NEMA Enclosure Ratings & IP Ratings

There are three main types of industrial PCs, all of which utilize an integrated touch display.

Industrial Panel PCs (IPPCs)

Considered the most robust and durable type of industrial PC, an IPPC is beneficial for use in heavy-duty industrial applications, such as automotive, steel manufacturing, dairy, and meat processing plants. Equipped with capacitive or resistive touch sensors, these PCs can be operated by gloved personnel. Capable of handling the most environmentally challenging applications, IPPCs are the most I/O intensive of all industrial PC types and include the following features:

• Installed I/O cards
• Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAIDs) and ports
• Multiple drives
• PCI/PCIe expansion slots

Panel PCs (PPCs)

Designed for a wide variety of light industrial tasks, PPCs provide ample input and output expansion options and are the most affordable type of industrial PC. Screen options include a widescreen with multi-touch features or a standard 4:3 screen with a resistive touchscreen. Sizes range from 6.5 inches to 42 inches.

Touch Panel PCs (TPPCs)

Designed for standard industrial applications, TPPCs are fanless, SCADA-ready, and have a slim profile with a thin client terminal. Screen sizes range between 6.5 inches and 42 inches. These rugged units have a cast aluminum enclosure and operate on Android or Windows operating systems. TPPCs typically have the least amount of I/O available compared to other types of industrial PCs.

Industrial PCs can feature the following characteristics and mounting options depending on the demands of the specific application:

• Fully enclosed
• In-wall
• Wall-mounted
• VESA-mounted
• Swing arm
• Fold down
• Pedestal
• Purged
• Non-purged

To put it simply: industrial computers are more stable than ordinary computers. For example, industrial computers are often used in ATMs. An industrial computer is a computer used for industrial control and monitoring. It is a kind of computer, and its main structure and working principle are the same as those of the computer you use.

Definition of industrial computer: Industrial computer is industrial control computer, but now, it is more fashionable to call it industrial computer or industrial computer, the English abbreviation is IPC, and the full name is IndustrialPersonalComputer. In layman's terms, an industrial computer is a computer specially designed for industrial sites.

The controller operates reliably in industrial environments. As early as the early 1980s, the American AD company launched the MAC-150 industrial computer similar to IPC, and then the American IBM company officially launched the industrial personal computer IBM7532o. Due to the reliable performance, rich software, and low price of the IPC, it has suddenly emerged in the industrial computer. Catch up from behind, and the application is becoming more and more extensive.

Other accessories of IPC are basically compatible with PC, mainly including CPU, memory, graphics card, hard disk, floppy drive, keyboard, mouse, CD-ROM drive, monitor, etc.

Applicable fields:

At present, IPC has been widely used in all aspects of industry and people's life.

For example: field control, road and bridge toll collection, medical treatment, environmental protection, communication, intelligent transportation, monitoring, voice, queuing machine, POS, CNC machine tool, fuel dispenser, finance, petrochemical, geophysical prospecting, field portable, environmental protection, military industry, electric power, railway, high-speed Highway, aerospace, subway and so on.

Features of industrial computer:

In layman's terms, industrial computers are computers specially designed for industrial sites, and industrial sites generally have strong vibrations, a lot of dust, and high electromagnetic field interference, etc. no rest. Therefore, compared with ordinary computers, industrial computers must have the following characteristics:

1) The chassis adopts steel structure, which has high anti-magnetic, dust-proof and impact-proof capabilities.

2) There is a special backplane in the chassis, and there are PCI and ISA slots on the backplane.

3) There is a special power supply in the chassis, and the power supply has strong anti-interference ability.

4) It is required to have the ability to work continuously for a long time.

5) Generally, a standard chassis that is easy to install is used (4U standard chassis is more common)

Note: In addition to the above features, the rest are basically the same. In addition, due to the above-mentioned professional features, the price of industrial computers of the same level is more expensive than ordinary computers, but generally there is not much difference.

