CAN equipment for construction machines

Brehmer Electronics (Germany) produces and distributes devices ranging from keypads, joysticks and switches, to control units, displays, I/O modules, and telematics units.

At the Bauma 2022 in Munich (Germany) the company exhibited its portfolio of products for control of construction and further off-road machinery. The devices are mostly IP67-protected with sealed or plastic-molded enclosures and connections. They work at temperatures from -40 °C to +70 °C and voltages from 8 V_DC to 32 V_DC.

The offered CAN keypads (e.g. CANlink 4x3 or CANlink 2x4) produced by HED (Hydro Electronic Devices, USA) consolidate several mechanical switches thus reducing wire harness complexity. Multiple keypads can be daisy-chained and are able to detect multiple simultaneous key presses. Optional connectivity for I/O modules is given as well. The sunlight-visible LED indicators (up to three on a button and between buttons) are customizable. CANopen, J1939, or proprietary higher-layer protocols can be implemented. The keypads provide managing capabilities (e.g. NMT network manager for CANopen) and/or stand-alone application ability.

The 4,3-inch, 5-inch, 7-inch, or 10,1-inch color displays of the CANlink series (by HED) present graphics, text, or video. The two latter are based on the dual-core 800-MHz NXP/Freescale Cortex A8 ARM processor. The devices include up to three CAN ports and up to four video channels. Optionally, the 10,1-inch display can be delivered with a touch screen. For simplified menu manipulation, a navigation key is on board. Low-power sleep mode with wake-up via CAN traffic is given. Additionally, the company offers a J1939-capable rotary encoder with a two-axis switched joystick, a knob (as pushbutton), and five pushbuttons to navigate the displays. The functionality and icons are customizable. The CANlink sealed camera may be powered from 12-V_DC or 24-V_DC battery without additional electrical protection.

A variety of wireless and I/O modules (from HED) is available for multiplexed or stand-alone application needs. The devices with up to four CAN ports base on 32-bit or 16-bit NXP/Freescale processors and support CANopen and J1939 higher-layer protocols. LED indicators allow for first device diagnostics. The modules include digital, analog, or time-based (frequency, PWM, encoder, counter) input types. Wireless CANect modules enable to view vehicle data for trouble-shooting issues locally on a Wi-Fi enabled device or remotely using GNSS (global navigation satellite system) or 4G LTE cellular mobile network. The devices with up to 32-GiB memory for data logging, include a three-axis accelerometer. The CANlink I/O modules with managing-device capabilities are available with different I/O configurations and up to three CAN interfaces.

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