Protocollo Can bus
CAN Bus Protocol and Intelligent Operation: Why Choose the EXFIRE360 Control Panel
The modular EXFIRE360 control panel by SV offers two innovative functional aspects:
Use of the CAN bus serial communication protocol for real-time control applications in fire control panels and, in particular, for managing remote sensors and actuators through the development of boards and racks installed directly in the field, close to the related instrumentation.
The use of the CAN bus protocol in the EXFIRE360 control panel brings with it all the benefits of this protocol, derived from long-standing experience in the automotive industry: data rates up to 1 Mbit/s, excellent error detection and containment capabilities, reduced device design times, lower connection costs, and increased reliability thanks to the reduced number of connections. The CAN bus protocol has enabled the development of the following innovative functions:
- Remote management of I/O
- Redundancy of boards and communication
- Cross-monitoring of the status of the boards forming the control panel (including the CPUs), through which each board is able to monitor the correct operation of the two adjacent ones
Availability of advanced operator interfaces – both local on the control panel and remote – far more sophisticated than those of conventional fire control panels (usually based on LED technology).
The EXFIRE360 offers a dedicated display for each board, showing the status of each channel (and its corresponding electrical parameters), internal temperature and humidity, installed firmware versions, and more.
This significantly facilitates maintenance and troubleshooting activities for operators, while also making intervention procedures faster in the event of an alarm.Intelligent Operation of I/O Boards
Each board of the EXFIRE360 control panel features intelligent operation through the introduction of two key technologies: automatic addressing (no manual address setting required) and backup drivers for each channel.
The latter function allows each input or output on every board to be automatically replaced by another available channel in case of failure.
This control is performed directly by the board through the spare drivers, which take over the management of faulty inputs/outputs when necessary.Benefits of the CAN Bus Technology
The advantages of this CAN bus protocol technology are linked to the increase of the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) (in reference to the IEC 61508 standard, for which a specific certification process for the control panel is underway) and the reduction of the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), since the system becomes fault-tolerant and component replacement can be performed directly by the customer.
This makes the EXFIRE360 control panel suitable for critical applications where constant operation of the automatic fire protection system is required — such as turbines, oil & gas plants, and storage warehouses.