The industrial PC industry is a large sector, with industrial control products used in various settings, and industrial PCs being a common example. Many people ask what an industrial PC is. Essentially, an industrial PC is a computer. Simply put, computers are divided into three types: personal PCs, servers, and industrial PCs. Here's a brief introduction to what an industrial PC is: An industrial PC is also called an industrial control computer, or simply an industrial computer; its full name is Industrial Personal Computer, abbreviated as IPC.
Industrial control computers (ICCs) are specialized computers designed for industrial production control, used to monitor and control machinery, processes, and data parameters in industrial production. Therefore, compared to personal PCs and servers, ICCs operate in extremely harsh environments with very high data security requirements. To ensure optimal performance, they typically undergo rigorous hardening, dustproofing, moisture-proofing, corrosion protection, and radiation shielding—treatments distinct from those used for ordinary computers. Furthermore, ICCs have high demands for expandability, often requiring custom-designed systems to meet the needs of specific external devices.
In short, what is an industrial PC? An industrial PC is a special type of computer that has some characteristics compared to a regular personal computer:
1. To ensure that the machine has a high degree of antimagnetic, dustproof, and shock resistance, the chassis of industrial control computers is usually made of steel.
2. Common computer cases have a dedicated baseplate with both PCI and ISA slots.
3. The chassis has a dedicated power supply and must have very strong anti-interference capabilities.
4. Requires the ability to work continuously for long periods of time, possibly for several months or even a whole year.
5. Standard chassis that are easy to install are usually used (such as 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U, with 4U being the most common).
PS: 1. 1U is 4.445cm. U is a unit for representing the external dimensions of a server. It is an abbreviation for unit. The detailed dimensions are determined by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA), an industry group.
2. A "1U PC server" refers to a product whose form factor meets EIA specifications and has a thickness of 4.445cm. Products designed to fit into a 19-inch server rack are generally called rack servers.
3. Industrial control computers (ICCs) are high-availability, high-density, low-cost server platforms specifically designed for specialized applications and high-density computing environments. They can boot their own operating systems from local hard drives, such as Windows/NT/2000/2003, Linux, Solaris, etc., similar to independent servers. In this mode, each motherboard runs its own system, serving a specific user group, and there is no connection between them. However, we can still use system software to integrate these motherboards into a server cluster.
