Category: CANopen

CANopen Logo
CANopen is a communcation protocol based on CAN. It has been developed and is maintained by the CAN in Automation e.V. and has been standardized internationally an European specification EN 50325-4. It defines a set of communication services to access process data and configuration data in CAN networks.

EnergyBus – The CANopen-based communication standard for LEVs and E-Bikes

Why EnergyBus?

The LEV market is currently characterized by numerous proprietary solutions for the communication between components and with chargers. Vendors of e-bikes cannot use components from different manufacturers due to a missing compatibility. On the contrary many e-bike manufacturers and customers wish to have replaceable components with different feature sets and the possibility to charge the e-bike or pedelec at public charging stations without the need to bring an own charger.
The EnergyBus e.V. association with currently around 70 member companies has dedicated itself to these targets. The objective of the association is to develop and to promote the EnergyBus standard. First successful results have been reached. In the national cycle traffic plan the German government has committed to develop a non-proprietary LEV charging infrastructure by 2020 and the international standardization within ISO and IEC has been started and pilot projects with public EnergyBus charging stations are running.
The EnergyBus connectors
Besides the communication between the components special connectors for EnergyBus devices have been developed by EnergyBus e.V. as well.
Properties of the EnergyBus connector:

    Voltage up to 48V (power line)
    Current up to 50A
    2 pins for power (Powerline)
    2 pins for 12V auxiliary voltage (for passive devices and to wake up deeply-discharged batteries)
    2 pins for CAN communication
    magnetic reverse polarity protection
    unintended pulling out without damage is possible

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CiA 309 for the Internet of Things

CANopen Gateways in the Internet of Things

The CANopen/Ethernet Gateway specification 309 „Interfacing CANopen with TCP/IP“ becomes more and more important in the Internet of things. As its name suggests CiA-309 defines functionalities to access CANopen networks and devices from Ethernet networks. The first version which has been already defined in 2004 was only used in niche applications but starting from 2012 when the specification was updated, CiA-309-gateways have been in use in a broad range of applications and several products are now available as hardware or software. Especially with the internet of things more applications are opened up for the CANopen gateways CiA-309 now.
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