The complexities of controlling who operates specific machinery and tracking of individual operator and machine activities are now simple, scaleable, and affordable. The system provides an audit trail of machine operation in case of accident or incident and monitoring of operators and specific machinery can be done at anytime and from
anywhere.
The TCS Machine Security System provides control over which employees can operate which machines by locking a machine’s safety circuit using RFID security locks. An employee who is trained in the correct operation of a machine presents a personalised RFID read/write tag to the RFID reader located on the machine to be able to start and operate that machine.
The machine’s security RFID reader interlocks with the machine’s safety circuit and is connected via RS-485 or RF 2.4GHz wireless communications to the machine security master controller (‘master controller’), which stores the operator information for each machine on the system.
A database provides a ‘flight record’ of each time an operator presents a tag to a machine RFID reader. A log of the last 1000 events, time and date stamped, is appended to the database directly on the master controller. This provides information pertaining to the start and end time of the machine operation by each operator and
can give a history of the activities and output of the machine for plant efficiency, employee performance, and wastage evaluation. All configuration data and ‘flight recorded’ information is saved permanently to flash memory to ensure no loss of information in the event of power outage.
Information is viewed by using a web browser over the internet, intranet, or extranet when the master controller is connected to the site network. A web page diagnostic screen shows the status of each of the machine RFID readers on the network and verifies that the machine RFID reader is operational and who has enabled the RFID security. Alternatively the machine security module can provide data directly to a PLC data table, SCADA/HMI, or IS database using OPC, DLL or ODBC technology. The master controller can also be made to carry out customised functionality such as integrating the system to plant PLCs or sending data to a MES package.
A bench top RFID reader connected to a PC, with access to the master controller,
provides the ability to personalise the operators’ RFID tags as well as synchronise all information with the master controller. The machine security system can be easily configured through the web interface tool served up directly from the master controller. Access to the configuration tools is passcode protected to prevent unauthorised access to the system. Individual machine
RFID readers are configured by
simply setting the internal dip switches to
a unique number. The machine number
can then be allocated a description that
will be retained in the master controller.
There are various RFID tag options
such as keyfobs, wristbands, or cards.
All RFID tags are 13.56MHz SL1 I-Code
ISO 15693 with 256 bytes of read/write
memory as well as a unique 24-bit electronic
identification._
