Press and Articles
 Press 2021CANopen – what exactly is it?Operators and lift builders can benefit if they are able to rely on standardised components. CANopen Lift makes this possible.
Press 20202020-10-06 and 2020-10-09 CiA Technology Days CANopen in lift applications (CiA 417) onlineCAN in Automation had invited to the CiA Technology Days with the topic "CANopen in Lift Applications (CiA 417)". The event took place online. The CiA Technology Days gave an insight into the status and future of CANopen in Lift Applications. The 4-hour events took place twice, at different starting times, on October 06 and 09, 2020. Thus, interested parties from all over the world could participate at a suitable local time. The second day was identical to the first day. Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2020-04On April 29, 2020 a meeting of the Special Interest Group Lift took place to discuss the extensions of the CANopen-Lift standard. Due to the Corona Pandemic the meeting was held as a video call. The focus was on the extension of the standard with a new virtual device for backup energy storage and some extensions, e.g. for load measuring sensors. Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2020-03As planned, an e-meeting of the Lift marketing group took place on 2 March 2020 to discuss the current marketing measures for the 'CANopen-Lift' standard. After a review of the Interlift 2019 the members talked about new possible exhibitions.
Press 2019New Chairman Marketing Group LiftOn 6.2.2019 Dr.-Ing. Stephan Rohr - Chief Sales Officer at ELGO Batscale AG was elected as the new chairman at the meeting of the Marketing Group Lift. In the future, he will drive the marketing activities of MG Lift and inform the industry about the advantages of open interfaces. CANopen Lift version 2.3 publishedThe nonprofit CAN in Automation (CiA) association developing and maintaining the CiA 417 series has released already the version 2.3. New functions include the position safety units and the monitoring units. Additional parameters for the call controller for destination call applications and the load-measuring unit have been introduced.
Press 2018Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2018-09 On September 04, 2018, the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At this meeting participants from 9 nations were present again. The focus was on extension of the standard with many new features, e.g. for condition monitoring, destination call systems, load measurement, energy recovery and secure positioning systems. CANopen-Lift PlugFest - 2018-09 On September 05, 2018, representatives of more than 20 companies from 10 countries met in Nuremberg to test the interoperability of their devices based on the CANopen-Lift standard. Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2018-04As planned, the marketing group Lift met on April 26, 2018 to discuss the current marketing measures for the 'CANopen-Lift' standard. Brainstorming for a new demonstrator was also on the agenda of the meeting. Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2018-03 On March 13, 2018, the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At this meeting participants from 10 nations were present again. The focus was on extension of the standard with many new features, e.g. for condition monitoring, destination call systems and secure positioning systems. CANopen-Lift PlugFest - 2018-03 At the PlugFest of the SIG Lift on March 14, 2018, representatives of 23 companies from more then 10 countries met in Nuremberg to test the interoperability of their devices based on the CANopen-Lift standard. Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2018-01After a long time a meeting of the marketing group Lift took place once again. On January 30, 2018, representatives of 13 companies met in Nuremberg to discuss how to bring the 'CANopen-Lift' standard back into the focus of decision-makers. Meeting of the TF IoT Lift 2018-01On January 29, 2018, the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met as part of TF IoT in Nuremberg. The meeting focused on the procedures and protocols for condition monitoring of lift components.
Press 2017Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2017-09On September 5, 2017, the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. This meeting was again attended by participants from Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the USA. The focus was on the extension of the standard with many new functions. CANopen-Lift PlugFest - 2017-09 For the second time this year, the fifteenth CANopen-Lift PlugFest took place on September 5 + 6, 2017. The PlugFest was once again hosted by the CiA in Nuremberg. Due to the many participants who registered for this event, the PlugFest had to take place in a hotel in Nuremberg again. Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2017-04On April 26, 2017 the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. Because of the many participants the meeting took place at City Hotel in Nuremberg. At this meeting participants from Denmark, Germany, Japan, France, Liechtenstein, P.R. China, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and USA were present. CANopen-Lift PlugFest - 2017-04On the 25th of April 2017, the 14th CANopen-Lift PlugFest took place. Host was once again the CiA in Nuremberg. But due to several interested participants, the PlugFest exceeded the capacities of the rooms provided by the CiA, so that it was necessary to rent rooms in the Ibis Nuremburg City hotel.
