Designed to solve challenges
Danfoss Power Solutions has released the MC018 high-current controller as part of the PLUS+1® microcontrollers family. Designed to solve many challenges customers face with controlling high-current devices — such as excessive noise, moderate pin/controller power and lack of intelligent capabilities — MC018 has set a new market standard.
“The MC018 high-current controller is providing a more powerful, intelligent and focused solution for controlling high-current applications,” said Evangel Zhang, EC Global Product Marketing Manager with Danfoss Power Solutions. “It will greatly help customers looking to implement electrification by bringing high-current control to a new level.”
In comparison to other controllers currently available on the market, MC018 offers more power and intelligent features. This at a competitive price. Its innovative features enable customers to lower overall system and maintenance costs while boosting the efficiency of their machines.
Reduce costs while improving performance
The MC018 controller has a maximum total current of 160A and a maximum steady state current of 120A. This is a significant increase over the maximum current presently available on the market of 75 to 80A. The higher maximum current allows more devices to be simultaneously powered by one controller. This is reducing the number of controllers needed and thereby reducing the total cost of the system.
At maximum load, MC018 can run up to 4kHz and up to 20kHz at a reduced load. The higher frequency makes it possible to control in-cab applications. This with smoother and higher precision of control, all with a reduced noise level.
Control is also improved with the programmability of MC018. As part of the PLUS+1® line of microcontrollers, MC018 is already compliant with the PLUS+1® platform. The pre-engineered function blocks in PLUS+1® give OEMs the opportunity to program functions. These would otherwise require extra time or components, or may not have been feasible at all. One of these features includes the “soft fuse”. This is a programmable fuse that can be set to switch when the current is above a certain value. It provides enhanced safety performance.
Another safety feature is the separate power supply for the logic circuit. The separate power input keeps the controller running even when outputs have short-circuited, meaning it can continue to provide insights to the master controller. This reduces time in diagnostics and repair and could reduce warranty costs. Because of this, MC018 meets fault detection requirements.
Implementing MC018 in your machine
The MC018 high-current controller provides power and control to a number of machine applications, such as the linear actuators, windshield wipers, fan drive, lamps and lights, engine starter, levelling control, sprinkler system, active suspension, and more.
For more information about the MC018 controller and how to integrate it into an intelligent machine design, contact a local Danfoss distributor.