CANopen Lift is set

The Interlift 2022 tradeshow saw less visitors as in 2019, but providers of CANopen Lift product suppliers were satisfied.

Not all CAN in Automation (CiA) members offering CANopen Lift products exhibited at the Interlift tradeshow in Augsburg (Germany) in April 2022. CiA was also not present with a booth as usual. The exhibition postponed by one year was less visited: 11 800 visitors from 87 countries showed up; in 2019 there were 21 200 from 107 countries. The number of exhibitors was 350 (2019: 577). Achim Huetter, President of the nonprofit VFA Interlift, said: “We are indeed very happy that we have stuck to the decision to hold this Interlift 2022. Far more visitors than we had hoped for, top-class discussions and good business.”

The exhibiting CiA members reported an increasing interest in CiA 417 compliant products. “CANopen Lift is set,” answered several CANopen Lift suppliers. The number of new CANopen Lift products was limited. Rocket (Austria) exhibited its lift controller featuring CiA 417 version 2.0 communication interfaces. It supports CiA 417 car drive units from different suppliers. Klinghammer, New Lift, Safeline, Schmersal Böhncke & Partner, Schneider Steuerungstechnik, Thor Engineering, and others presented CiA 417 controllers and peripheral units, too. Peter Zeitler, Managing Director of CiA member New Lift, said: "For us, there was no question at any time of not exhibiting at Interlift 2022. And we have not regretted this decision for a moment. For our company, the Interlift was a complete success, about 90 percent of our customers visited us here."

The CAN Newsletter Online reported already about the recently introduced car positioning units by Elgo Batscale. Gefran showed its ADL500 series of inverters suitable for elevators launched already last year. All variants provide by default CANopen Lift interfaces. One of the high-rise and mid-rise variant features reduced energy consumption due to the system stand-by management and the possibility of regenerative configuration with the AFE200 add-on module. It supports also hybrid power supply with supercapacitors. The EN 81-20/-80 certified inverters come with a configuration wizard simplifying the integration into a CANopen Lift network. The ADL530 can control geared and gearless motors integrating an on-board encoder interface. The ADL550 provides several safety functions, and the ADL550-ICS allows a wireless drive configuration.

CANopen Lift car drive units were also exhibited by Ziehl-Abegg and Fuji Electric. The ZAdyn4Bplus frequency inverter by Ziehl-Abegg were developed for high payload elevators (up to 5000 kg) and travel speeds up to 5,5 m/s. It is suitable for motor currents up to 220 A and it has an integrated energy-saving function. Fuji Electric exhibited at the Interlift its Frenic-Lift LM2C inverter, which features also different energy-saving modes.

Oskar Kaplun from CiA presented on the Interlift Forum about new CANopen Lift functions and further developments. The next version of the CiA 417 series is planned for late summer in this year. There is also scheduled a CANopen Lift plugfest to test interoperability of CiA 417 controllers and units. One of the new features of the CiA 417 profile is predictive maintenance. Amphitech presented at the tradeshow a solution based on a gateway connecting the elevator’s CAN networks to an IP-based cloud or a GSM (4G) link. This system supplemented by emergency call voice to be mounted in or underneath the lift car can collect data transmitted via CAN and forward it the company’s cloud for evaluation.

Such pre-emptive maintenance applications could process load measuring sensors. Henning launched at the Interlift some CC800 weight watchers, which do not require a calibration. The company also introduced the LS belt sensor and the Wearwatcher V3 usable for elevators and escalators. Both products are suitable for pre-emptive maintenance purposes, too.

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