Press 2016Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2016-09On September 7, 2016 the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At this meeting participants from Denmark, Germany, Japan, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Switzerland and USA were present. Main topic was the extension of the standard with various new functions, the proposal for the new virtual device Position Supervisor Unit and for a acceleration sensor. CANopen-Lift PlugFest - 2016-09 On the 6th of September 2016, the 13th CANopen-Lift PlugFest took place. Host was once again the CiA in Nuremberg. But due to several interested participants, the PlugFest exceeded the capacities of the rooms provided by the CiA, so that it was necessary to rent rooms in the Ibis Nuremburg City hotel. Definition 'Position Supervisor Unit' 2016-08On the 4th of August, 2016, the companies Böhnke + Partners, Cedes, ELFIN, ELGO, Intec., Klinkhammer and Kollmorgen met to revise the definition of the new virtual device Position Supervisor Unit, which offers the possibility to safely evaluate the position and speed of lifts. Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2016-04On April 13th 2016 the member of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At this meeting participated members from Czech Republic, Germany, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2016-04 On the 12th of April 2016, the members of Special Interest Group Lift met the 12th time to test the interoperability of their products in the CANopen-Lift PlugFest. Among the participants one could find this year four lift-controller manufacturers, one inverter manufacturer, three providers of display systems, one lift-panel manufacturer, a provider of emergency call systems and a manufacturer of position encoders.
Press 2015Old and new products seen at the Interlift 2015 At the Interlift, CAN in Automation (CiA) exhibited its CANopen Lift demonstrator comprising some new products. Furthermore several companies pre-announced to support CiA 417. The Interlift 2015 in Augsburg, Germany has closed its doors. CiA was present as usual with its CANopen Lift demonstrator showing the interoperability of CiA 417 compliant devices. Of course, in a conservative industry the number of innovations is limited. The CAN Newsletter reported already in front of the biannually exhibition about some recently launched products. During the tradeshow additional exhibitors promised to support CANopen Lift in the near future.
CANopen-Lift on the Interlift 2015 This year again CANopen-Lift was represented with its own booth to inform visitors about the standard CANopen-Lift. Since the last interlift 2013 a lot has happened. The number of members has risen and plenty of new products have been equipped with a CANopen interface. Some of them were displayed on this Interlift at the CANopen booth or presented directly at the booth of the manufacturer. In the previous two years most of all CANopen-Lift could gain in importance internationally. Meanwhile it is represented in over 50 nations. CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2015-09 On the 8th of September 2015, the members of Special Interest Group Lift met the 11th time to test the interoperability of their products in the CANopen-Lift PlugFest. Among the participants one could find this year four lift-controller manufacturers, one inverter manufacturer, three providers of display systems, one lift-panel manufacturer, a provider of emergency call systems and a manufacturer of position encoders. New Virtual Device 'Position Supervisor Unit'Safety electronics plays mare and more a key role also in the lift industry. Especially, since the normative demand for a system to recognize uncontrolled car movements with open doors these systems have spread among lifts. CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2015-04 The members of the special interest group lift met for the 10th time to test their CANopen-Lift products’ interoperation on the 14th April, 2015. The great interest in this event and the short-term registration of some attendees led to quite cramped conditions in the present premises. New pluggable system for CANopen-Lift componentsIn the year 2014 several users and manufacturers of CANopen-Lift components approached the company W+W Aufzugkomponenten to implement a standardised wiring of the products. This shall avoid wiring errors and reduce the mounting time.
