Systems and methods for simultaneous control of safety-critical and non-safety-critical processes in automation systems using master-minion functionality

Abstract

A control system is for controlling safety-critical processes, non-safety-critical processes, and/or installation components. The control system includes: at least one control unit configured to control non-safety-critical processes and/or non-safety-critical installation components, at least one safety control unit for controlling safety-critical processes and/or safety-critical installation components, and at least one input/output unit connected to the first control unit via an internal input/output bus. The control system is configured to act as communication master or as communication minion or as both in a pool having other devices that is connected via field bus, and to that end, the control system includes a master communication coupler and a minion communication coupler. The control system is modularly configurable. At least the safety control unit includes respective subunits with master functionality and subunits with minion functionalities.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.