Cimolai Technology, FPT Industrial and Brigade Electronics

Cimolai, FPT and Brigade: What connects these three ‘guys’? A mobile straddle transporter. Concerning this kind of machinery Cimolai uses FPT Industrial N45 and N67 (And what about N67 CNG? Find out more). In this case is the 6.7 liter diesel engine to supply 151kW. And what about Brigade? BrigadeElectronics provided to Cimolai the CAN ID Brigade radar.

Cimolai, FPT and Brigade
Cimolai at work with Brigade BS-9000 systems

The Brigade version

The vehicle, which works in a park in a steel facility, has not only one direction, it can run in both directions, so four BS-9000 Backsense radar were needed, each on the outside of the wheels, at a height of about 1.40 m. Being a rather large machine (13 meters high and 20 meters wide), the operator, sitting in the control cabin about 7 meters from the ground, has no possibility to control the whole perimeter around and his attention is captured by the magnetic spreader of the steel blocks he moves, to be stored or loaded on wagons or trucks for the management of the external warehouse. It must therefore be sure that there are no obstacles along the tracks and, for this purpose, Cimolai Technology has installed Backsense, robust, reliable and precise.

MANITOU AND BRIGADE

A need born on site: since the transporter works on three shifts, with different operators, it was necessary to increase the degree of safety and avoid problems of distraction. Cimolai Technology, in collaboration with Brigade, has developed an active aid system to guide the mobile straddle transporter. The Backsense sensors are connected to each other with a CAN BUS network and, through a converter, connected to the PLC, the programmable controller installed on board the machine; this configuration makes the truck read the data provided by each of the four Backsense, first warning the operator with both a visual and a sound signal and, subsequently, as the obstacle approaches and in the absence of corrective actions by the operator himself, slowing down or stopping the machine, to prevent collisions.

Cimolai FPT and Brigade
Considering that the sensor signal is of wide range, Cimolai Technology has created an interface software that filters and adjusts the dimensions of the control areas, in height, width and depth, to take into consideration only the obstacles within the line of travel and not in the immediate vicinity, thus avoiding false alarms.
This is a very useful system, which concretely helps the driving, both because from the sensors graphic signals arrive that allow the operator to better understand the actual proximity of the obstacle, and because, if necessary, initially slows down and then stops the movement, leaving only the opposite direction of the obstacle enabled.

YOU SAY SENSORS AND YOU THINK… IFM ELECTRONICS

Highlights

FPT Industrial: let’s go, XC13

The XC13 surely sounds agnostic in FPT Industrial’s unofficial nomenclature; it comes, indeed, with a tripartite certification: Euro 6E (winking an eye at the upcoming Euro 7), methane gas and also biofuel, with a link to hydrogen. Andrea Abbà, FPT’s product marketing manager, told us about dialogui...

Related articles

Deutz launches “Greenfield Award” 

Deutz launches the “Deutz Greenfield Award”: students and young researchers may submit their ideas for the future of sustainable mobility in the off-highway sector until May 17, 2024.