An industrial computer is just the same as a conventional PC, only they are designed and built to withstand many of the harsh elements of industrial environments. Industrial areas contain many of things that computers and other sensitive electrical items struggle to cope with.
Water is prevalent in many industrial areas particularly those that process food products and water and computers do not mix well together. Water, if it penetrates a computer or other electrical item; will instantly short circuit it and probably render the device inoperable in the future.
For this reason many industrial computers are designed as waterproof computers. They are built intrinsically sealed to prevent any ingress of water and a potential short circuit.
Another major constituent of industrial areas is the prevalence of dust. Dust is generated from all sorts of industrial processes from grinding and polishing to simple cleaning. Dust can clog filters and encase an electrical item like a PC and over-insulate it causing it to overheat. Another aspect of dust is that it can contain many elements including conductive particles. When these dust particles penetrate an electrical item, such as an industrial computer this will also cause a short circuit for this reason Industrial computers are built also as dustproof computers.
Heavy impacts are another peril of the industrial workplace. No matter how carefully areas are marked accidents involving forklifts and other heavy machinery Is still common. A swipe from a forklift will finish off a PC so Industrial computers are built solid state (without moving parts) to ensure they are rugged enough to withstand impacts.
An industrial computer is therefore well suited to the environment that it has to work in but all this protection does come with a cost; flexibility.
The unfortunate problem with an industrial computer is because they are intrinsically sealed to make them waterproof and dustproof and because they are solid state to withstand heavy impacts, this makes them incredibly difficult to repair or upgrade. If an industrial computer goes down a specialist engineer has to be called to open up or take-away the intrinsically sealed unit. This obviously costs in down production time. Also because of these difficulties industrial computers are built with outdated technology and older versions of software to maximise their reliability. This obviously makes them less efficient than their desktop counterparts.
Fortunately a solution to this problem is in the guise of an industrial computer enclosure. These industrial cabinets can house an ordinary off-the-shelf desktop PC but protect them to the same standards as an industrial computer preventing ingress of dust and water and providing protective armour against heavy impact.
These industrial computer enclosures can house any type of PC and monitor, mouse, keyboard combination and the units can be replaced simply, easily and without the hassle and cost of expensive downtime.
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