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What is an Industrial PC?At the start of the decade, manufacturers in every sector started to replace their costly proprietary control systems with a new generation of PCs designed for industrial environments.1 Whilst industrial PCs are available in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and configurations, they all share the ability to perform reliably in harsh conditions. In essence, industrial PCs are high powered versions of a conventional office PC featuring a range of hardware enhancements to protect themselves from heat, dirt and vibrations from machinery. Rugged designIndustrial PCs are used in harsh environments which would cause a conventional desktop to malfunction, such as oil and gas platforms or automotive manufacturing. Consequently, industrial PCs need to be able to perform reliably despite exposure to excessive dirt, dust, heat and vibrations. Industrial PCs are available in a range of off-the-shelf configurations and custom designed models. Commonly they are rack or wall mounted, and in recent years TFT panel industrial PCs with touch-screen displays have become popular because of their ease of use for factory floor operators. Irrespective of the size and shape, industrial PCs are built from fully sealed stainless steel to protect against dirt, dust and other airborne particles from interfering with their operation.2 To prevent the risk of overheating, industrial PCs are often built with a single long life motherboard and a minimum of components, which can also be quickly ‘hot swapped’ should they ever need replacing. Further protection from heat is also be supplied by forced air cooling fans, which keep the PC’s cool irrespective of the surrounding environment. The constant vibrations from manufacturing machinery would cause a desktop PC to judder and malfunction. So industrial PCs incorporate card clamps and shock mounted drives to keep the motherboard and hard drive stable and operating smoothly. High poweredManufacturing processes need to operate as efficiently and seamlessly as possible. Consequently, industrial PCs need to be able to process applications at accelerated speeds and operate without risk of slowdown or lost data. Industrial PCs incorporate powerful processors, denser disk drives and an array of processor extensions in order to provide robust, continuous high performance. With cost and energy efficiency in mind, their motherboards comprise of components that minimise power consumption, reduce heat exposure and provide a longer lasting, reliable performance than commercial grade models. As a rule, commercial PCs are replaced every couple of years due to technical obsolescence as they’re surpassed by newer machines. However, regularly replacing a PC running complex manufacturing processes would be expensive and disruptive. Consequently, industrial PC use long life motherboards, which are designed to provide a production lifecycle of 5-8 years because of their more advanced chipset and single board configuration. Part of an e-manufacturing solutionManufacturers in every sector are under constant pressure to maximise the productivity and efficiency of their processes. Industrial PCs play a key part in this by enabling companies to create customised IT network solutions from the factory floor to the central control room.3 Along with off-the-shelf ranges, an industrial PC manufacturer’s portfolio often includes customised models developed in partnership with customers. These models are designed to perform specific tasks as efficiently as possible, enabling manufacturers to increase their productivity and the quality of their end products.
1http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/magazine/read/view/Rugged_and_Ready_4620299
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Special Computing Solutions to Industry
