STW Controllers Bring Double Benefits of Safety and Flexibility to Off Highway Applications

NORCROSS, Ga. - April 26, 2019 - PRLog -- The ESX family of controllers from STW, a premier provider for mobile automation, digitalization and electrification solutions, provides engineers with a high level of flexibility and adherence to tough safety standards when designing for rugged off highway conditions. The ESX control device family includes robust and efficient safety and non-safety control units.

The ESX line is modular and comes with lifecycle support and a powerful toolchain. The controllers are freely programmable making them easy to use in control applications as well as to reuse in other applications. Benefits include:

·      Standard portfolio of control units
·      Future-proof due to modular construction on common platform
·      STW software toolchain for open programming
·      Cross-variant development of safety-relevant applications
·      Real-time Ethernet, Ethernet switch and CAN FD
·      Cost-optimized derivation of customer-specific variants

Controllers such as the ESX-3XL or ESX-3XM controllers provide flexible adaptation possibilities regarding the connector pins via expansion boards.  More information on these controllers are available at: https://www.stw-technic.com/products/canbus-modules/

There are also compact control units with fixed pin assignments such as ESX-4CS-GW, ESX-3CM or ESX-3CS. More information on these controllers are available at: https://www.stw-technic.com/products/canbus-modules/freely-programmable/esx-4cs-gw/

For safety applications, the controllers are either equipped with a multicore processor (fourth generation) or with a second, additional processor (third generation). In both cases, different system voltages and the program sequence are internally monitored. If required, all outputs are switched off via a second shut-down method or the main controller is reset. Digital and analog feedback for almost all signal branches permits comprehensive diagnostics for the system including the inputs and outputs.

In order to separate safety and non-safety application sections, in fourth-generation control units one processor in the multicore processor is used purely for the safety application. In third-generation control units, a memory protection unit is provided for the separation of safety and non-safety (feedback-free) application sections.

The application software for the ESX control units can be highly efficiently created either in "C" or also according to the coding standard IEC61131 (using CODESYS or LogiCAD). In addition, depending on the control unit, Matlab support packages are available. In the programming interface, numerous convenient functions such as current controllers and ramp functions for outputs or frequency averaging for inputs are integrated. Various supplementary libraries, for example for CANopen, J1939 or error handling, simplify the system integration.

About STW: STW (www.stw-technic.com) is an award-winning, world class provider of mobile electronics and associated software for automation, digitalization and electrification of off highway vehicles, offering a full spectrum of solutions to a wide range of industries such as mining, construction, agriculture, material handling, transportation, military and oil and gas.  STW solutions have attained a leading role in these industries due to their rigorous testing, high quality German engineering and unmatched flexibility. All of STW's products are mobile off-highway rated.