Press 2014Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2014-10The meeting of the CANopen Marketing Group Lift took place on October 16, 2014 at the ELFIN GmbH in Cologne. Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2014-09On September 24, 2014 the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At this meeting participants from Germany, France, Italy and Sweden were present. Main topic was the extension of the standard with various new functions. After the discussion of the application for the bootloader function, a discussion of new functions for the electronic lift guard, big TFT displays, the connection establishment of virtual consols and the tunneling of CAN data via TCP/IP networks followed. CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2014-09 On September 23, 2014 the members of the Special Interest Group Lift met for the 9th PlugFest to test the interoperability of their products. Among the participants from Germany, France, Italy and Sweden were five manufacturers of control systems, two manufacturers of frequency inverters, two providers of indicator systems and a manufacturer of doors. Host of the PlugFest was the CiA in Nuremberg. Meeting on the connection of a safety box 2014-05On May 22, 2014 the companies BÖHNKE + PARTNER, ELFIN, ELGO, Intec and KLST met to define the extension of the open standard CANopen-Lift for the connection of a safety box with the lift. The meeting took place at BÖHNKE + PARTNER in Bergisch Gladbach (Germany). Meeting of the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2014-04On April 9, 2014 the SIG Lift meeting took place in Nuremberg. For the first time participants from Italy were attending, the company GEFRAN, which is working on a CANopen-Lift port for converters now. After sighting the comments about the extention of the specification, the definition of the virtual devices for emergency calls and of security building parts for lifts were the main focus of the meeting. CANopen Lift Plugfest - 2014-04The manufacturer of lift components reviewed the interoperability of their CANopen-Lift products on April 8, 2014. Nine companies from Denmark, Germany, Italy and Sweden were attending the 8th PlugFest. Host was the CiA in Nuremberg.
Press 2013CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2013-12 The lift component manufacturers tested their CANopen-Lift products’ interoperation on the 3rd of December, 2013. Nine companies from Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain travelled to Nuremberg for the 7th PlugFest. Host was the CiA. Project Mora Hospital: Six lifts in traffic systems Modernization of two passenger lifts and four bed/transport lifts in the main building of Mora Hospital was necessary in order to enhance accessibility, reliability and energy efficiency. This modernization included conversion with new gearless machines, including controllers, control cabinets and sensors, new automatic lift doors and shaft doors, new finishes, control panels, etc. Using the virtual terminal for universal remote access This article explains the concept of the virtual terminal interface defined in the CiA 417 Lift application profile. It also describes the motivation and needs of this interface and tries to promote the power and the benefits given, together with a summary of the functionalities and the implementation.
Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2013-11comming soon ... Black smoke-resistant shaft information system Limax33 Safe consists of four components: a magnetic tape with absolute encoding, a presence detector for the magnetic tape, the Limax33 RED sensor for determining the absolute position of the elevator cabin, and the Safe Box, in which all switching and control functions are integrated. The encoded magnetic tape is simply installed freely hanging in the elevator shaft using a mounting kit. The integrated safety switch serves to detect the presence of the magnetic tape. The redundant, SIL-3-certified sensor determines the momentary absolute position of the elevator cabin through hall sensors, which scan the encoded magnetic tape contact- free. A wear-free plastic guiding guarantees that the correct distance between the sensor and the magnetic tape is maintained at all times. Access control system for elevators Schaefer offers, in cooperation with Böhnke + Partner, an access control system, which allows an inexpensive and reliable realization of demands in apartment/office buildings, banks, hotels, hospitals, etc. The employed RFID technology is distinguished by high-level data security and state-of-the-art security. The system consists of a reader unit, a lift controller with USB transponder reader, and of transponders. The communication as well as the control of the installation is realized via CANopen. Meeting CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2013-07On July 3 2013 the CANopen Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At the beginning the results from PlugFest of the day before were discussed. In the coming months procedures to standardise the tests are to be worked out. CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2013-07 The components manufacturer of the lifts the interoperability of their CANopen-Lift products on the 2nd of July of 2013. 10 participants from Denmark, Germany, France and Sweden took part on the sixth Plugfest, hosted by CiA in Nürnberg.
