Knorr-Bremse Choose ITEM Software

Knorr-Bremse meets IEC 61508 Functional
safety requirements using ITEM ToolKit.

The generic functional safety standard has hit the automotive industry hard. As per IEC 61508 safety is defined as, "Freedom from unacceptable risk to personal injury or of damage to the health of people, either directly or indirectly as a result of damage to property or to the environment". Functional safety is a part of the overall safety that depends on a system functioning correctly under normal operation. As a manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, Knorr-Bremse used ITEM ToolKit to extend their traditional FMEA analysis to a fully functional safety analysis.

With the assistance of Item Software's business partner AirPlan Engineering, Knorr-Bremse ventured away from the traditional FMEA analysis to an integrated and traceable functional safety analysis. The digital control-braking unit was analysed using ITEM ToolKit's prediction modules (MIL217 & RDF 2000) to identify weak areas in the design and improve the overall reliability.

This was followed by an FMEA to identify single point failures and hazards. Following the IEC 61508 approach, the FMEA was converted and dynamically linked to a complex modular fault tree analysis in four mouse clicks. More than 130 sub-trees were integrated into one master tree by this unique approach of ITEM ToolKit to understand a multifaceted safety analysis without loosing traceability on individual equipment functional contributions.

Project Manager Christoph Bauer stated, "We were delighted with the strategy of a fully integrated and structured approach to quantitative safety analysis. The FMEA is no longer a standalone result but a rather important link between the high level single failure analysis and the more complex safety function and risk analysis with the Fault Tree and Event Tree modules". He continued, "In particular the modular Fault Tree and full cut set evaluation of our Event Tree module accurately calculated fault tolerances and probabilities of the braking system".

About Knorr-Bremse

A leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, Knorr- Bremse has been pioneering development, production and marketing of modern braking systems for a variety of applications for 100 years, making an important contribution to improved safety on the railways and the roads. The company also produces door systems for rail vehicles and torsional dampers.

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