Which is essentially what UL 1998 requires for the product design.  I agree 
with keeping software/programmable devices out of the safety business as much 
as possible so you can skip the significant engineering investment required to 
do it properly.

-Dave

From: Carl Newton [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2016 10:54 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [PSES] SAFETTY FEATURES controlled by ....SOFTWARE

My experience with UL Medical (as an example) is that their position is that 
software fails 100% of the time from a safety point of view (and I agree with 
that view).  The manufacturer would have to prove to the lab that it is 
fail-safe, which is probably not a desirable task on the part of the designers, 
and may not be possible from a practical point of view.  I've been told that in 
those unusual cases where software/firmware has been allowed as protection 
against hazards is when the software/firmware is completely separated from any 
other system software (standalone) within the hardware architecture so that it 
cannot be corrupted and will have only that one dedicated function.

Carl
On 8/3/2016 10:32 AM, Bolintineanu, Constantin wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to kindly ask those who have an extensive experience regarding the 
above subject, to share their opinion about the following aspect:

Having a circuit which is charging a battery, and having it controlled and 
protected  by SOFTWARE ONLY from the point of view of CHARGING , DISCHARGING, 
OVERCHARGING,

1. How do you think that SINGLE FAULT CONDITIONS shall be applied? (without 
SOFTWARE working at all? Or by providing a fault on the component where the 
SOFTWARE is stored? OR BOTH
2. Which conditions do you think that shall be imposed to the software and/or 
to the memory in which it is stored?

Any other suggestions/observations/comments are more than welcome.

Sincerely,

Constantin Bolintineanu P.Eng.


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