Date:                      April 23, 2007

 

Submitted by:       United Electric Controls

                                180 Dexter Avenue

                                Watertown, MA 02472

                                617-926-1000

 

Contact:                 Rick Frauton, Product Manager - Electronic Products

                                617.321.1231 Fax: 617.926.4354

                                Email: rcfrauton@ueonline.com

 

For Immediate Release

 

ONE SERIES FMEDA REPORT IS NOW AVAILABLE

 

United Electric Controls has completed a project with Exida, L.L.C. to provide a Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostics Analysis (FMEDA) report for the One Series Electronic Switch product line. The report is intended for engineers that are designing Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), by providing test data for calculating the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) of a system containing the One Series.

 

·         FMEDA - Failure Modes, Effects and Diagnostics Analysis: The report summarizes the results of the hardware assessment of the One Series Electronic Switch.  The FMEDA is a major step toward achieving functional safety certification per IEC 61508, providing failure rates and Safe Failure Fractions (SFF) for the electronic and mechanical systems found in the One Series design.

·         IEC 61508 - International Electrotechnical Commission functional safety standard for risk reduction

·         SFF - Safe Failure Fraction summarizes the fraction of failures, which lead to a safe state of the fraction of failures, which will be detected by diagnostic measures and lead to a defined safety action.

 

The One Series Electronic Switch is categorized as a self-diagnostic smart device that senses temperature or pressure and provides discrete (on-off) and 4-20 mA analog (continuously variable) outputs.  The One Series is classified as a Type B device, according to IEC 61508, using micro controllers and programmable logic.  The FMEDA shows that the One Series has a safe failure fraction between 60% and 90% and, therefore, is suitable for SIL 1 applications.

 

·         One Series Electronic Switch - a self-diagnostic smart device classified as a Type B device with a SFF between 60% and 90% and suitable for SIL 1 applications with an estimated useful lifetime of 50 years.

·         Type B Device - The One Series is a complex component using micro controllers and programmable logic according to IEC 61508.

·         SIL 1 - Safety Integrity Level 1 provides minor property and production protection with a probability of failure of 10-1 to 10-2.  The One Series may be used up to SIL 1 as a single device.

 
  Exida is one of the world's leading companies specializing in automation system safety, maintaining a comprehensive failure rate and failure mode database on process equipment.
 
  United Electric Controls is an ISO 9001 certified lean manufacturer of the One Series and leader in the design and application of Threshold Detection and Switching technology.
 
  The award-winning One Series electronic switch product line combines self-diagnostics, solid-state electronics and hazardous location packaging for SIS applications.
 

For access to the report, please contact Rick Frauton at (617) 321-1231 or by email at rfrauton@ueonline.com.