We're proud to be at the forefront of innovation in agricultural technology. One of our most exciting projects is the production of aluminium-based PCBs (printed circuit boards) for a customer who assembles these into advanced greenhouse lighting systems and installs them on-site. These PCBs are not just functional—they're a game-changer for modern agriculture, enabling the development of custom lighting solutions that optimize plant growth and sustainability.

The Aluminium Advantage

What makes these PCBs special? The aluminium base isn't just a structural component—it acts as an effective heatsink. This ensures the high-intensity LEDs can operate at peak performance while staying cool, a critical factor in maintaining durability and efficiency.

Did You Know?

Aluminium is widely used in electronics for its exceptional thermal conductivity, lightweight properties, and recyclability. In your lighting systems, it plays a dual role—keeping the LEDs cool and contributing to energy efficiency. This is essential for greenhouses, where minimizing operational costs is key to profitability.

Precision in Every Detail

Producing these PCBs is no simple task. The aluminium's thermal properties significantly influence the soldering process, requiring a highly skilled team to fine-tune the temperature curve for optimal results. To assemble the components, we use advanced pick-and-place machines, ensuring precision placement of the SMD (surface-mounted device) components that bring these circuits to life.

Did You Know?

Pick-and-place machines are marvels of engineering, capable of placing thousands of components per hour with microscopic precision. This accuracy ensures that each LED and circuit functions perfectly, especially in demanding applications like greenhouse lighting where reliability is critical.

Lighting Tailored to Nature

The real highlight of these PCBs is the custom lighting solution they provide. Each board is fitted with an intricate arrangement of high-intensity colored LEDs, meticulously designed to create the perfect spectrum of light for plant growth. By tailoring light wavelengths to the needs of specific crops, these systems maximize photosynthesis, boost growth rates, and help greenhouses achieve year-round productivity.

Did You Know?

Different colors of light serve different purposes for plants:

Blue light stimulates vegetative growth, making it ideal for leafy crops like lettuce and spinach.

Red light promotes flowering and fruiting, essential for crops like tomatoes and strawberries.

By customizing LED spectrums, we're essentially giving plants the precise "recipe" they need to thrive.

Custom Design, Maximum Impact

Our work doesn't stop at manufacturing; we collaborate with clients to design custom extruded aluminium housings that not only enhance thermal management but also provide a sleek, robust framework for the lighting systems. The result? Highly efficient, durable, and optimized lighting solutions that meet the unique needs of modern agriculture.

Did You Know?

Greenhouse lighting isn't just about providing light—it's a tool for transforming agriculture. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems, which rely on precise light control, can yield up to 10 times more produce per square meter than traditional farming methods. And with LED technology reducing energy use by up to 40%, these systems are helping to create a more sustainable future for farming.

At CPE, we're proud to combine advanced materials, skilled craftsmanship, and cutting-edge technology to create solutions that truly make a difference. Our aluminium PCBs aren't just growing plants—they're helping to grow a greener, more sustainable future for agriculture.

We're thrilled to collaborate with innovative pioneers who are making a difference in the world. One of our most exciting projects has been working with a small startup that's revolutionizing environmental monitoring for factories. With their fresh approach to cloud-based monitoring, they're not only helping factories achieve compliance with environmental standards but also empowering them to optimize production processes in real-time.

Through our close partnership, we've helped this forward-thinking company transform their vision into reality, designing and refining the technology behind their hubs, sensors, and connectivity systems. Together, we're enabling smarter, more sustainable solutions for the future of industrial monitoring.

A Flexible and Scalable Monitoring System

Our customer's product range includes everything from remote sensors to mini self-standing devices and fully customizable hubs. These hubs are at the core of their monitoring system, built to accommodate various sensor modules and tailored to meet the specific needs of each client.

Key features of their hubs include:

Modular Sensor Design: Hubs can support a variety of sensing modules, including CO2, VOC, temperature, humidity, and particle sensors.

Power Versatility: The hubs are equipped with interchangeable power modules, supporting 24V, 48V, 230V, Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), and even battery-powered configurations.

Interchangeable Connectivity: Whether it's WiFi, GSM, Bluetooth Mesh, BLE, ZigBee, LoRa, or Ethernet, the hubs are designed with interchangeable connectivity layers to ensure seamless integration into diverse networks.

Turning Data into Insight

Once the sensors and hubs are deployed, they send data to a cloud-based platform where measurement samples are stored and analyzed. This enables the following key benefits:

Process Optimization: Insights from the data help improve production efficiency by identifying inefficiencies or environmental issues.

Certification Support: The system provides reliable environmental data to help factories meet regulatory and certification standards.

By collecting and analyzing such a wide range of environmental metrics, these solutions empower factories to be both more sustainable and more competitive.

Our Role in Bringing the Vision to Life

Our team has been deeply involved in bringing these cutting-edge systems to life. Here are some of the highlights of our collaboration:

PCB Design and Component Selection

Working closely with the customer, we designed the PCBs for the hubs, sensors, and devices, carefully selecting the best components to meet their demanding specifications.

Proof of Concept Firmware

We developed proof-of-concept firmware for the various PCBs, demonstrating how components work together and ensuring the design met all performance requirements.

Interchangeable Connectivity Layer

To meet the need for maximum flexibility, we designed the hubs with interchangeable connectivity layers, enabling them to communicate seamlessly via any of the supported methods: WiFi, GSM, Bluetooth Mesh, BLE, ZigBee, LoRa, or Ethernet.