Disadvantages of the current industrial computer:

Although industrial computers have unique advantages compared with ordinary commercial computers,

Its disadvantage is also very obvious—poor data processing capability, as follows:

1) The configured hard disk capacity is small;

2) Low data security;

3) Storage selectivity is small.

4) The price is higher.

Differences from ordinary computers:

The industrial computer is also a computer, but it is more stable than ordinary computers, with moisture resistance, shock resistance, and magnetic resistance.

Even better, there is no problem in running it continuously for 24 hours. But it also depends on the configuration,

It is definitely not enough to play large games with low configuration.

The industrial computer does not have a monitor and can be used with a monitor. It is a bit wasteful for home use, and it is generally used in harsh environments or places that require relatively high machine performance.

First, functions, industrial control motherboards have specific needs and specific functions, while ordinary motherboards are popular needs and have multiple functions;

Second, stability. Industrial control emphasizes ultra-stable and trouble-free; ordinary motherboards can have dazzling functions, cool performance, and how long can they last for a long time? that's luck

Third, the heat dissipation scheme, the industrial control motherboard pays attention to the heat dissipation efficiency, and the ordinary motherboard focuses on the appearance;

Fourth, industrial control is a specific demand, so the quantity is not much, and the price is expensive. Ordinary motherboards often rely on price to win.

For an in-depth explanation, I will analyze it from six perspectives: design principle, body material, environmental applicability, cost, life cycle, and customization requirements. Let everyone have a clear understanding.

First. Design principle

1. PCB layer: Most industrial computer motherboards use 8- to 10-layer PCB layers, and most commercial computers use 4-layer boards. The upper and lower layers of the 4-layer board are signal layers, and the middle two layers are ground and power layers. For those with more than 8 layers, welding, power supply, shielding and other layers are added. In addition to the difference in principle design, the firmness of 8-layer boards is also much higher than that of 4-layer boards.

2. Design angle: The industrial computer is a complete machine solution designed from the design angle of use in an industrial environment for non-stop work, anti-interference, anti-magnetic and shock-proof, high and low temperature environments, etc. It includes the layout of the motherboard, the selection of electronic components, the shock resistance and compression resistance of the whole machine, and the selection of parts and components, etc., all of which are decisions made in consideration of stability. The design angle of commercial computers does not need to be so strict, because the working environment is generally relatively good, and the requirements for operational stability are far less high than those of industrial computers, which generally meet the needs of daily use.

Second, the body material

The fuselage of the industrial computer mostly adopts a steel structure chassis and a fanless aluminum alloy chassis. It is characterized by anti-rust, strong, bulky, standard shape, general aesthetics, and relatively single appearance color, generally black, white, silver and other colors are the mainstream colors. Because the use site of the industrial computer is generally not within the reach of the public, the requirements for the appearance are not high, but the requirements for the firmness of the chassis are relatively high, so most manufacturers use this durable steel structure and aluminum structure. Alloy chassis.

The fuselage of a commercial computer is aesthetically pleasing, and there are various styles and materials. Generally, thin iron sheets, explosion-proof glass, plastic parts, etc. are the main ones. They are characterized by beauty and fragility, and generally there will be some redundant space for adding decorative items such as colored fans and light strips. Because commercial computers are mainly used by individuals, units and some other groups, and in many cases are placed on the desktop, the requirements for appearance are relatively high.

Third. Environmental applicability

Industrial PCs are mostly used in workshops, outdoors, inside equipment, or even in mines and vehicles. Different use scenarios have different requirements for industrial computers. For example, the requirements for high and low temperature outdoors are relatively high, the requirements for the size of the whole machine inside the equipment are relatively high, the requirements for interference and dust resistance in mines are high, and the requirements for vehicle vibration are high. Therefore, for these different usage scenarios, the products to be developed by manufacturers will satisfy as much as possible, so as to facilitate later market development.

Commercial computers are mostly used indoors, and in most cases, there are air conditioners to adjust the temperature, which is a place where people stay comfortably. In this environment, the operating environment of computers is very good, and there is no need to consider so many complicated things. The industrial and mining environment, so the workload of designers is much smaller, and there is no need to do a lot of design considering the environment.

