An industrial personal computer (IPC) is a general term for a tool that uses a bus structure to detect and control production processes, electromechanical equipment, and process equipment.
The products and technologies of the industrial control industry are very specialized, belonging to intermediate products. They provide reliable, embedded, and intelligent industrial computers for other industries. Industrial control computers have important computer attributes and characteristics, such as a computer CPU, hard disk, memory, peripherals and interfaces, as well as an operating system, control network and protocols, computing power, and a user-friendly human-machine interface.
In the intelligent era spurred by Industry 4.0, the significance of industrial control computers (ICSCs) has long surpassed their initial role of simple industrial control. With the arrival of new phases in intelligent manufacturing, new infrastructure, and the Internet of Things, new demands are undoubtedly being placed on ICCCs in terms of product and technology, encompassing intelligence, digitalization, and informatization. Currently, the industry generally believes that the new era of development, led by intelligent manufacturing, is characterized by the integration of numerous computer, communication, and control technologies to form a completely new intelligent development system, with ICCCs occupying a central position within this system.
Industrial control computers (ICCs) have thus ushered in a new round of development opportunities. In terms of applications, ICCs are penetrating an increasingly wide range of fields. Today, their applications are no longer limited to industry, but have gradually expanded from fields such as power and manufacturing to robotics, intelligent transportation, energy conservation, and new energy.
In the era of intelligentization, the importance of industrial control computers has become increasingly prominent.
In the production process, industrial control computers (ICCs) are not only the foundation for monitoring and controlling production machinery, processes, and data parameters, but also key devices for further integrating software and hardware and converting data streams across different interfaces and protocols. With the advancement of ICC technology and the development of the industry, the role and tasks undertaken by ICCs in the era of intelligent manufacturing are becoming increasingly important.
In recent years, the continuous promotion of computer, communication, and network technologies has led to the rise of the Industrial Internet and the rapid development of the industrial control computer industry. However, with the deepening of China's manufacturing power strategy, simply collecting, summarizing, and connecting data horizontally on-site is no longer sufficient to meet the actual needs of industry transformation. Intelligent production models have become the main direction of industry transformation, enabling two-way communication with decision-makers, transforming data into guiding information, and then relaying it back to the industrial site for implementation.
Currently, the intelligent, digital, and information-based upgrades of industrial control computers (ICS) are underway, with a notable shift in service models. In the traditional manufacturing model, ICS services only included single hardware products; companies were generally satisfied as long as the product's performance and quality were guaranteed. In the era of intelligent manufacturing, ICS customers are no longer satisfied with single products but prefer integrated solutions centered around ICS.
Furthermore, information security issues in industrial control computer (ICS) applications are receiving increasing attention. The widespread application of the Industrial Internet and intelligent manufacturing have spurred new manufacturing models and emerging business formats. ICS systems are becoming increasingly open, but the diversity and complexity of ICS network environments bring numerous security challenges. Therefore, to ensure the normal operation of ICS systems and protect production safety and data information, enterprises are beginning to place greater emphasis on ICS information security.
Future Development Trends of Industrial Control Computers
With technological advancements and the maturation of the market and users, the industrial control computer market is showing new development trends under the new circumstances.
1. Customization is becoming a trend
In addition to technological breakthroughs, in recent years, more and more industrial computer manufacturers have begun to pay more attention to customer needs, providing customized services and products, and continuously launching industry-specific products and solutions that meet customer needs, while focusing more on application requirements.
2. Industrial control computers are being used in an increasingly wide range of industries.
From the perspective of industrial control computer (ICS) applications, while traditional advantageous industries such as metallurgy, power, and petrochemicals are gradually declining, new application markets are constantly emerging, such as finance, healthcare, intelligent transportation, and self-service terminals. Meanwhile, in addition to the significant incremental market generated by emerging applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent manufacturing, smart living, smart agriculture, vehicle networking, big data, and cloud computing, another growth point for the ICS market is the need for upgrading and transformation of the existing market under the backdrop of digitalization and intelligent manufacturing. These are all future growth points for the ICS market.
3. Embedded industrial PCs are becoming increasingly popular.
An embedded industrial computer is a ruggedized and enhanced industrial computer that can reliably operate as an industrial controller in an industrial environment.
Compared to traditional industrial PCs, embedded industrial PCs are based on computer technology and are application-centric, suitable for industrial systems with strict requirements on functionality, reliability, cost, size, and power consumption. They typically consist of a low-power processor, peripheral hardware, an operating system, and user applications, used to implement system control, monitoring, and management functions. Their main advantages are:
(1) Good adaptability
It is almost perfectly matched with the functions of the equipment, and has a certain degree of expandability, but expansion is not its main purpose. Therefore, the product has good adaptability and high cost performance.
(2) Small size
The compact design takes full account of the rational use of external interfaces and installation space.
(3) High reliability
In addition to ensuring electrical functionality meets reliability design requirements, careful consideration must be given to reliability design aspects such as heat dissipation design, electromagnetic compatibility design, dust and water protection design, and vibration resistance design.
(4) Ultra-low power fanless design
Due to the miniaturization of the entire device, the heat dissipation capacity is limited, and the requirements for the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of embedded systems are also high, especially in unattended applications, making ultra-low power fanless design a necessity.
Summarize
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, led by intelligent manufacturing, is an intelligent system integrating a large number of computer, communication, and control technologies. Against the backdrop of highly integrated new technologies in various industries, industrial control computers (ICSCs) are at a new technological turning point. In the future, ICCCs will break through existing technological architectures, with more open system architectures, higher integration, modular functions, and machine intelligence, providing crucial support for the construction of intelligent systems under Industry 4.0.
