IEC TS 61496-5:2023

IEC TS 61496-5:2023 provides particular requirements for the design, construction and testing of non-contact electro-sensitive protective equipment (ESPE) designed specifically to provide whole-body detection of a person or persons as part of a safety-related system, employing radar protective devices (RPDs) responsive to diffuse reflection of radar signals for the sensing function using frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) technique. Special attention is directed to features which ensure that an appropriate safety-related performance is achieved. An ESPE can include optional safety-related functions, the requirements for which are given in Annex A of IEC 61496-1:2020 and Annex A of this document. The requirements given in this document are related to the detection of adult persons being present in an industrial manufacturing environment. This document does not specify the dimensions or configurations of the detection zone and its disposition in relation to hazardous parts for any particular application, nor what constitutes a hazardous state of any machine. It is restricted to the functioning of the ESPE and how it interfaces with the machine. This document does not consider the aspects of a moving RPD application. Additional consideration can be necessary, if the RPD supplier specifies the RPD for use on moving application. Additional requirements and tests can apply if setup of the RPD differs from Figure 2 and Figure 4. Where this document does not contain all necessary provisions, IEC TS 62998-1 is used. For those aspects not considered in this document it is also possible to additionally use provisions from IEC TS 62998-1. Excluded from this document are RPDs that employ electromagnetic radiation outside the range 9 GHz to 81 GHz (identified as subset of band 10 and band 11 in accordance with ITU Radio Regulations). For sensing devices that employ electromagnetic radiation outside this range, this document can be used as a guide. National regulations can limit the available frequencies. This document can be relevant to applications other than those for the protection of persons, for example for the protection of machinery or products from mechanical damage. In those applications, different requirements can be appropriate, for example when the materials to be recognized by the sensing function have different properties from those of persons. This document does not deal with requirements for ESPE functions not related to the protection of persons (e.g. using sensing unit data for navigation). While a data interface can be used to control optional safety-related ESPE functions (Annex A), this document does not provide specific requirements. Requirements for these safety-related functions can be determined by consulting other standards (for example, IEC 61508, IEC 62046, IEC 62061, and ISO 13849-1). This document does not deal with EMC emission requirements. The contents of the corrigendum of October 2023 have been included in this copy.