A Practical Guide to Choosing Industrial Panel Computers

Industrial Panel Computer

Industrial panel computer is specifically designed for harsh environments, integrating high-resolution touch display and computing power into one unit. A common application in industrial sites is Human-Machine Interface (HMI), serving as a communication bridge between operators and automated machines through the industrial panel computer. In recent years, due to the performance and technological advancements of industrial panel computers, more new applications have emerged, such as data collection and analysis, production process visualization, and preventive monitoring and maintenance. These newly derived functions have driven the market scale of HMI.

Nine Key Factors for Choosing an Industrial Panel Computer

Faced with increasing demands for industrial tablets, there are nine key factors to consider when choosing a suitable industrial panel computer:

Size

The first step is to determine the panel size, which requires understanding the content and complexity you wish to display, such as whether it is basic information, system messages, visual information, or multimedia presentations, as well as the application software used, to decide the screen size, resolution, and display ratio.

Touch Options

Industrial panel computers have two touch options: resistive touch and capacitive touch. You can choose the touch method based on the application and occasion.

Brightness

Industrial panel computers intended for indoor or outdoor installation determine the choice of brightness. Generally, indoor LCD backlight brightness is about 200-300 nits, while outdoor installations require very high backlight brightness, around 500-1500 nits.

Performance

With the rise of smart factories, future HMI will have more multifunctional and intelligent new applications, requiring high-performance processors, such as for machine vision, data acquisition, voice recognition, CAD document browsing, sensing, and even immersive AR and VR applications. Some only need to serve as simple information display terminals, showing production information, warehouse management, and thus only require a general-performance, low-power, cost-effective processor.

Fan or No Fan

In factory applications, whether a fan is needed depends on various factors. If there is a lot of dust in the environment, dust can easily affect the operation of the fan, which in turn affects system stability. A sealed fanless panel computer can be used to avoid these issues. For high-compute-demand applications, fanless industrial panel computers with special heat dissipation structure design are a better solution. They do not require heat dissipation holes or fan installation, avoiding the risk of dust entering the system. In summary, whether to install a fan must comprehensively consider the application environment, computation needs, and heat dissipation effects.

Rugged Design

Using industrial panel computers in harsh industrial environments requires a rugged design, including high-hardness, scratch-resistant glass screens (surface hardness＞7H), a wide operating temperature range, and the ability to withstand high vibration and shock. Additionally, electromagnetic compatibility with other equipment installed in control cabinets needs to be considered, requiring good protection in hardware design.

Geshem designs and manufactures various kinds of industrial panel computers. Our company's panel computers provide industrial-grade protection for various uses, capable of withstanding harsh working environments whether indoors or outdoors!