Danaher introduces low cost vehicle controller

Third Quarter 2008 Electrical switching & drive systems & components

Global specialist in drive and control technology, Danaher Motion, has launched the VMC30, a new controller system for a wide range of electrically-operated industrial vehicles such as fork-lift trucks and other electrical vehicles. With this solution, vehicle manufacturers and users benefit from low total cost of ownership, since the platform is quickly and precisely configured to customer and application-specific requirements, and enables simple maintenance and troubleshooting to minimise downtime. Furthermore, the VMC30 system can be easily extended and allows for future technology changes, such as a migration to wireless communication.

The VMC30 platform, which represents a further development of tried-and tested control solutions, is based on one of the industry's leading processor cores for embedded controllers. The VMC30 unit can be connected via the CANopen bus to AC drives and motors for steering, traction, and lifting movements, and also other auxiliary equipment like joysticks, displays, wire guidance unit and generic CANopen products. Additional components as diverse as remote controls, hydraulic valves, relays, gas pedals, sensors can also be integrated. Finally, the system also provides connections for a range of service tools (eg, for application development and troubleshooting), including a USB connection. On request, individual option cards are also available for the VMC30 system, which meets IP65 requirements.

Design tools provided include a VMC30 software development package with example files and tools for quick and reliable development. Developers can focus on the functions and behaviour of their electrical vehicle and use all the available software blocks in VMC30 such as operating system, CANopen stack and system supervision.

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