RS Enables Industrial Safety With Omron’s NX Series Safety Controllers
December 6, 2024
RS stocks Omron Automation’s NX Series safety controllers and accessories for contemporary industrial environments with more than 10 safety devices, long or complex programming sequences, and demanding safety network requirements.
Safety controllers interact with other elements of industrial safety systems — like sensors, emergency stops, and light curtains — to detect hazards and trigger automated responses, like slowing or stopping machines, designed to protect employees and equipment. They also interact with non-safety devices, including PLCs to prioritize process safety and HMIs to deliver diagnostic data.
Omron’s NX Series safety controllers and accessories are expertly engineered to help users overcome common safety and operating challenges in industrial environments ranging from electronics, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, automotive, and heavy equipment manufacturing facilities to material handling and logistics environments. These challenges include delayed fault detection and response times, diagnostic difficulties in complex systems, unexpected downtime, employee and equipment safety, compatibility with existing systems, time and labor requirements, and space constraints in control panels.
Omron NX Series safety controllers provide versatile, efficient solutions to these and other common industrial challenges with a comprehensive slate of integrated features designed to satisfy stringent safety requirements, prevent and mitigate risks, and improve operational efficiency. Features engineered to help today’s industrial organizations adapt and thrive include:
- Scalability and Compatibility. Standardized connections and protocols, modular expandability capabilities, a flexible hybrid network architecture that supports both integrated and standalone safety architectures, and up to 2,032 I/O safety points facilitate extensive compatibility, easy integration, and scalability in both new and retrofit systems.
NX Series compatibility with integrated safety architectures proves especially useful in large, complex systems where a unified approach to control and safety is essential for maintaining operational efficiency and consistency. Its compatibility with standalone safety architecture, where safety functions are managed independently of the main machine control network, are particularly useful for applications that require dedicated safety controls or exhibit improved reliability when the safety system is isolated.
- Advanced Safety Functionality. Robust fault detection, high-speed processing capabilities, and CAN functions compatible with both centralized and decentralized systems enhance flexibility and reliability and provide unparalleled safety performance.
- Easy Programming and Configuration. A user-friendly interface and automatic programming and configuration capabilities simplify setup and maintenance and contribute to reduced labor and maintenance costs, and an optional SD card makes it easy to backup and restore critical safety programs.
- Diagnostic and Monitoring Capabilities. An efficient error code system and LED indicators support straightforward troubleshooting, and continuous data logging and system validation tools help maintain system integrity and reduce downtime.
- Space Savings. NX Safety Controllers have a compact, uniform form factor designed to make optimal use of available space and facilitate space-saving panel-mount configurations.
- Sysmac Studio Integration. NX controllers also support seamless integration into Omron’s unified automation platform, Sysmac Studio, which enables easy configuration, programming, simulation, and monitoring processes via a simple, user-friendly interface and features including user-defined function blocks, simple automatic test functionality, and the ability to data log and display 100 inputs. Sysmac Studio software also facilitates machine control and safety function communications over the same network, which reduces wiring complexity, streamlines operations, and allows users to manage safety and standard control processes from a powerful centralized control platform.
Omron offers two distinct models of the NX Series product line with specialized safety functionality, the NX-SL and NX-SL5, both of which are readily available at RS.
NX-SL models are available with 32 or 128 safety I/O connections, up to 256 or 1,024 I/O points, which is an optimal number for medium or large safety networks, and 0.5 or 2MB program memory. These cost-effective safety controllers have a modular design that makes them easy to adapt to a variety of machine types and sizes and, for retrofit projects, support direct connections to any PLC with an EtherNet/IP coupler.
They can also be combined with an EtherCAT coupler to facilitate seamless Functional Safety over EtherCAT (FSoE) for systems that require remote I/O. Ideal applications extend throughout the automotive, pharmaceutical, and food and beverage manufacturing, material handling, and logistics industries — where safety is critical, and space is a constant challenge.
NX-SL5 models are available with 127 or 254 safety I/O connections, up to 1,024 or 2,032 I/O points, and 2 or 4MB program memory. These models offer all the same benefits as NX-SL modes but can also simultaneously support multiple safety zones and network protocols — including Safety over Ethernet/IP, FSoE, and Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) Safety over Ethernet — which sets it apart from competing products and enables communication across different networks without any additional hardware and seamless integration with a variety of automation systems.
They’re ideal for use in the same industries as NX-SL models but optimized for larger, more complex applications that demand high-speed safety control and broader coverage for extensive safety management, including robotics cells, automated material handling systems, and high-speed assembly lines.
