 the company expanded due to the increase of its tyre production business and has been in the automotive market since.

Engineers at the company had the task of updating the safety system on a rubber calender machine built in the 1960s.

The system comprised two Vital safety control units monitoring a combined total of 40 safety devices to Category 4 EN954-1.

The devices were an arrangement of various existing safety components such as footswitches, emergency stop pushbuttons, grab wire switches and limit switches.

Jokab Safety noncontact Eden switches were used to replace conventional switches where mechanical switches were found to have a reduced service life.

Where other manufacturers' existing products were being used, the Jokab Safety Tina interfaces made it a quick and easy transition for devices to be incorporated on to the Vital solution.

A spokesman for Cooper Tires said that the company had searched the market to find a safety system that would fulfil its strict requirements.

One such requirement was the need to have local indication and feedback to the PLC of the safety device status.

The important deciding factor for choosing Jokab Safety was the limited amount of downtime needed to convert the old safety system to the Vital solution.

This was achieved during the Christmas holiday period.

The machine has been operational 24 hours per day, 7 days per week since, in order to meet the demand for their products.

The installation engineers were impressed with the modular aspects of Jokab Safety's unique system.

The ability to "daisychain" safety devices, have indication of where a fault occurs both locally and remote in the circuit, and still meet category 4 EN954-1 were key points.

The installation met with all of the engineers expectations and as a result Cooper Tire and Rubber has already invested in a second Vital system.

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