Cincoze Releases New Industrial PC Designed to Support Harsh Industrial Environments

Automation technology consistently utilizes commercial computing components because of the speed to market, and they are readily available. Industrial computers are used throughout manufacturing automation, in testing machines, and for capturing images from multiple vision systems, to name a few.

 

DS Industrial PC Product Line

Cincoze designs and manufactures industrial computers and display solutions. Industrial computers are high-end, fanless computers designed to withstand harsh environments. They recently debuted their latest line of fanless embedded industrial PCs.

 

The DC series industrial PC working with a robot. Image used courtesy of Cincoze

 

The DS series product line is a high-performance, fanless, embedded PC. This ensures that the form factor is very compact. The DS-1300 series is the new kid on the block. This PC uses the 10th gen intel Xeon processor, USB 3.2 technology, and PCIe/PCI expansion sockets.

 

This industrial PC uses the 10th gen intel Xeon processor. Image used courtesy of Cincoze

 

Where to Use All This Power

A typical factory floor with assembly machines would have multiple control systems connected to a server. The server would gather data and store it for access with a SCADA system.  

Any complex calculations would need to be pushed to the server PC. With industry 4.0 driving more data collection and easier access, machine builders are being forced to provide computing solutions on the machine.  

Computing with a PLC can be very taxing on the PLC processor, and really a PLC is not meant to do complex calculations or storing of data. A great way to reduce complexity and reduce processor load is by moving all the complex calculations, data storing, or even component interfacing to an industrial PC.

 

A diagram showing how the industrial PC works on the factory floor. Image used courtesy of Cincoze

 

Storing a PC on the factory floor can be a challenge in itself. Factory floors typically have large temperature swings, dust in the air, and can have high humidity. These conditions are not the best for a typical PC. Cincoze’s DS 1300 series supports temperatures of -40 to 70 C and can accept voltages ranging from 9 - 48 VDC with overcurrent, overvoltage, and EDS protection.

 

Integrated Testing

An example of where to use an industrial PC in an automation environment is with a multiple-camera vision system. Once a system requires more than a few cameras, it is sometimes cheaper to use GigE cameras versus a typical software integrated camera and connect them to an industrial PC with a frame grabber PCIe expansion card.  

The PC can run software that will process the images or store the failed images. By running the vision software on a high-performing PC, complex vision calculations can be performed quickly and accurately.

Many machine builders are integrating end-of-line testing into the assembly line. This style of machine-building requires onboard computing power for processing sensor data or even storing data at high speeds. By using an industrial PC on the factory floor, ethernet latency and infrastructure can be reduced by only reporting data to servers when required, not when the process requires. 

The DS 1300 series comes with 32 digital inputs and outputs, facilitating recording signals or sending signals to start or stop processes. Utilizing the Intel Xeon processor, the digital and analog signals can be processed at high speeds, reducing the need for extra purpose-built components. 

Cincoze is hopeful that their new industrial PC will help control systems engineers and automation specialists to better store and manage their data in harsh factory environments.