Collaborative Hub Design

We worked with the customer to design hubs with modular sensor and component configurations, ensuring they could adapt to a wide range of use cases.

Testing and Certification

Our team carried out initial electrical certification, environmental testing (temperature and humidity), and EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) testing. These tests ensured the hubs and devices meet rigorous standards for industrial environments.

Driving Innovation in Environmental Monitoring

This project is a perfect example of how collaboration drives innovation. By combining our expertise in PCB design, component selection, and testing with the customer's groundbreaking vision, we've helped create a product range that's flexible, scalable, and future-proof.

As factories and industries face increasing pressure to monitor and reduce their environmental impact, solutions like these are becoming indispensable. By providing accurate, real-time data and actionable insights, our customer's products are not just helping businesses comply with regulations—they're shaping the future of sustainable production.

We're proud to have played a role in this exciting journey, and we look forward to continuing our work on projects that make a real-world difference.

We pride ourselves on helping our customers turn ambitious ideas into reality.

We partnered with a logistics company looking to modernize their fleet of electric tuggers—essential tools that allow a single operator to handle heavy loads with ease. While their current design relied on relays, electric contactors, and DC motors, they envisioned a next-generation solution built on cutting-edge electronics, brushless motors, and intelligent systems.

Our team played a pivotal role in transforming their concept into a modular, high-performance system that not only improves efficiency and usability but also introduces groundbreaking features like adaptive driving and cloud-based monitoring.

Reimagining the Tugger: From Buttons to Smart Systems

The next-generation tugger design is a significant leap forward, replacing traditional components with state-of-the-art technology. Here's what makes it stand out:

Touchscreen Interface

The outdated button system was replaced with a sleek touchscreen display. This new interface offers intuitive feedback to operators, improving usability and enabling easier troubleshooting. Drivers can access detailed information, like battery health and system diagnostics, at a glance.

Brushless Motor Upgrade

Switching from DC motors to brushless motors not only enhances efficiency and durability but also provides better torque control for adaptive driving. This means smoother operation and less maintenance over time.

Modular Design

The tugger is now built with modularity in mind, making it easier to replace or repair individual components directly on-site. This approach minimizes downtime and reduces the overall cost of maintenance.

Adaptive Driving Technology

With adaptive driving, the tugger dynamically adjusts its traction power. For example, when climbing a slope, the system automatically compensates by increasing torque to maintain a steady speed. This provides a seamless experience for operators, regardless of terrain.

Cloud-Based Monitoring

A GSM-enabled connection ensures that tuggers in the field can send performance data to a cloud-based system via MQTT. This allows for predictive maintenance and real-time insights, ensuring the fleet operates at peak efficiency.

Building a Smarter Tugger: Key Technologies

The new tugger system is packed with advanced features and cutting-edge technology, designed for performance, reliability, and future scalability:

Bluetooth for Maintenance

Field technicians can connect to the tugger via Bluetooth while it's operational. This enables live diagnostics, troubleshooting, and even configuration adjustments without the need for disassembly.

GSM and WiFi for Cloud Connectivity

GSM was chosen over WiFi for cloud connectivity to account for the tuggers' mobility across large areas, including outdoor spaces where WiFi isn't reliable. MQTT is used to transmit data, ensuring lightweight and efficient communication with the cloud.

CAN Bus Communication

A robust CAN Bus network connects the sub-assemblies, including the joystick, screen, and central "brain" of the tugger, ensuring seamless communication and synchronization between all components.

Firmware Updates Over-the-Air (FotA)

To keep the system up-to-date, all modules support FotA updates. This eliminates the need for on-site visits for software upgrades, reducing operational costs.

Onboard Logging for Forensics

A built-in SD card records detailed logs, including vibration and current sensor data. This enables forensic analysis in case of malfunctions, providing valuable insights for debugging and improvement.

Battery Monitoring and Balancing

Advanced battery monitoring ensures that each cell operates efficiently, extending battery life and reducing replacement costs.

Desktop Software for Analysis

A dedicated desktop application allows technicians to perform system configuration, in-depth analysis, and maintenance. This tool gives users complete control over the tugger's performance and settings.

Future Possibilities: The Road Ahead

The modular design of the tugger allows for exciting future upgrades. Some planned enhancements include:

Collision Avoidance

By integrating sensors and algorithms, the tugger could automatically detect and avoid obstacles, increasing safety in busy environments.

Driving Assistance

Features like lane-keeping and optimized pathfinding would make tuggers even easier to operate, improving productivity and reducing operator fatigue.

Remote Operation

Leveraging Bluetooth, technicians could drive the tugger remotely—ideal for scenarios where manual operation is unsafe or impractical.

Our Role in the Transformation

At CPE, we handled every aspect of the tugger's electronics, from design and development to programming and certification. Key contributions included:

• Designing the PCBs and selecting the best components for the system.
• Developing the firmware for adaptive driving, Bluetooth connectivity, screen display and CAN Bus communication.
• Conducting environmental testing and EMC certification to ensure reliability in real-world conditions.
• Collaborating with the customer to ensure the electronics integrated seamlessly with their mechanical designs.

The result is a cutting-edge electric tugger that's smarter, more reliable, and ready for the future of logistics.

By combining innovation, technical expertise, and a customer-focused approach, we've helped create a product that redefines what's possible in logistics. We're excited to see how these tuggers transform operations and look forward to continuing our partnership on future developments.