Model-driven development of CANopen components CANopen for Lifts, specified in CiA 417, has reached a maturity that allows fast development cycles, short integration times and easy maintenance. This article shows the usage of model based development methods and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing for lifts, following well-known schemes from automotive engineering and transforming them for lifts. This work is based upon the modeling of a lift system by Matlab/Simulink, which later will be used as a HIL test bench. The article discusses how conformity tests and integration tests can be conducted in the proposed environment. Furthermore a demonstrator lift is presented that takes advantage of the proposed ideas. Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2013-01comming soon ...
Press 2012Value adding by linking of CANopen CiA 417 components in the lift In the CANopen application profile for lifts (CiA 417), the most essential devices with CAN bus connection for entire lift group are described. This has the advantage that the communication among units is standardized. Devices behave in the same manner, independent of the manufacturer. This can be illustrated particularly in the example of the load measuring device and its connection to the lift controller bp308, of Böhnke + Partner GmbH. Meeting CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2012-09On September 26 2012, one day after the fifth PlugFest, the Special Interest Group Lift met in Nuremberg. At the outset a procedure for documentation was discussed. The english Wiki was determined to be the central place for the description of new functions, until these are taken over into the specifications. CANopen-Lift as team player Lifts consist of many components. Like in football, even having the best individual players is not a guarantee for success. Teamwork makes the difference. SafeLine makes teamwork visible. CANopen Lift Plugfest - 2012-09-25 The PlugFest was an open event of the CiA, where the French company Sprinte took part for the first time. The PlugFest gave the participants the opportunity to link their products and to prove the interoperability of defined functions of the new standard version 2.1, in small changing teams. Meeting CANopen MG Lift 2012-09 A meeting of the CANopen Marketing Group Lift took place at ELFIN GmbH offices on the 12th of September of 2012. The main topics at the meeting where the preparation of the upcoming Interlift 2013, the increase of CANopen-Lift demonstrators, press publications, the visualization of the functionalities on the internet and the development of the lift models at the Heilbronn University. Meeting of the Marketing Group Lift 2012-03The CANopen Marketing group Lift met on March the 6th 2012 at the Heilbronn University. After the voting for the substitute chairman of the Marketing Group Lift the main points of the meeting were the handling of the CANopen Lift Demonstrator and we discussed the events to show it. Another point was the discussion of an online demonstration of CANopen components on a website. ELFIN will check the technical solution and Masora would provide the location for the devices. Meeting CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2012-04 On the 25th of April of 2012 took place in Nurnberg a meeting of the SIG Lift. The French company Sprinte, which produces and develops CANopen products since many years ago, participated for the first time. After a presentation from Jörg Hellmich about the current marketing activities, some new functions that should take the current stand of the normative a step further, in the future.
Press 2011Meeting CANopen Special Interest Group Lift 2011-05On May 11th 2011 a meeting of the SIG Lift took place at CiA office Nuremberg. After a review of the last meeting and the comments to the new version 2.1 of the specification, there was a discussion on the submitted enhancments regarding a tunneling of messages for monitoring tools, virtual inputs for the detection of persons in the lift car and in front of the doors, new parameters for the drive unit, COB-IDs for tunneling the control messages in a group of lifts.
