Failsafe sluice automation

Solution to stringent safety demands on control centers

To ensure compliance with the stringent safety requirements imposed on remote sluice control centers, Siemens has developed an automation solution for several sluices operating on the River Saar. Ships negotiating the different levels of the River Saar between Konz and Saarbrücken have to pass through a total of seven sluices. Since 2015, these have been operated from a standardized control center whose equipment includes technology supplied by Siemens. The project objective was the integration of failsafe technology, starting with the sluices in Mettlach, Rehlingen, Saarbrücken and Serrig. There are Simatic S7 controllers in place ensuring the reliable execution of processes at both the head and tail sluice gates. The installed controllers are now in failsafe communication with each other and the central control station in Mettlach using Profisafe. Within the next years all sluices on the River Saar will be linked to the central.

Additional emergency stop functions for enhanced safety

Emergency stop functions ensure that in the event of a hazard, the system and the water inflow and outflow can be stopped immediately. A specially developed function module from Siemens establishes a verified connection between the buttons pressed in the control center and the emergency stop functions at the selected sluice, ensuring that the sluice responds to centrally issued commands. These special features have ensured compliance with the increased safety demands imposed by the Machine Directive 2006/42/EG.

Captions

Simatic S7 controllers coordinate the signaling systems at the two gates of the Mettlach Sluice.

Sluice operation is monitored from the sluice control tower by the Simatic WinCC process visualization system.