CANbus comms take position in the warehouse
A
Sensor-Technik product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Nov 30, 2005
Sensor-Technik has applied CANbus absolute position encoders to a fleet of forklift trucks.
With automatic collection of goods from, and placement in, storage bays prevalent in modern warehouses, precision feedback is essential to ensure that the computer controlled forklifts are in the correct position.
Sensor-Technik was asked for a sensing solution that could be fitted on the back of an electric motor to provide accurate absolute position information.
The position information also need to be part of a closed loop with the motor to compensate for overshoot.
The solution also had to provide security interlocks for the mainframe computer to eliminate the possibility of damage through overrun.
A CANbus absolute position encoder was chosen.
This assured a simple interface to the mainframe computer and meant each forklift truck could have its own system, with the onboard computer reading the output and controlling the motor accordingly.
The solution had the added benefit that information could be easily sent to all forklift trucks.
This provided a means to enable the closest forklift truck to a given item to make the collection, eliminating complex addressing and significantly reducing communications times.
To meet security requirements, mechanical switches were mounted on the back of the encoder to stop the vehicle in the case of overrun.
The software and hardware setup were by no means trivial, but the biggest problem was to mount the encoder in the small space available without compromising airflow to the motor.
Sensor-Technik solved the problem by modifying the cable entry and connections.
The CANbus communications are both secure and proven, giving high reliability and assured system integrity - the key to making this automated positioning system possible.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,533)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (546)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,133)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (478)
- Production line blowers and fans (74)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (978)
- Consultancy and Services (927)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,142)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (818)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (190)
- Control and Instrumentation (3)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (297)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (204)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,210)
- Plantwide control (1,354)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (577)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (393)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,451)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,293)
- Industrial Motors (502)
- Linear Drives and Motors (121)
- Precision Motors and Gears (434)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,097)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,328)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (588)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (724)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (653)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (377)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (722)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (430)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (830)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,388)
- 2D CAD software (203)
- 3D CAD software (1,199)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (583)
- Data, document management software (324)
- Electrical design software (168)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (377)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (340)
- Materials design and moulding design software (153)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (325)
- PLM and collaboration software (665)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (208)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (965)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,199)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (273)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (438)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (851)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (578)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (354)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (421)
- Engineering Training Courses (458)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,633)
-
Materials and Processing (3,041)
- Materials and components (2,272)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (292)
- Rapid Prototyping (472)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,682)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (491)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (505)
- Data loggers (428)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (645)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (766)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (449)
- Materials testing equipment (439)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (159)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (522)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,277)
-
Powertrain Design (3,723)
- Bearings (986)
- Chains and belts (334)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,482)
- Hydraulic Components (475)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (4)
-
Sensors (7,324)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (450)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (650)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (292)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (158)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (539)
- Linear Position Sensors (418)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (733)
- Pressure sensors (644)
- Proximity Sensors (715)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (567)
- Sensors (12)
- Temperature sensors (626)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,417)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,059)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,732)
