Release 7/2009 Ver. 1.0 Technical Manual: GS-120 Light Curtain Systems
TAPESWITCH CORPORATION Phone: 631-630-0442
100 Schmitt Boulevard 4Fax: 631-630-0454
Farmingdale, New York 11735 www.tapeswitch.com
1.0 GENERAL
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Tapeswitch GS-120 light curtains are through-beam
photo-electric machine guarding devices, designed to
protect operators working at or near dangerous
machinery. They meet the requirements for EN61496
Type 2 light curtains and Category 3 safety control units
as defined in EN954-1.
When correctly installed on a suitable machine, the
system will detect a person (or part of aperson)entering
a dangerous area in the vicinity of the machine, and will
signal the dangerous motion to cease before that
person can reach a position where injury could occur.
Tapeswitch GS-120 light curtains use infra-red
technology. A curtain of infra-red light is projected
across the dangerous area. Intrusion into this curtain by
a person or part of a person will be detected by the
system. This will cause safety output signals to be
generated which will stop the dangerous motion of the
machine.
WARNING
The information in this manual relates to the
use of the basic GS-120 light curtain, to provide
a basic safety switching device.
In some applications, a GS-120 light curtain
may be used together with other Tapeswitch
equipment to provide additional functions and
features. The additional information necessary
for the correct use of a GS-120 light curtain
when used with other Tapeswitch equipment is
provided within this manual.
In such cases, some installation parameters,
notably the mounting position of the light
curtain in relation to the dangerous part of the
machine, can be affected and close attention
must be paid to all the information supplied
with all equipment.
INTERNATIONAL CONSIDERATION: Theheritage of
the Tapeswitch GS-120 system is strongly grounded in
international commerce and standards. They were
developed by Tapeswitch Ltd., of Chorley, England.
Both Tapeswitch Ltd. and Tapeswitch U.S. are part of
Indel Corporation, a private U.S industrial group. The
GS-120 product line was developed to meet published
and proposed safety standards for the United States,
Germany, England, Finland, and Sweden,as wellasthe
common market unified standard. GS-120 systems are
manufactured both in England and the United States.
Tapeswitch GS-120 products have been independently
third party tested to IEC 61496 by BG, and are certified
to this standard (CE approval/certification). Contact
Tapeswitch for more details.
Tapeswitch can provide additional assistance to
customers wishing to use GS-120 guards in
international applications. Some foreign language
technical manuals are available.
1.2 PRODUCT RANGE
1.2.1 GENERAL
The GS-120 light curtains are available in a range of
different protected heights and detection capabilities.
These two parameters are known by many other names
and therefore it may be useful to define them here, as
they are intended to be used in this manual. To make
this clearer it is also necessary to define two further
parameters, detection zone and operating range:
Detection Zone: This is the actual curtain of infra-red
light generated between the emitter and receiver units
within which an appropriately dimensionedobject will be
reliably detected and, for the GS-120, can be
considered to be a two dimensional, rectangular plane
(see Figure 1).
Operating Range: One dimension of the detection
zone rectangle is given by the distance between the
emitter and receiver units. This is the operating range
(see Figure 1).
Protected Height: The other dimension of the
detection zone rectangle is commonly known as the
protected height. The word “height” has been adopted
in the latest standards for this equipment because most
curtains are mounted vertically. The protected height is
often related to, but is not the same as, the length of the
emitter and receiver units (see Figure 1).