Press 2010CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2010-12 In this CANopen Lift plug fest, CiA members performed several communication stress tests with their devices. The purpose of these devices are still capable to provide CANopen communication services without errors even at extreme bus conditions (up to full busload, up to maximal bus lenght). CiA 417 (CANopen Lift) version 2.0 The CANopen SIG “Lift” released the version 2.0 of the CANopen application profile for lift control systems (CiA 417). The completely re-structured specification is partly incompatible to version 1.0. In particular, the specification for some of the virtual devices such as car drive has been revised significantly. Also some PDO specifications have been updated. The standardized network for lift control systems In general, lifts are becoming more complex. An increasing number of electronic devices are installed in lift control systems so as to be able to satisfy both rising demands in regard to functionality and the requirements set forth in current standards and safety specifications. Embedded microprocessors respond to input signals or sensor data and thus generate output signals or messages, which are determined on the basis of algorithms written in the internal firmware. To make it possible for the electronic devices to work together and exchange internal information or commands they will have to be connected with each other by means of serial networks. Energy Management in Connected Lifts Global energy consumption has to be significantly reduced. The ecological footprint of Europeans is too big. We live beyond our means and at the cost of others and future generations. A large share of the ecological footprint consists of burning fossil fuels and the emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide for energy consumption. To achieve the goals of reduction in carbon dioxide emission defined in the Kyoto protocol international legal guidelines to reduce energy consumption were adopted. Some of them already affect the lift industry. CANopen-Safety-Chip CSC02 certified by TÜVThe CANopen safety chip CSC, which was developed and overhauled by a consortium, is now available in a new version CSC02. The TÜV Rhineland Group technical standards authority has released the CANopen safety chip CSC02 for safety-oriented applications up to SIL 3 (safety integrity level) in accordance with IEC 61508 (test report 968/EL 215.02/09). Displays can do much more than showing numbersDisplays can do much more than showing numbers. They support other components of the CANopen bus with memory; they even perform as interface to passengers and service engineers. You probably know all about CANopen and its individual items. You know the benefits and its limits. And now you will learn about one device which appears rather minor in the beginning and will proof to be essential and beneficial for all other components in the end: The display. Any news so far? Standardized networking for elevator components based on CiA-417 Lift Control Technical systems are, in general, becoming ever more complex. Electronic systems – usually equipped with tiny embedded microprocessors – are implementing new functions, increasing convenience or improving system safety and reliability. Responding to signals made provided by sensors or arriving at inputs, these processors employ the algorithms written in the internal firmware to determine what the assembly actually does. The more information available about the system, the broader the basis upon which decisions can be made.
Press 2009CANopen Lift demonstrator in action The CANopen Lift demonstrator was jointly built by CiA members. The lift control prototype with real-life devices demonstrates the interoperability of CiA-417 compliant devices. Last year, the demonstrator was shown on the CiA booth at the Interlift exhibition in Augsburg (Germany). In addition, the demonstrator was exhibited at several German conferences as well as some company-specific events in the Netherlands and Sweden. The modular system has been designed and manufactured by the Swiss company Masora. CANopen Lift products at Interlift 2009The CiA-417 specification defines the messages (CAN-ID and content) and all the process data in detail. The configuration parameter for drives, car doors, and I/O panels are defined in detail in CiA-417, too. The CANopen Lift specification has been reviewed entirely and was released as version 2.0 in February 2010. But some prototypes already have been shown at the Interlift 2009. The operability of CANopen Lift products is tested by means of plug-fests organized by CiA. CANopen Lift PlugFest - 2009-03 March saw the first PlugFest in Nuremberg and Heilbronn, as members of the CANopen-Lift group proved the interoperability of their devices. Two controller manufacturers (Böhnke + Partner and Weber Lifttechnik) and several suppliers of lift components (Elgo, Masora, Posital, Schaefer and Ziehl-Abegg) exchanged data via the CANopen network. As expected, some minor differences in the interpretation of the CANopen-Lift specification (CiA-417) were detected.
