Machine Safety and Reliability According to ISO 13849

Abstract

With the European Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the standard ISO 13849, a new era in the design of machines began, in which the safety of the control system is evaluated according to its reliability. In order to prove the safety of a machine, the designer needs now different parameters, e.g. MTTFd or B10d. But what do these parameters exactly mean? How can these parameters be determined for different control technologies? This article explains the main methods for determination of the reliability parameters for functional safety.