The compact and powerful electronic control unit ESX.4cl is the flagship of the freely programmable control units in the STW control systems portfolio. It offers extensive functionality in a very compact and robust die-cast aluminum housing. This makes the ESX.4cl suitable for the most demanding tasks and applications, even in mobile machines with little installation space.
More cores, compact and communicative
The ESX.4cl has a processor with three cores (Infineon AurixTM). With six CAN bus interfaces and two managed Ethernet switches, with three 100Mbit/s Ethernet (100Base-Tx), one 1Gbit/s Ethernet (1000Base-T) and two Single Pair Ethernet (100Base-T1) ports, the ESX.4cl has excellent possibilities for networking with other system components. The inbuilt Ethernet switches enable the exchange of large amounts of data without affecting the control unit’s processor performance.
60 freely configurable analog and digital multifunction inputs ensure efficient reading and processing of a wide variety of signal types (including SENT functionality). The user can choose between programmable and fixed supply voltages between 5 and 12 V for connected sensors. A total of 53 outputs, low-side and high-side, provide up to 4A per channel, depending on the configuration. Connected components and actuators can be powered with a high degree of flexibility, and also supervised. A second shutdown path safely and reliably disconnects the outputs of the ESX.4cl when necessary. For safety-oriented applications, this emergency shutdown path is mandatory.
As with all ESX controllers, a system LED and a programmable LED indicate the status of the controller.
i.MX6 Coprocessor
To fulfil especially demanding communication requirements in mobile machines, the powerful i.MX6 Ultralite coprocessor is available as an option. With a range of versatile interfaces and protocols, the integrated iMX module manages communication within the machine, between machines (M2M) and can connect to the IoT world, including directly to smart devices, and to cloud services.
The way to the application
STW’s open and freely available open source development environment openSYDE enables application programming and testing in both in "C" and in Structured Text (ST) in accordance with IEC61131 using logi.CAD3 and Matlab. Certification according to SIL 2 / PL d / ASIL B* for functionally safe applications is planned.
Systems in the field can be configured, managed and updated using openSYDE. With numerous pre-installed widgets in openSYDE, CAN and Ethernet data can be displayed graphically and are readily available for use on HMIs or in cloud solutions. Numerous convenient functions such as current controller and ramp functions for outputs or frequency averaging for inputs are already integrated. Additional libraries include CANopen, J1939 or ISObus*, further simplifying system integration. An 8 MB flash memory, 2 MB RAM and a 32 kB EEPROM are available for customer applications. Extensive tables or cyclically recorded data can be stored to either an external 128 Mbit flash memory or a 512 kbit FRAM.
Robust, for the harshest environments
Like all control units in the control products family, the ESX.4cl has been developed for the harsh requirements of agriculture and forestry machines, construction sites and in municipal vehicles. The die-cast aluminum housing is equipped with a pressure compensation element and provides protection class IP6k5k / IP67k – or without M12 connectors, IP6k9k.
*scheduled features
