Real-Time CAN Control Systems in Weaving Machines

Abstract

During recent years control systems of weaving machines have developed rapidly. A weaving machine is constructed of some advanced components, each having a micro controller of its own. The interface between these components and the main control system is complicated since they must interact in a fraction of a millisecond. A true real-time controller area network is then a feasible basis for the control system of a weaving machine. When the fast serial CAN protocol, developed by Bosch and Intel for the automotive industry, was presented in 1988, it immediately gained a high degree of interest for the leading textile machine producers. In 1990 the Dornier company launched the first CAN controlled weaving machine on the market and has to date installed some 20000 CAN nodes working successfully all over the world. This field experience together with excellent test site results from other textile machinery producers have convinced the main European producers to chose a real-time controller area network architecture based upon CAN for their next generation control systems.