Sensor technology Interdisciplinary product development meets customer demand

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A key to the success of the sensor manufacturer FSG Fernsteuergeräte is the close collaboration of its departments and its responsiveness to individual customer requests.

The current FSG product portfolio is broad, ranging from inclination sensors and rope encoders to industrial joysticks and foot pedals to wind sensors. The applications are equally diverse, such as in construction machinery and special vehicles, in the field of rail vehicles, shipbuilding, agricultural technology, general mechanical engineering, automation and logistics, as well as in other high-tech industries such as renewable energies or medical technology.

The majority of FSG developments—almost 80 percent—consist of devices and systems modified according to the specific wishes and requirements of customers. Customer-specific solutions at FSG are not the exception; they are the norm. In this way, FSG has established itself as a reliable partner to the industry over the decades. Through dialogue with customers, FSG has occasionally succeeded in setting standards with unconventional approaches. In many industries, FSG components stand for quality, innovation, and reliability.

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One of the mentioned standards that FSG has set in the field of industrial sensor technology is the rope sensors, especially the robust SL3000 Premium series. The current product portfolio includes three sizes with housing diameters ranging from 3.15 inches to 7.48 inches, and the individual models are available for measuring lengths from 3.28 feet to 197 feet. With two additional series, FSG has continuously expanded its rope sensor program: the SL00 Basic series is characterized by its particularly flat design and lightweight, while the SL0 Compact series is a cost-effective alternative to the SL3000 Premium.

Housing completely redeveloped

For an OEM customer, FSG has designed another new series, combining the strengths of the existing SL00 and SL3000 series. What was needed was a robust, inexpensive, and flexibly usable rope sensor—and the SL00-R series was created. Its completely newly developed housing is made of V2A stainless steel (design 3.15 inches x 3.15 inches) and offers mounting options on all sides. An encoder can be mounted on both sides of the housing, and the cable outlet is aligned to the left or right depending on the application. If necessary, the cable can be routed in any desired direction using an attached deflection pulley (optional accessory). FSG has managed to combine existing technologies in a pragmatic yet innovative way. For example, the adjustments required in the machine park for the production of the SL00-R-GS80 were minimal.

A rope sensor that retracts the extended cable with an electric motor is still at the prototype stage. The sensor is intended for applications where there are high travel speeds and extremely many cycles, where the drive spring would otherwise need to be replaced regularly. Additionally, the new sensor gives the user more control over cable retraction, as its retraction can be dynamically programmed.

Miniature rotary encoder for confined spaces

In many industries, FSG rotary encoders have established themselves as reliable and durable sensors, even for safety-relevant applications. The miniature rotary encoders of the MH609 series are mainly used where very little space is available, such as for position detection in control or operating devices. The Hall sensor is designed redundantly for high fail-safety, allowing the rotary encoder to capture angle ranges from 0° to 360°. Signal output is optionally via a 4 to 20 mA or a CAN bus interface.

New is the MH609-P variant: users can freely program the rotation angle themselves using FSG's own software solution. This means the same rotary encoder model can be used for various applications with different rotation angles, reducing effort and costs for inventory management. Here too, a customer request from shipbuilding initiated the development of this model, which was needed for a specific navigation system.

With the interdisciplinary cooperation between the test field software development and electronics development departments, FSG has succeeded in implementing the customer's request for the ability to individually program the miniature rotary encoder. Thanks to FSG's proprietary software, users can program and configure the device themselves even after installation, offering great flexibility and efficiency.

Steering joystick for tractors

The company AGCO Fendt is a market leader in the tractor segment. In search of an innovative control device for steering the vehicles, Fendt turned to FSG. There was already a steering joystick in the FSG program that had proven itself in the construction machinery sector. Together with Fendt, it was further developed for use in tractors to reach series production readiness.

In the current generation of Fendt tractors—such as the Fendt 700 Vario Gen7—the joystick complements the classic steering wheel. It is approved for driving outside public roads at speeds up to 15.5 mph. The steering joystick literally improves ergonomics noticeably: minimal effort is required to steer the heavy vehicles, and even large steering maneuvers require only the smallest movements—reducing the workload. To develop the device for series production, the FSG electronics and mechanics departments worked together intensively. The internal coordination was crucial to meeting the customer's key requirement: to provide tractor drivers with the most ergonomic and intuitive control of the vehicles possible.

High manufacturing depth brings flexibility and reliability

For many other FSG products, the high production depth and interdisciplinary collaboration of the company divisions have proven to be outstanding advantages. On the one hand, FSG is able to respond to individual customer requirements in a comparatively short time. Whether it's the modification of a specific series or the desire for a small quantity of a certain device, up to individual pieces or prototypes. On the other hand, this makes the company largely independent of supply chains, which have recently been or still are under great strain worldwide. This is also a significant unique selling point of the sensor experts.

Since FSG manufactures its housings, grip shells, and control elements of all kinds from plastic and various metals, as well as electronic components, customers benefit from high delivery reliability in procurement and can plan accordingly with confidence. At the end of the development process, from the idea to series production, FSG delivers a product that builds on decades of expertise while simultaneously pointing out new paths.

The new industrial joystick ST-MHT-GS85 has already been developed to production maturity: it is designed for an extremely long lifespan of 15 million cycles—three times what conventional devices achieve. Nevertheless, the housing is lightweight, compact, and affordable. It is individually configurable and compatible with all FSG grip models, which can also be equipped according to the application.