Press 2007Report - Interlift Augsburg, DEIn October, the world's largest fair about elevators took place. CiA presented "CANopen Lift" on its booth. Within the four days of the fair many questions of visitors were answered and information brochures were distributed. Our member companies had the chance to meet and discuss with the CiA secretary, who is responsible for the success of the CANopen Lift specification. CANopen encoders for elevator engineeringPrecise positioning of the lift cabin is a vital precondition for optimized travel of the elevator. The formerly applied magnet switches with their rather big efforts in installation nowadays are more and more replaced by encoder systems. Encoders for monitoring position and speed allow any required curve of way and time. Whereas incremental encoders are perfect for measuring speed, absolute encoders are designed to fit positioning applications. CANopen lifts peopleDoors are closing. The synthetic voice in the lift becomes silent. The electronic devices controlling the lift start to communicate inaudibly for human beings before the lift moves the passenger to the requested floors. In the past, the embedded lift control system used proprietary networks and device interfaces. This lead either to high efforts in system integration or the lift manufacturer had to buy all electronic devices from one single manufacturer. CANopen specification for lift control systemsCAN in lift control application has been used for many years by major lift manufacturing companies. In 2002 several medium-size companies decided to move to a standard higher layer protocol based on CAN. They decided to use CANopen as a basis for this standard. The goal was to have some kind of plug and play lift control system for any standard lift application. The result of the standardization work is the CANopen application profile for lift control systems CiA-417. By use of this standard it is possible to build in maximum a lift application with 254 floors and eight parallel lifts. Drive for CANopen lift Control Techniques has introduced the Unidrive SP that can be stopped in a controlled, damage-freeway - and given them the means, for example, to bring lifts safely to the nearest floor for the evacuation of their occupants. This is due to the drive’s power supply input. This feature is relevant for any equipment that needs UPS back-up - e.g. fairground rides and machine tools, so that it can be shutdown safely. Experiences with CANopen Lift networks Lift control applications increasingly use decentralized and distributed control systems. These control systems require communication networks that link the sub-controllers, the “intelligent” sensors and the actuators. The level of compatibility is an important issue, if you want to buy and use off-the-shelf products. Hamburg church with a view - CANopen lifts visitors At the southern end of Hamburg stand the remains of the St. Nikolai church. The gothic style church was built in the 19th century and was an architectural masterpiece of its time. It is one of the few remaining landmarks from prewar Hamburg and after heavy raids by Allied forces in 1943 it was virtually the only structure left standing in the city center. The church was left blackened with soot and partially destroyed; the ruins were left standing in order to serve as a memorial to the victims of persecution in the Third Reich. The third highest church tower in Germany spirals up to an impressive 147 m height. Lift operating panels with CANopen interface Lift operating panels include control devices and display modules. The customer has to connect them with large effort via numerous parallel wires. A fast and easy installation of the operating panels is often impossible. Solutions and concepts for a direct bus connection of lift operating panels have been discussed for a long time. Partial solutions have been achieved by the definition of a standard connector assignment for the connection of car operating panels. Safe and simple - CANopen encoders for lift technologySwitches and cam rails are fragile components. Mechanically fastening and adjusting them is time-consuming, moreover, adapting them to specific applications often requires many parallel switches and therefore many control inputs. However, there is a simpler and less troublesome solution: In lift technology, for instance, a position measuring system based on absolute rotary encoders can be used. Vertical transport saves energyTransportation feeds on energy. As an increasing number of people live in cities, more energy is needed for transporting them around. In the last century, the urban population has grown from 15% to 50% of the entire world population. This figure is expected to increase to 70% by the end of this century. According to research published by the United Nations, skyscrapers can lower transportation costs since less energy is used to transport people. Lift by Wire - LiftReport 2/2002The Interlift fair in Augsburg showed us once again that the trend in the lift industry is moving towards networking components by using standard Bus systems. So, most of today’s firms offer their component parts with a CAN or LON connection. Parallel to hardware interface compatibility there were first talks at the fair about standardising protocols on the CAN Bus basis to enable the interconnection of components from various manufacturers to make up a complete lift system. |
