No question: Components for the industrial environment are confronted with special challenges. The demands on the components are high. They must be able to withstand extreme heat or cold, operate continuously under high dust loads or in humid areas and still function when there are strong vibrations or other loads. Industrial monitors and Panel PCs have their place on the production line or outdoors of a manufacturing company and must be able to adapt easily to the respective conditions of an environment. This is a challenge for the design, the materials used, but also for the software of the devices. The housing must be extremely robust, the glass particularly break-proof and the operating elements must be functional and easy to handle.
Industrial customers demand stable products with a wide range of functions and industrial computers that can be adapted to different environments and fields of application so that processes can be handled without problems at any time. In most cases, this requires investment in different devices or lengthy and cost-intensive adjustments. A challenge for many manufacturers. Not so for Kontron. With our modular concept for industrial monitors and Panel PCs, individual solutions can be implemented on the basis of tested standard configurations and components.
Variety of components for more flexibility
Kontron already offers a large number of its systems in flexible and powerful standard configurations, but also allows further adaptations to given requirements by means of a well thought-out modular design with defined internal interfaces. In this way, individual devices can be configured from a basic product. CPU boards, displays, input units, mass storage as well as IO extensions or power supplies can be individually adapted for each device to meet the corresponding requirements. If, for example, a monitor with particularly brilliant display and many details is required at a workstation, the corresponding product can be selected from the component portfolio. Elsewhere in an industrial environment, however, a display unit in a size with a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio may be necessary to continue using existing visualizations.
The selection options can be applied to all other functional elements, be it housings, touch technology or the power supply, to name but a few examples. The advantages are obvious: Solutions are developed according to individual requirements on the basis of standard devices - quickly, simply and cost-efficiently. The standard devices, including the standard components they contain, are already in series production and have a correspondingly high degree of reliability and maturity. This forms a solid foundation for individual solutions.
Fast individual solution at attractive costs
For individual customer solutions, Kontron can make use of existing standard configurations and a wide range of standardized function blocks, and promptly implement individual systems for any application at attractive conditions. This principle also simplifies the rapid provision of prototypes for new environments and minimizes the design risk. Usually only minor adjustments are necessary to solve a given problem.
Panel PCs and displays in different variants and with different screen sizes are often used in industrial environments. Until now, this inevitably meant a wide range of different devices with different software and the associated maintenance costs. The modular Kontron concept enables the customer to use identical software images across different display sizes. In addition to the Panel PCs, industrial PCs with identical processing units are also available, so that the corresponding software image can also be used here. This minimizes the maintenance effort and the complex coordination of different processor platforms is not necessary.
Difficult environment, simple solution
The areas of application cover a broad spectrum. For example, a customer builds machines in various designs which, depending on their size and area of application, have to be equipped with appropriate industrial PCs and monitors. An integrated Panel PC is available in a compact version of the machine. The space required and the costs for this are low. On larger machines it may be necessary to install the display and PC separately or even use several screens. No problem with the modular Kontron concept, because identical processing units can be used on all devices, a uniform software can be operated.
Upshot
All Kontron industrial solutions have a long service life and are explicitly designed for use in industrial environments - so they can withstand dust, moisture, vibrations and other influences in the long term. Thanks to the modular approach based on standard configurations and standard components, individual solutions can be developed quickly and efficiently. The advantages of a series product, such as availability, reliability and cost efficiency, are retained.
Have a look at our blog article "XXL industrial monitors: The central eye for modern production" from January 2018.
More product information about our Panel PC range can be found here.
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