Safety-directed control system

A method of operating a safety-directed control system comprising at least one safety sensor unit and at least one safety actuator unit, which are connected to one another via a fieldbus, and processing circuitry, the method comprising:

• associating sensor connections, which are provided by the at least one safety sensor unit, for connecting safety sensors to the fieldbus with safety lines;
• displaying available safety lines of the safety lines via an output interface of the processing circuitry;
• retrieving, by a programming device via the fieldbus, safety responses from the safety actuator unit for selection by a user, wherein the programming device is connected to the safety actuator unit via field bus and the safety responses are executable by the safety actuator unit and stored in the safety actuator unit;
• receiving a user input from the user via an input interface of the processing circuitry, wherein the user input associates a selected safety response of the safety responses, which is executable by the safety actuator unit, with at least one of the safety lines;
• storing the association between the at least one of the safety lines and the selected safety response in the safety actuator unit as a safety configuration by means of the processing circuitry;
• independently activating a safety line of the safety lines, which is associated with a sensor connection of the sensor connections of the at least one safety sensor unit, by transmitting a line activation signal via the fieldbus by the at least one safety sensor unit;
• directly receiving the line activation signal from the at least one safety sensor unit by the safety actuator unit via the fieldbus;
• and
• independently executing the selected safety response, which is stored for an activated safety line of the safety lines in the safety configuration, by the safety actuator unit on reception of the line activation signal.

A safety-directed control system comprising:

• at least one safety sensor unit;
• at least one safety actuator unit, which is connected to one another via a fieldbus;
• and
• processing circuitry,
• wherein sensor connections for connecting safety sensors to the fieldbus are provided by the at least one safety sensor unit, and the sensor connections are associated with safety lines,
• wherein the processing circuitry is configured to first display available safety lines of the safety lines to a user via an output interface,
• wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, after displaying the available safety lines of the safety lines, receive a user input of the user via an input interface, with the user input associating a selected safety response from safety responses, which is executable by the safety actuator unit, with at least one selected safety line of the available safety lines,
• wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, after receiving the user input associating the selected safety response with the at least one selected safety line, store the association between the at least one of the safety lines and the selected safety response in the safety actuator unit as a safety configuration,
• wherein the safety lines associated with individual sensor connections of the sensor connections are configured to be independently activated by the at least one safety sensor unit by transmitting line activation signals of individual safety lines of the safety lines via the fieldbus,
• wherein the safety actuator unit is configured to receive the line activation signals via the fieldbus directly from the at least one safety sensor unit, and
• on reception of a line activation signal of the line activation signals of an activated safety line of the safety lines, to independently execute the selected safety response stored for the activated safety line in the safety configuration.