ABB has been awarded a contract worth just over ?2 million to refurbish and upgrade a 275kV National Grid substation on the Thames Estuary. The project includes the supply and installation of five new ABB 400kV HPL SF6 insulated puffer circuit breakers, to replace the now time-expired air-blast circuit breakers installed in the 1960s, as well as associated civil and connection works and interfacing with the substation control and protection systems.

The new ABB HPL circuit breakers, capable of switching short-circuit currents up to 63kA, will be installed on five circuits three outgoing and two from the substation transformers. National Grid has specified them at 400kV to provide the substation with the future flexibility to operate at the higher voltage.

The project is due for completion at the end of 2007. In order to minimise potential disturbance to customers, ABB will carry out the installation work in a number of phases co-ordinated with National Grid?s planned outage programme.

www.abb.com

After a great deal of debate, both in the media and in committee meeting rooms, voting has been in favour of superseding EN 954-1 with EN (ISO) 13849-1, 'Safety of machinery, Safety-related parts of control systems, Part 1: General principles for design' (the UK, USA and Japan were the only nations to vote against). The new standard will be issued at the end of 2006 or early in 2007, and it is expected to be harmonised to the Machinery Directive in the second quarter of 2007. Even then, there will be a three-year transition period during which EN 954-1 can still be used.

But what does this all mean for machine builders, system integrators and those involved in specifying and designing safety-related control systems for machines?

First of all, do not panic! Many commentators have warned that the simplicity of EN 954-1 with its easily-understood 'risk graph' would be replaced by something far more onerous that requires complex mathematics - and that the result might be that many machine builders would simply stop working to the appropriate standards. On the contrary, once specifiers, designers and machine builders have come to terms with the new standard, it could actually make things easier. For example, depending on the type of equipment and the Performance Level required, there is a choice of components that can be used to achieve a safety-related control system that conforms to the standard's requirements.

Although much criticism was levelled at the 'risk graph' used in EN 954-1 to select safety categories, and the standard's replacement was seen in some quarters as a good opportunity to dispense with it, a similar type of graph has been used in EN (ISO) 13849-1 for the selection of Performance Levels (which are similar in concept to the safety categories in EN 954-1). Following on from this graph, further guidance is included in the new standard to assist with the system design, meaning that the maths required is, in many cases, minimal (which is in stark contrast to EN 62061, the standard to be used for the design of software-programmable safety-related electrical control systems).

In general terms, EN (ISO) 13949-1 takes a four-stage approach to the design of safety-related control systems.

1. Perform a risk assessment.
2. For the identified risks, allocate the safety measure (Performance Level (PL)).
3. Devise a system architecture that is suitable for the Performance Level.
4. Validate the design to check that it meets the requirements of the initial risk assessment.

This last step involves using manufacturers' data for the reliability of the components and how they are configured in the architecture. The results can then be compared with the charts in the annexes of the standard to produce the required parameters for cross-checking against the original assessment. To assist with this step, EN (ISO) 13849-2 (Safety of machinery, Safety-related parts of control systems, Part 2: Validation) will be voted on and ratified. This is expected to be identical to the old prEN 954-2 that was never ratified.

Meanwhile, specifiers, designers and machine builders need to be aware that, following a lengthy period of uncertainty, the new standard is definitely being introduced. There is no need to make any changes to design procedures 'overnight' in order to comply, but it is essential that people find out more about the standard and learn how to apply it. Pilz already offers a one-day training course, 'An Introduction to EN 62061 and EN ISO 13849-1 Safety of Machinery', which is likely to be a very popular starting point.

To find out more information about the EN 62061 and EN ISO 13849-1 Safety of Machinery training course visit the Pilz website (link)

The Chinese iron and steel producer Guangxi Liuzhou Iron & Steel Group Ltd. awarded Siemens VAI Metals Technologies S.A.S., Saint Chamond, France a 6.5-million-euro contract for the modernization of a cold-rolling mill in Liuzhou. The project features the coupling of a local Chinese pickling line with a 5-stand cold-rolling mill relocated from the U.K. Start-up of the upgraded cold mill is scheduled for January 2008.

Guangxi Liuzhou Iron & Steel Group Ltd. is a long-product steel producer based in Guangxi Province, China. In order to be able to expand their business activities to include hot- and cold-rolled flat products, the group purchased a 5-stand tandem cold-rolling mill in the U.K. and relocated it to the city of Liuzhou in Guangxi Province. Siemens VAI will install and modernize this mill section and couple it with a new pickling section designed and supplied by a Chinese company (WISDRI Engineering and Research Incorporated Ltd.) into an endless production facility. With the start-up of the revamped line, Guangxi Liuzhou Iron & Steel will be able to produce a total of 1,400,000 tons of carbon-steel coils per year, which will find use in the construction industry, for non-exposed automotive parts and for household appliances.

The project scope includes engineering, complete renewal of the mill stands (with the exception of the housings and cylinders), the installation of a ?Clecim? scale breaker in the pickling line, the installation of roll-force cylinders on all mill stands and the supply of a rotary shear and mandrels for the carrousel coiler. Guangxi Liuzhou Iron & Steel will be responsible for the supply of entry and exit equipment for the mill as well as for all other new equipment for the mill stands.

www.industry.siemens.com

Linear motion innovator Copley Motion Systems has pioneered the use of multiple linear motors sharing the same axes to provide unparalleled performance whilst saving machine space.

AC Technology Corp, part of the Lenze group have manufactured their millionth product. The company manufactures variable frequency drives.