What are industrial computers for?

Advantech, being one of the world's leading manufacturers of industrial computers, offers a very extensive product range in this area. May 15, at 10 am Moscow time, Ramil Rakhmankulov, sales manager for key customers, will talk about industrial computers in a rack and why is it better to have a PC with a margin of safety for use outside the office?
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Next, we want to share an article by our partner in 1997, which is still relevant in many ways, and is also a great chance to nostalgia.



When you first get acquainted with industrial computers, the most severe shock is usually associated not with exquisite design or outstanding computing capabilities, but with their cost. “Why is your 386 more expensive than my Pentium-150?” Is a legitimate question for anyone who has long been accustomed to purchasing computers, holding in their hand a stack of price lists of a dozen or two computer companies. How simple it is in the world of office equipment! One line of the type “486DX4
100 / 256KB / PCI / 1,3GB / 15“ VGANI LR / CD-ROMx8 ”gives us almost comprehensive information about the parameters of your future assistant.

Forget it for a while, you are in a different world, much less comfortable than an office idyll. It is dirty, cold and damp, sometimes the electricity shakes and turns off. And you need another partner, not necessarily very smart, but more powerful and unpretentious. But still: “What should I pay two (three, four ...) times more expensive, and is it really necessary?”

First, find out why we actually need them, these industrial computers. Really that huge offer of computer technology of various configurations that has fallen on us in recent years has not completely solved all our problems in this area? It turns out, no. And the point here is not at all the exceptional reliability or over-performance of these devices, quite the contrary - for many computers used in industry, the performance is not only that of the Pentium processor, but even the outdated 486 (horror, 486 is already outdated!) Is simply not needed. As for reliability, when used in office environments, I would probably prefer the good old Hewlett-Packard or Compaq. But here it’s a clue - in the conditions of an industrial enterprise, such a handsome man can live for three days by force,and then his beautiful low-noise fan will suck in a bit of dirt into the power source in half with some conductive muck or the interface board will not endure the neighborhood with a constantly vibrating conveyor (blacksmith press, CNC machine, rolling mill - underline necessary) and jump out of indignation from its gilded connector. And people in such an environment are also changing for the worse. It’s in the silence of the laboratory that everyone walks in white and wash their hands three times a day, and at the factory they can accidentally splash machine oil into the keyboard ... For extra soft keys, of course. Or maybe not butter, and not into the keyboard, but into the display (the “office” ones have such odd little slots for ventilation, they say). Although it happens that it’s lucky and the handsome man is put in a separate room, allowing only the elite to access him. But the trouble is,behind the adjacent wall, the welders work and create strong interference. In short, the program "hangs" tightly. And the miracle of computer technology is idle in anticipation of its resuscitator, and at this time the technical process without supervision is that a child without a parent's eye, if not a fire, will definitely suit the flood. The real world is very sophisticated in creating various emergency situations, and, probably, everyone can recall a sufficient number of situations in which the use of something stronger than an office PC would not be superfluous. So, industrial computers are primarily products with increased resistance to environmental influences. And all manufacturers achieve this sustainability in every conceivable (albeit approximately the same) way.And the miracle of computer technology is idle in anticipation of its resuscitator, and at this time the technical process without supervision is that a child without a parent's eye, if not a fire, will definitely suit the flood. The real world is very sophisticated in creating various emergency situations, and, probably, everyone can recall a sufficient number of situations in which the use of something stronger than an office PC would not be superfluous. So, industrial computers are primarily products with increased resistance to environmental influences. And all manufacturers achieve this sustainability in every conceivable (albeit approximately the same) way.And the miracle of computer technology is idle in anticipation of its resuscitator, and at this time the technical process without supervision is that a child without a parent's eye, if not a fire, will definitely suit the flood. The real world is very sophisticated in creating various emergency situations, and, probably, everyone can recall a sufficient number of situations in which the use of something stronger than an office PC would not be superfluous. So, industrial computers are primarily products with increased resistance to environmental influences. And all manufacturers achieve this sustainability in every conceivable (albeit approximately the same) way.everyone can recall a sufficient number of situations in which the use of something stronger than an office PC would not be out of place. So, industrial computers are primarily products with increased resistance to environmental influences. And all manufacturers achieve this sustainability in every conceivable (albeit approximately the same) way.everyone can recall a sufficient number of situations in which the use of something stronger than an office PC would not be out of place. So, industrial computers are primarily products with increased resistance to environmental influences. And all manufacturers achieve this sustainability in every conceivable (albeit approximately the same) way.

To combat dust create excessive pressure inside the system unit, and the suction fans are equipped with replaceable dust filters. Very often, especially in models for remote mounting, spray protection is applied on the front panel. They deal with vibrations and shocks using durable chassis and housings, fixing expansion cards with additional shock-absorbing brackets and placing disk drives on a special vibration-proof suspension. Outwardly, it looks slightly “oak”, but most importantly, exceptional mechanical strength of the structure is achieved. Many models provide for installation in standard 19-inch racks.

Another distinguishing feature of an industrial computer is its modularity and exceptional expandability. As a rule, there is no familiar motherboard here. The processor board, along with the peripheral ones, is inserted into the passive backplane backplane with a large number of expansion slots. This modular design facilitates maintenance and allows you to quickly replace modules in case of failure. Repair speed (strictly speaking, average recovery time) is a very important characteristic for industrial computers. During the repair, the entire production site is usually idle, which can cause significant losses to the enterprise. Since an industrial computer often has to interact with a large number of sensors and actuators, it is not surprisingthat the number of expansion slots in it can reach 20. Remember your PC, in which there are 5-6 of them.

The struggle for free expansion slots was reflected in the degree of integration of processor boards of industrial PCs. As a rule, these boards contain all the necessary components of a regular computer: the processor itself, memory, interfaces with HDD and HDD, printer and RS232 / 485 ports, and in some models VGA, Ethernet and SCSI controllers. One of the necessary elements of the processor board is a watchdog timer. Smoke for health, the computer will always be restarted automatically in the event of a program “freezing”.

Man-machine interface devices in industrial PCs are also implemented taking into account harsh operating conditions. In keyboards, dust and water protection is mandatory in one way or another. Workstations often use a limited set of function and number keys made using film technology. The most “foolish” controls, such as the “Reset” and “Power Off” buttons, are hidden behind locked doors. In recent years, touch screens have become increasingly popular, giving unlimited possibilities in creating user-friendly interfaces. The generalized characteristics of the “average” industrial MS can be listed further, but it’s better to dwell on this,since no journal article can replace the need for detailed familiarization with specific models of industrial PCs according to the manufacturer’s catalog.

The author is an employee of PROSOFT