HMI stands for Human Machine Interface . In the industrial field, human-machine interface products with touch input capabilities are often referred to as "touchscreens." HMIs are used to connect to industrial control equipment such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), frequency converters, DC speed controllers, and instruments. They utilize a display screen to show data and input units (such as touchscreens, keyboards, and mice) to input operating parameters or commands, enabling human-machine information interaction.
So, is HMI just a touchscreen?
Actually, that's not the case. Strictly speaking, there is a fundamental difference between the two. A "touchscreen" is merely a hardware component that may be used in a human-computer interface (HCI) product. It's an input device installed in front of the display screen, replacing some of the functions of a mouse and keyboard. In contrast, an HCI product is a human-computer interaction device that includes both hardware and software components.
Human-machine interface (HMI) products consist of two parts: hardware and software. The hardware part includes a processor, display unit, input unit, communication interface, data storage unit, etc. Among them, the performance of the processor determines the performance level of the HMI product and is the core unit of the HMI.
HMI software is generally divided into two parts: system software running on the HMI hardware and screen configuration software (such as BAMS software) running on a PC with a Windows operating system. Users must first use the HMI screen configuration software to create a "project file," and then download the created "project file" to the HMI processor for execution via the serial communication port, USB interface, or Ethernet interface of the PC and the HMI product.
Basic functions:
Equipment operating status display: such as indicator lights, buttons, text, graphics, curves, etc.;
Data and text input operations, and printing output;
Production formula storage and equipment production data recording;
Simple logic and numerical operations;
It can connect to a network of various industrial control devices;
Selection criteria:
Display screen size, color, and resolution;
HMI's processor speed performance;
Input method: Touch screen or membrane keyboard;
Image storage capacity;
The type and number of communication ports, and whether printing functionality is supported, etc.
Does it come with the driver for the device to be connected (such as a PLC)?
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