Green concept design features for equipment control PC

Posted to News on 4th Oct 2012, 10:21

Green concept design features for equipment control PC

Advantech is announcing the PPC-3100 Panel PC, a new industrial touch computer with excellent computing performance powered by an Intel Atom processor, providing excellent human-machine interface (HMI) applications for equipment control in the automation industry. Compared with its predecessor, PPC-3100 is smaller in size and features convenient settings with a streamlined appearance and easier-to-use interfaces. The new design allows system integrators to have more space available for their customisation, as well performing faster than ever. In addition, PPC-3100 also incorporates a number of green concept design features enabling easy development of cost-effective and environmentally friendly systems with lower energy consumption.

PPC-3100 has been designed with the green concept in mind from the beginning. In addition to using a low-power Intel Atom processor and chipset to achieve higher computing performance, other selected components are also energy efficient, such as the LED backlight module and power control IC. PPC-3100 meets EU environmental standards which dictate that power consumption must be less than 1W during system standby. The auto-dimming feature is especially designed to save unnecessary power consumption. The light source intensity can be set in BIOS or with the AP tool based on a user's application environment. The system will automatically detect and adjust the backlight brightness. PPC-3100 provides good anti-electromagnetic interference in keeping with environmental protection concerns, and there is no need to coat the unit with conductive paint or plate it with a metal layer, thus reducing the use of composite materials and creating a more environmentally friendly product.

Equipment control applications usually have higher requirements for stability; PPC-3100 not only provides a general SATA interface to connect the hard disk but also offers a solid-state storage card - mSATA - with an operating system built-in to speed up system boot time. In addition it is attached to the system board securely to protect it from vibration. With lower power consumption and faster speed, mSATA, a type of Flash memory, avoids collision and vibration issues and has a better and longer product life cycle than traditional hard disks, making it more suitable for automation equipment. In order to meet the demanding requirements of an industrial application environment, mSATA can operate in the ultra-high temperature range which enables PPC-3100 to operate without a hitch from 0degC to 50degC.

The COM port is one of the most important components used between industrial computers and peripheral equipment. PPC-3100 supports four COM ports, two of which supply their own electric power, meaning additional power is not required. To provide power to appliances, the 9-pin connector is configurable in BIOS for 5V, 12V or Ring Indicator (RI) output. This eliminates having to take apart the computer case to set a jumper.

For the majority of applications, a Panel PC is often embedded in control devices, so that it is difficult to know its operating status from the equipment's external appearance. PPC-3100 addresses this issue by equipping the unit with LED indicators on the bottom right-hand side of the front panel. The indicators show operation status, including power on/off, storage access, and LAN activity.