Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442859
Texas Instruments The Future of Robotics | 33 operational safeguards. These tools are standards and guiding principles that govern how we use and handle items to reduce the risk of an operational hazard. Just as humans need tools and safeguards accompanied by processes to ensure their safe operation, industrial robots also have features that operators need to protect. Safeguarding their electrical connections, construction materials, and joints help extend the robots' lives and improve their reliability. The following highlights two Texas Instruments products, the TPS2663x Surge Protection Industrial eFuse and TPS27S100x Smart High-Side Switch, which are designed to provide safeguards into the application. Types of Electrical Accidents and Hazards Industrial robots face several dangers during operation. Two of the most significant are environmental hazards and errors in the power system. Environmental Hazard Sources An industrial robot's surrounding area creates opportunities for accidents and hazards because of unplanned electrical conduction paths. Other equipment near the robot can interfere with the equipment's function, especially when one or both components integrate with electromagnetic sources. Cooling water or industrial steam can attack the robot housing through aqueous corrosion and create a short circuit within the robot. Primary power surges or loss also could interrupt the robot's function to operate accurately. Inconsistencies or extremes in the power-supply fluctuations can lead to an unplanned imbalance of power beyond the specified robot design limits. If the robot's power supply is adversely affected, its performance and operational safety are at risk. To design against these hazards, engineers can rely on three primary features: • Surge-protection eFuses, • Smart high-side switches, • Control systems. Figure 1: Texas Instruments TPS2663x Surge Protection Industrial eFuses safeguards against fast short circuits, overvoltage, and adjusts for excessive current for a specific application. Figure 2: Texas Instruments TPS27S100x Smart High-Side Switch provides full diagnostics and highly accurate current monitors for intelligent control. Industrial robots face several dangers during operation. " " Best-In-Class Product Solutions for eFuse and Smart Switch Solution 1 The TPS2663x Surge Protection Industrial eFuse (Figure 1): This eFuse provides a criteria A performance for normal operations during a surge. It includes an adjustable output power-limiting function to reduce system complexity while complying with relevant standards (IEC61010-1, UL1310). The TPS2663x safeguards against fast short circuits, overvoltage, and adjusts for excessive current by providing additional diagnostics to the MCU. The current monitoring can help to determine if the fault is a short circuit or a wire break which can help to reduce the debug time in the robot. Two additional benefits of this eFuse are output slew rate control (to limit high-frequency components of the signal) and under-voltage lockout. Undervoltage lockout provides an automatic shutoff to ensure the voltage stays above its minimum operational limit. Solution 2 TPS27S100x Smart High-Side Switch (Figure 2). It self-protects to prevent damaging the downstream systems because of excessive temperature, overvoltage, short-to-ground, and open load. This smart switch provides full diagnostics and highly accurate current monitors for intelligent control. It also offers an adjustable current limit value setting that leverages an integrated FET to control the current while reducing size and cost.