Nidec Servo brushless DC motors with CAN bus

Nidec Servo has launched its first brushless DC motors equipped with CAN bus, a communication function for vending machines’ product pay-out mechanisms.

CAN (Controller Area Network) bus — an internal communications network that interconnects devices inside a vehicle or a train — enables microcontrollers and devices to communicate with one other without a host computer. Though originally designed for multiplexed in-vehicle electrical wiring that is required to be noise-resistant, it is now used widely for devices to communicate control information in such areas as robotics, which includes transportation equipment and machine tools.

Nidec Servo’s brushless DC motors feature the CAN bus communication function for product pay-out mechanisms, and the motors can be connected with one another without a host computer. Amid growing refrigerant restrictions, vending machines are required to be explosion-proof, while demands are growing for brushless DC motors as they do not generate sparks. It is under those circumstances that the company has added CAN bus to its motors to enable automatic remote failure diagnosis of them and reduction of wiring.