Profisafe nears 200,000 nodes; all things ‘Profi…’ covered in AZ

By Control Engineering Staff August 3, 2006

Scottsdale , AZ –Number of Profisafe nodes is nearing 200,000 worldwide, as the Profibus Trade Organization holds the 12th Annual PTO General Assembly Meeting here this week, covering all things “Profi….” The event aims to provide vendors and end-users with information about related markets, with a product fair, technical presentations including industrial Ethernet and Profinet, Profibus, and asset management, the wireless market, and end-user experiences.

Profisafe-enabled systems in operation number more than 20,000, “making Profisafe the leading safety fieldbus technology,” the organization says. Automotive industries are one of the main users of Profisafe, with drives being the fastest growing market sector. About 10% of the installed base is in process automation, for tasks such as stopping pumping systems and initiating shut downs. PTO expects the first Profisafe-enabled Profibus PA instruments to enter the market now. Profisafe, also used in WLAN systems, transmits safety related signals over standard fieldbus systems; the specification was extended last year to include Profinet, PTO adds.

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—Edited by Mark T. Hoske , Control Engineering editor in chief