fieldbus\canbus/otherbus

[Lloyd]

These are an interesting off the shelf solution..that can apply to many of our co-gen apps...especially if it's on-board a vessel or vehicle.

http://www.wago.com/wagoweb/documentation/index_e.htm

http://www.cat.com/cda/files/127438/7/ce_drctryfinal.pdf

A ships master system nav/power control/all sys monitor
http://www.freetechnics.eu/wp-content/downloads/FTNavVision_Manual.pdf

lloyd

Well after a little research on controllers it seems that there are a plethora of options off the shelf to do most anything we need. No matter we want a stand alone..or pc interface. It's all modular, and many of the independent systems are intercontinental by international SAE standards.

wow...this is going to be fun. WAGO seems to be an interesting option http://www.wago.com/wagoweb/documentation/750/eng_dat/d010000e.pdf

lloyd

[rl71459]

I have worked a little with the CAN bus systems... They are very flexible in that they are adaptable to many applications and have a very simple wiring scheme that is easily expandable via daisy chain type
cabling. I have been told that it has excellent long distance capability/noise immunity but I have never used it for such an application. I am told that it had been used in the automotive field because of its good
noise immunity. I do know you need and adaptor to make it comuicate with a PC... Because I had to buy
one for a project... I bought a cheap one and it was over $300.00 US about 5 years ago and the others
were significantly more at the time.

I know that there are alot newer methods available now... but CAN is still applied frequently due to its
available hardware and software.

Rob

[Lloyd]

Thanks, Rob,

It's good to have someone with a little experience...I really think there might be some short-cuts for us all. here's a link to the cat power forumhttps://caterpillar.lithium.com/t5/Power-Generation-Site-Design/bd-p/EP_Industry;jsessionid=A4313EEC469BDF12D987A995B815DE28 some might find helpful...they ten to work on a much larger scale but still need address many of our same issues.

Lloyd

http://www.monicoinc.com/

[Lloyd]

http://www.catcontrols.com/

[Westcliffe01]

Lloyd:

The only problem with the "off the shelf" turnkey solutions is that "if you need to ask the price" you can't afford it.  Bosch does a turnkey controller for up to a V8 common rail diesel engine, but it is $16k - much more than any of us would spend on an entire co-gen project.  The CAT systems are several thousand $ and very specific, application wise.   They will work with you on an individual basis, if you can pick up the tab for the engineering work.

Another, independent company who has started offering custom solutions is Drivven, From Austin Texas.  Drivven is a spin off from research done at Southwest Research Institute.  Some of the people who worked there for years decided there was a gap in the market and started their own business.   Their control systems are based on a combination of custom and standard components from National Instruments, along with some proprietary software that they wrote and bundle along with the system.  It is the cheapest system I am aware of which could be configured to run about any modern common rail engine.   
http://www.drivven.com/StandAloneDriverSystems.htm

The attachment is the description of the injector driver module.  What you will see is the complexity associated with the operation of modern injectors.  Piezoelectric injectors from Siemens have a very demanding electrical profile, but then they have the fastest response time.

I think most of us couldn't afford more than $1k for for a controller, which is close to what mass production units cost from the regular sources (not the cost to the OE).  If we could put together something based on the Freescale (Motorola) chips, it would be entirely possible at that price point.   BGSoflex, the guys behind the "Microsquirt" range of after-market programmable engine controllers could help out with PCB design and layout and they have programming resources too.

http://www.ms3efi.com/




The combination of modern engines (90's to 2000's Tdi engines) as well as Euro engines from Peugeot, Renault, Toyota, Nissan etc and an affordable controller would totally outclass what we can get from the Off Road vendors today (Kubota, CAT, etc).  Best part is that service and overhaul would be much cheaper too and about everything is turbocharged for best efficiency with injection systems running 1600+ bar.