Allen-Bradley Motor Controller Adds Integrated Safety to Help Protect People, Plants and Machines

Manufacturers can now install more of their control hardware on machines instead of in cabinets to simplify their production environments. The new Allen-Bradley ArmorStart ST distributed motor controllers with integrated safety can be mounted directly on a machine, allowing users to implement functional safety with fewer components.

The ArmorStart ST with integrated safety is the first networked safety enabled On-Machine solution designed to integrate into Allen-Bradley Logix controllers and programmed using Studio 5000 software. Using one network via EtherNet/IP and one software tool helps streamline light and heavy industry applications.

The ArmorStart ST motor controllers offer safety ratings of up to PLe/SIL3 and Cat 4. They also have built-in safe torque-off, which removes rotational power to the motor but not the drive. This can help keep workers safe and improve uptime by allowing for faster start-ups after safety demands are made. It can also reduce wear caused by repetitive start-ups.

ArmorStart products are ideal for food and beverage and automotive applications, like conveying and material handling, where minimizing downtime is critical. The ArmorStart ST motor controllers with integrated safety offer automatic device configuration to help maximize uptime and lower mean time to repair.

The motor controllers require no additional enclosure near the motor or machine, enabling shorter cable runs. And when combined with other machine-mounted products, they can reduce design, commissioning and installation costs compared to more traditional solutions.