Japan based organization Mechatrolink’s (http://www.mechatrolink.org/en/index_en.html) Safety Working Group completed a list of specifications satisfied the requirements of IEC61508 safety integrity level SIL3 for the communications protocol of the MECHATROLINK field network that meets safety standards. TÜV Rheinland, certified the documents in August this year released their Safety bus.
The next step will be a study on the implementation of these MECHATROLINK Safety protocols for a safety master and safety slaves which can co-exist on the same network. A Mechatrolink safety system can be constructed by simply adding a safety master such as safety PLC and safety slaves such as safety I/O devices to the existing system. Like other networks using a black channel approach for their safety bus, no special cable will be required for connecting MECHATROLINK Safety compliant devices.