Fourth. Cost

Restricted by the special demand scenarios of industrial computers, the groups that have demand for industrial computers are limited, which leads to the fact that the market for industrial computers is doomed to be much smaller than that of commercial computers. In most cases, the price/performance ratio of industrial computers is far inferior to that of commercial computers. So what is the reason for this result?

1. Size. Because the size of the industrial computer cannot produce large-scale production, the production quantity of a single batch of general manufacturers may be only a few hundred to a few thousand, and even many manufacturers are far from reaching this standard. Commercial computers, on the other hand, usually produce tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of motherboards, and the average cost of this volume is different. For example, if I spend 10 yuan to buy a pair of gloves to move 100 bricks and get paid 100 yuan, the cost of moving a brick is 0.1 yuan, but if I move 1,000 or even 10,000 bricks , this cost is almost negligible. The same is true for the cost of industrial computers. The initial R&D investment, trial and error costs, production line construction costs, and product maintenance costs all need to be taken into account. If there is no increase in volume, the cost will not be shared equally, so the price will be higher.

2. Components. Because of the special usage scenarios of the industrial computer, it is destined to have extremely high requirements on the failure rate of the industrial computer. Unlike home or office computers, once in a while it breaks down and you just need to restart it. However, the industrial computer is often a key link in the control system, and it often affects the whole body. Therefore, responsible industrial computer manufacturers have relatively high standards when selecting components. For example, on some contact parts, both copper-plated and gold-plated parts can be used. Responsible industrial computer manufacturers mostly use gold-plated parts, and the plating is thicker. And there are tens of thousands of components on a motherboard, and the accumulated cost is relatively high. Because commercial computers do not need to consider so many failure rates, environmental conditions, etc., the standard can be lowered, and the cost will come down.

Fifth. Life cycle

The life cycle refers to the time during which a product can be purchased and maintained continuously. For example, it is almost impossible for us to buy a brand new iPhone 6 mobile phone today in 22 years, at least not in batches.

Still subject to demand groups, the life cycle of industrial computer products is much higher than that of commercial computers. Because customer needs generally follow equipment, software, and projects, a standard may not change for a long time after it is formulated, or the cost of manpower, time, and trial and error for changes is relatively high. But the customer's product may have to be ready for a long time, so the life cycle requirement for the industrial computer is also very long. Some customers will focus on requiring a life cycle of more than 10 years. This is also why we sometimes see many CPUs from the ancient period, such as J1900, N3160 and other extremely old CPUs. There are still many customers who need this old configuration.

Business computers, on the other hand, are completely different. In order to cater to the latest appetite of consumers, they must constantly introduce new products to produce new products, and a product may be discontinued immediately after the limelight passes. For example, when intel launches a new CPU, computer manufacturers will soon launch corresponding products, and the previous products may also be discontinued, so the cycle of commercial computers may only be 3 years or even 1 year. to purchase or maintain.

Sixth. Customized requirements

Customized requirements refer to some special customized requirements of customers.

As mentioned above, the particularity of the industrial computer customer group, naturally customers will also put forward some special requirements for the scene. Commonly, there are multiple interfaces, such as multiple USB, multiple strings, multiple networks, etc., as well as low power consumption, small size, multiple PCI/E, can bus or raid, etc. These special customer requirements are particularly common in the industrial computer industry. Commercial computers often cannot meet these special needs, and commercial computer manufacturers will not make special adjustments for these small batch orders. Therefore, industrial computer manufacturers generally have corresponding product solutions to meet different customer needs. This is also something that commercial computers cannot reach.

Conclusion:

In fact, the industrial computer is still a computer in essence, but after N years of evolution, this special group has gradually been derived. It is precisely because of the special needs of customers and the special products and cooperation of manufacturers that this industry has endured for a long time. decline. Although computers have become very common in 22 years, industrial computers will still play an indispensable role in the past, present and for a long time to come.

As an industrial computer manufacturer, SINSMART will still forge ahead!