What are classifications of industrial computers and motherboards?

What are the classifications of industrial computers and motherboards?

Industrial computer is the abbreviation of industrial control computer.
Industrial personal computers are generally used in special industrial environments such as high temperature, low temperature, humidity, salt spray, dust, and electromagnetic interference. They generally have metal appearance, three-proof design. The industrial computer is a hardware carrier controlled by a computer in the field of industrial control.

Classification of industrial computer

1. 4U industrial computer

4U industrial computer refers to a 19-inch rack-mounted industrial computer with a height of 4U and an ATX architecture.
U is a unit representing the external size of the server, which is an abbreviation of unit, and the detailed size is determined by the American Electronics Industries Association (EIA). The reason why the size of the server is specified is to keep the server at the appropriate size to be placed in an iron or aluminum rack. There are screw holes for fixing the server on the rack, so that it can be aligned with the screw holes of the server, and then fixed with screws to facilitate the space required for installing each server.
The specified dimensions are the width (48.26cm = 19 inches) and height (multiples of 4.445cm) of the server. Because the width is 19 inches, a rack that meets this requirement is sometimes called a "19-inch rack." The basic unit of thickness is 4.445cm. 1U is 4.445cm and 2U is 8.89cm.

The "1U PC server" refers to a product whose shape meets the EIA specification and has a thickness of 4.445cm. Products designed to fit into a 19-inch rack are generally referred to as rack servers. 4U industrial computer has a wide range of applications in the field of industrial control.

2. BOX PC (fanless industrial computer)

Generally known as fanless industrial computer.
Due to its small size, fanless, and maintenance-free, the fanless industrial computer has a wider range of applications. Thanks to the improvement of chip process and CPU performance, the small fanless industrial computer can completely replace the 4U industrial computer in terms of function and performance. 

Traditional industrial control generally does not have high requirements for performance. Because it is reliability not performance of the industrial computer that is essential for processing the control signals and sensor information of the lower computer.

Therefore, many 4U IPCs and fanless IPCs actually run in a light-load and low-power consumption mode.
With the rise of edge computing, industrial computers need to process images and video signals on the edge side, and even do a certain degree of training and reasoning operations. This type of machine vision industrial computer usually maximizes the performance of the computer, and the power consumption will also be greatly increased. Therefore, the industrial computer with a fan that enhances heat dissipation appears.
Unlike the 4U industrial computer, the heat dissipation airflow of such an industrial computer will not pass through the motherboard (PCBA), so the humid airflow with conductive particles will not cause a short circuit on the motherboard or damage other electrical components. The modular fan can be replaced without opening the case, which makes maintenance easier while improving performance.

3. Industrial tablet (human-machine interface)

Industrial tablet PC is a common industrial control computer on industrial equipment.
Similar to commercial all-in-one PCs with screens, industrial tablet PCs focus more on safety and stability in different environments. It provides an excellent solution for human-machine interface and production process control.
Different from general commercial computers, industrial panel computer series products have the characteristics of firmness, shockproof, moistureproof, dustproof, high temperature resistance, multi-slot and easy expansion according to environment. They are ideal hardware carrier in industrial control automation field. According to different functions, Industrial tablet PC can select different processors, screens of different sizes and different industrial software.

4. Rugged industrial computer

In order to adapt to various harsh environments, various factors that affect the performance of the computer, such as system structure, electrical characteristics, and mechanical physical structure, are strengthened and reinforced when designing the computer.
Features: strong environmental adaptability, high reliability, high maintainability, strong real-time processing capability, serialization, standardization, modularization.

Classification of industrial control motherboards

The industrial control motherboard is a motherboard used in industrial occasions. It is adopted by industrial computers. It can adapt to harsh environments according to requirements and can work under high load for a long time.
The components of an industrial motherboard are very similar to those of a commercial motherboard. But they have many differences. The key difference lies in the concept of design and verification of its industrial motherboard. The usual industrial computer needs to work 7x24 hours in a harsh environment for 5 to 10 years. At the same time, it will be in a complex environment with high temperature, low temperature, humidity, haze. Compared with the working range of 0-40 °C for consumer electronics, industrial-grade components need to operate in a wide temperature range from -40 °C to +85 °C, while automotive-grade components have higher requirements.

1. Industrial formwork (ATX, ITX)

Industrial motherboards also have ATX and ITX specifications, which are mainly used for rack-mounted industrial computers such as 4U industrial computers. Industrial motherboards eliminate some unnecessary additional components on commercial motherboards, and increase the necessary industrial interfaces and expansion space.
In addition, due to the design of industrial motherboards and the standard form, their overall cost is lower in the long run, making them easier to upgrade and maintain. They are designed for industrial applications, so versatility and durability will be considered.

2. Embedded single boards such as 3.5-inch board/2.5-inch board/5-inch board

Small form motherboards are available in different sizes to match many industrial applications. So starting from Mini-ITX, there are also 3.5-inch boards/2.5-inch boards. The small size allows this motherboard to be directly embedded in some industrial equipment, or installed in a fanless industrial computer.

3. Calculation module

3.1 COM refers to Computer On Module.
The COM Express specification is a modular computer specification (also known as COM.0) developed by PICMG. COM Express is sometimes abbreviated as COM-E or COMe. A motherboard that conforms to the COMe specification is called a COMe module. COMe has multiple specifications such as TYPE6, 7, and 10. TYPE6 has two sizes: compact 95*95mm and basic 125*95mm. Type 10 is 84*55mm. TYPE7 is the same size as TYPE6, but the interface resources are different.

3.2 SMARC

SMARC is a general definition of a small computer on a module, and its target applications are those requiring low power consumption, low cost and high performance.
These modules typically use ARM SOCs or identical to those used in many familiar devices such as tablets and smartphones. Other low-power SOCs and CPUs such as X86 devices for tablets and other RISC CPUs can also be used. The power of the modules is usually below 6W.

3.3 Qseven

The standard, called Qseven, targets ultra-portable mobile embedded processors. Unlike previous COM standards, Qseven is designed for low-power applications that meet the stringent requirements of mobile and ultra-portable mobile applications.

3.4 CPCI motherboard

The CPCI motherboard is similar to the plug-in motherboard, and the motherboard and function cards are also inserted into the backplane in parallel for use. However, there is no gold finger on the CPCI motherboard, and a more reliable CPCI connector is used to connect to the backplane. The CPCI connector is connected to the PCB by crimping, and the soldering design has higher reliability. A 6U motherboard can be equipped with up to 5 CPCI connectors, and a 3U motherboard can be equipped with a maximum of 2 CPCI connectors. The relative positions and position numbers of CPCI connectors are fixed, which are J1~J5 respectively. 3U CPCI supports 32-bit PCI bus, and 6U CPCI supports 64-bit PCI bus.