Today’s vehicles use extensive wiring and a central fuse box to power electrical components. This project introduces a compact CAN BUS module with smart fuses to cut wiring, boost efficiency, and improve vehicle design.
Modern vehicles include tens or even hundreds of electrical energy consumers. All these consumers are assembled in the architecture of a star to the main fuse box of the vehicle. Each such consumer (bulb, electric motor, fan, etc.) has dedicated electric cables for it that go from the fuse box to that consumer. This is why a car’s electrical wiring includes dozens of wires with a total length of hundreds of meters.
The goal of the project is to build a small and cheap module that will be controlled by the computer via a network (CAN BUS). Such a module will only receive supply voltage and a network cable. It will control all the electrical units in his immediate physical environment. The module will also contain digital fuses which will not allow an uncontrolled (short) current, thus avoiding the need for long electrical cables to all the different areas of the vehicle.
The project includes planning and realization of a printed circuit board (PCB), a master that will receive commands from the user, decide which consumer needs power and pass the information to the slave that will connect the power to the consumer.
