Safety Overview
The introduction of TwinCAT 3 as a universal development tool creates new possibilities for safety-relevant fields of application. The two main components of TwinCAT 3 are the TwinCAT 3 Engineering Environment and the TwinCAT 3 runtime. TwinCAT 3 Safety provides modules for both areas shown in the following picture.
On the part of engineering, TwinCAT 3 Safety includes a new Safety Editor, allowing an easy creation and management of safety-relevant applications. The editor can be used to program the Beckhoff logic terminals (for example EL6900) and the new TwinCAT Safety PLC, which is introduced by TwinCAT 3 Safety on the part of the runtime. The TwinCAT Safety PLC allows the use of former purely functional Industrial PCs to be used as safety logic unit within a safety loop of SIL 3 (according to IEC 61508).
The two main components of TwinCAT 3 Safety is further illustrated in the following sub-categories.