IDEC E-Stop series: engineered for compliance with ISO 13850
The emergency stop function is a critical last line of defense in industrial machinery, designed to mitigate hazards rapidly. The international standard ISO 13850, "Safety of machinery — Emergency stop function — Principles for design," establishes the fundamental requirements for this vital safety feature. It mandates that an E-Stop must be initiated by a single human action, override all other machine commands, and achieve a stop in the fastest, safest way possible. IDEC designs its E-Stop product families, including the XA, XW, XN, and YW Series, to be physical manifestations of this standard, ensuring reliable performance and compliance.
ISO 13850 standard: what does it say?
The standard is built on three foundational pillars that define an effective emergency stop function:
- Initiation: the command must be generated by a manually actuated control device that is readily accessible, identifiable, and unambiguous.
- Stopping performance: the function must have priority over all other operating modes and be achieved through a high level of safety performance, often requiring a monitored safety circuit.
- Reset: the emergency state must be latched and cannot be reset until the stop command itself has been manually reset; the reset action must not initiate a restart.
How IDEC’s E-Stop series fulfil these principles?
Initiation: positive operation
A core requirement of ISO 13850 is "positive operation", meaning the actuator's movement must directly and mechanically drive the contacts. IDEC’s XA Series, rugged, industry-standard, and XW Series (compact) E-Stops exemplify this. These devices use a robust mechanism where pressing the mushroom head physically forces the Normally Closed (NC) safety contacts to open. This direct, positive action ensures a definitive break of the control circuit, crucial for achieving a reliable Category 0 stop (immediate power removal). The red actuator on a yellow background ensures high visibility and instant recognition, making the device unambiguous in an emergency, as the standard requires.
Stopping performance: safety integrity
The most critical technical feature mandated by ISO 13850 is the use of forcibly-opened (positive-guided) contacts. This design prevents a common failure mode where a contact could weld shut in an electrical fault, rendering the E-Stop circuit ineffective. IDEC’s system-wide approach ensures this safety integrity. The contact blocks used across our E-Stop’s are designed for high-reliability circuit breaking.
Reset: manual action needed
ISO 13850 requires that the Emergency-stop command be maintained until a deliberate, manual reset action is performed. They cannot be released by reapplying power, as they require a conscious manual reset typically by twisting or pulling the actuator to restore the circuit. IDEC has designed its operators for twist or pull to release across the majority our E-Stops, something that makes us different from many competitors. The physical latching ensures the hazardous condition has been cleared before operations can resume, preventing any accidental restart.
Status feedback: color changing option
The E-Stop range can also be enhanced with color changing feature. The color-changing illumination on IDEC XA and XW Series E-Stops is a deliberate safety feature that is designed to provide unambiguous status feedback for both the device and the machine control system. This provides high visibility, as well as confirmation that the machine is still powered.
The synergy between ISO 13850 and IDEC's E-Stop series—XA, XW, XN, and YW—demonstrates a commitment where rigorous safety standards are translated into reliable, tangible hardware. From the positive actuation of the buttons to the integration with fault-safe relay logic and secure manual reset mechanisms, every feature is purpose-built for compliance. By specifying IDEC E-Stop’s, engineers and machine builders implement a robust, certified safeguard, ensuring this critical last line of defense will perform as intended to protect personnel and equipment.
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