Speaker
Description
Electrical design is one of the final stages of the detail design phase in the functional safety lifecycle. Standardization on both the component level and control system enclosure/rack assembly level leads to significant cost and time reductions in the design and implementation of subsystems. It also encourages a unified approach during the testing phase and also simplify asset management and maintenance as well as a limited number of spare parts needed to keep in stock.
While the reduction of cost and time can be easily demonstrated, it is important to emphasize the challenges and risks of this unified approach.
Developing a generic approach requires advanced knowledge from the design team regarding environmental and operational conditions as well as interfaces, which might be unavailable at the early stages of the project. It is crucial to invest time and effort in a thorough review of the generic design to avoid replicating errors across multiple subsystems. It is also worth noting that this is not a one-off task. As the design of accelerator systems is a long-term process that can take years from design to operation, some components may become obsolete or unavailable. As a result, the generic design must be kept updated throughout the entire project lifecycle. Furthermore, repetitive design work may lead to overlooked mistakes, e.g. components suitable for one subsystem might not be appropriate for another due to differences, such as environmental conditions or realiability requirements.
It is also worth noting that recent years have brought significant changes in functional safety control systems. Increasing number of modern off-shelf devices on the market make design faster and place greater emphasis on network solutions (e.g. IO-Link Safety), requiring less electrical work while shifting focus toward software development. This suggests that overly standardized solutions may discourage the exploration of modern approaches, leaving facility safety systems outdated.
In conclusion, it should be emphasized that a unified approach may not be suitable for every facility or project. A wide variety of conditions or interfaces can render this method impractical. The generic approach must be assessed individually for each project by the design team and properly justified. As member of engineering team in the ESS Protection System Group, I personally see a huge advantage in this approach, which I would like to present to the community in more details.