Project Overview

CT-UK powers next-generation transportation

Optare is a global leader in the design, development and production of advanced passenger vehicles. They have over a century of expertise in using the latest technologies in bus design and manufacturing to deliver the vehicles of today and tomorrow.

Their new range of fully electric buses, the MetroDecker and MetroCity, are a significant advance in technology and capability and they turned to Control Technologies UK (CT) to provide the central vehicle control unit (EVCU) for these buses. CT has many years’ experience in the design and development of vehicle control units for electric vehicles. In fact, our MD was heavily involved in the development of the central gateway on Optare’s first-generation electric vehicles.

Our Solution

The first part of the development was to understand all the data and signals from multiple sources across the vehicle, over multiple CAN channels. As the central ‘gateway’ device, our EVCU has to monitor and manage a large number of sub-systems, including powertrain, batteries, operator interfaces and many more. Control Technologies has extensive knowledge of CAN bus integration and interaction, with the majority of our projects requiring some kind of CAN integration.

Our Applications Engineers took all this information and developed the software for the BODAS controller, using the BODAS IDE. This code was then tested thoroughly via our bench test system and bespoke CAN simulation. Once that was complete, we worked closely with Optare engineer’s onsite and on the vehicles to fine-tune the functionality and data handling. This commissioning process was made easier by the use of the BODAS tools and the structured approach to code development that we apply throughout – all based on our Intelligent Engineering Framework.

Systems Used

For this project, we selected the Bosch Rexroth BODAS RC28-14/30 controller. Control Technologies is a Systems Partner for Rexroth, having deployed their products across a number of different projects. The RC28-14 has a wealth of I/O, CAN channels and processing capability, making it ideal for the central gateway device. One of the big strengths of the BODAS environment is the Service tool – giving service teams access to parameters within the control system as well as de-bug information and guided commissioning, all accessible over CAN.

You can contact us to order your own Bosch Rexroth controller for UK and worldwide delivery.

 

 

Conclusion

Control Technologies UK Ltd are experts in the design, development and implementation of Intelligent Machine Systems for on and off-highway machinery. Our team of specialist engineers take client concepts and turn them into reality, using the latest technology and recognised techniques and standards. To find out more about how we can help your system development, please get in contact today.

Contact us today to discuss your project requirements.