Safety Wiring - Omnicore Question

Robot Controller OmniCore
1

Hello,

Has anyone wired any safety signals from a safety PLC to an Omnicore C30 type A controller?

I have been struggling with understanding all the information around this and to make it possible.

We have a safety PLC and many Omnicore C30 type A controllers. I was told to wire the safety relay to the C30 Type A X14’s Protective Stop.

In the manual I do see that the X14 has

8 dedicated safety-related signals:

  1. Emergency Stop Channel 1 (pins 3,4)
  2. Emergency Stop Channel 2 (pins 5,6)
  3. Protective Stop (AS/GS) Channel 1 (pins 11,12)
  4. Protective Stop (AS/GS) Channel 2 (pins 13,14)

I see that X14 has “two protective stop channels” 1 channel on pins 11 and 12, and channel 2 on pins 13 and 14.

Do you use all 4 pins to wire to a safety PLC? (or can you leave some jumpered?)

We are wanting to configure the protective stop as an automatic stop (to allow us to jog the robots when we are updating points etc in the cell).

But I was wondering, do I need to wire anything to the X14’s two emergency E-stop channels on inputs 3-6? I’m guessing it is needed, but I’m a little confused how to go about this section.

Would anyone by chance have an example that they wouldn’t mind sharing?

I was also wondering do you wire anything from the X15 to the safety PLC?

Any information is very much appreciated!
Thank you!!!

2

I use a C90, but assume they work the same.

You need both channels for a safety input. I have used the AS channels as my primary stop (in AUTO) from my safety PLC.

The estop channels you can jump unless you need them for additional estops. My additional estops go to my safety plc, so I don’t use them on the omnicore.

The estop outputs (on X15) I use to know if the flexpendant estop has been pressed. Important? maybe not so much.

1 Like
3

THANK YOU! That is extremely helpful and appreciate your comment beyond words!

  • So just so I am understanding correctly; your safety PLC is wired to both channels (4 pins total) from the safety PLC to the AS channels on the X14 on your C90? :slight_smile:

  • Would you happen to know why you cannot wire just one OSSD pair (from our safety PLC) to the Protective Stop (AS/GS) Channel 1 (pins 11,12),
    but leave Protective Stop (AS/GS) Channel 2 (pins 13,14), Emergency Stop Channel 1 (pins 3,4), and Emergency Stop Channel 2 (pins 5,6) on the X14 jumpered?

Again, thank you so much for your help!

4

Yes, I am wiring both channels: AS1-/AS2- to reference ground of 24vdc, AS1+/AS2+ to my safety PLC.

I believe you can wire just one channel and jump the other, but I don’t know if their safety circuit is monitoring dual channel discrepancy. Try it out!

5

As far as I am aware you need dual channel safety signals to comply with the required safety rating for industrial robots.

The Omnicore controller will stop if you only switch one channel, but it will also throw an error as it is only seeing one channel change.

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6

Thank you! to summarize what I have learned for future readers,

  1. You must wire all 4 pins from your safety PLC to your chosen safety signal input function (either AS or GS) on the X14.
    WHY? → Wiring all 4 pins AKA 2 channels per function is mandatory to meet ISO 13849-1 Category 3/4 and Performance Level d/e (PL d/e) safety standards for industrial robots.
    Wiring just one channel AKA 2 pins does not meet this standard, as industrial safety relies on two independent circuits.

Note: If a channel is left unwired or un-jumpered, the ABB controller will throw a “Guard Stop” or “Dual Channel Fault” error and prevent motors from turning on.

The next steps are to choose what type of stop (Category 0 or 1) you would like the (AS/GS) safety signal to have. In my case I chose Category 1 stop, which means that the auto-stop will only be active during auto-mode, and during manual mode-I’ll be able to be within the cell and update robot points as needed.
The distinctions between the two stop types are noted below:

AS (Auto Stop): Only stops the robot when it is running in Automatic mode. During Manual mode It is bypassed which allows programmers to enter the cell and to update points/program robots using the teach pendant.
GS (General Stop): Stops the robot in both Automatic and Manual modes. It is used for master emergency circuits or perimeter fencing that must never be breached while the robot has power.

My next plan is to figure out how to recover the robots when the auto-stop signal is thrown during production. My plan was to maybe use a

  1. System event routine (RESTART),
  2. Digital input (that monitors if someone is in the cell or not to help with handshaking with the safety PLC),
  3. Digital input (robot_resume) for when you want to resume the line,
  4. PathRecorder maybe?
  5. Multi-tasking maybe?

but haven’t figured this section just yet and what is possible/best approach, these are just my ideas and what I plan to try!
If anyone has any advice they would like to share I am all ears!

Thank you all for your help during this process and helping me understand more about the X14 safety signals! :slight_smile: