Industrial PCs are designed for use in environments where commercial-grade PCs are not suitable. Industrial PCs provide numerous benefits including durability, expandability/ flexibility, extended temperatures of operation and a lower overall cost of ownership.
Most Common Enclosure Materials For Industrial PCs
There are several different enclosure materials available for industrial PCs. For metal enclosures, you can find aluminum and stainless steel in there and plastic is also popular to manufactured in. What is the difference between them? Let’s break down a little bit to find out their pros and cons.
Pros & Cons of Aluminum, Stainless Steel and Plastic
Metal enclosures provide many benefits that other materials don't. Let’s focus on aluminum and stainless steel comparison at first.
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Strength and Weight. Aluminum is typically not as strong as stainless steel, but it is almost one-third of the weight of stainless steel. This is why an aluminum alloy enclosure is usually lighter than the stainless steel one.
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Corrosion. Aluminum has a high oxidation and corrosion resistance mainly due to its passivation layer while stainless steel contains chromium which has corrosion resistance properties. Usually, an aluminum alloy enclosure is more suitable for industry requiring chemistry resistant abilities.
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Thermal Conductivity. Aluminum has a much better thermal conductivity than stainless steel and that gives it a better heat dissipation efficiency.
Feature products: BCE Series
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Cost. Aluminum is typically cheaper than stainless steel.
What about plastic enclosure when it is compared to a metal enclosure?
Pros for plastic enclosures:
Plastic enclosures are less expensive and lighter than metal so it's cost-effective. Plastics have a clean, smooth surface that tends to be easy to clean, look professional and work well where they have high visibility and aesthetics are important.
Cons of plastic enclosures:
Plastics have limited chemical resistance relative to metal so it is less suitable for a chemical-related industry where needs lots of chemistry cleaning.
How Different Industrial PCs Are Applied In Industry
You can find Industrial PCs in different systems such as Panel PC, Embedded Box PC, Rugged Tablet PC, Touch Display Monitors and so on.
A Panel PC is a perfect solution for digital signage as an advertising strategy to attract customer's attention. MTG's WCS Series is featured with its galvanized metal housing and it can protect the system from rusting for being exposed to moisture, it is a great fit for indoor wayfinding signage, POS system and self-service kiosk.
In a healthcare environment, medical personnel is always on the go and it would be helpful for them to have a mobile tablet pc for exchanging the latest patient information in time. MTG's MMS Series is specially built for medical usage. The plastic enclosure has a smooth surface that tends to be easy to clean and assures medical devices to be maintained in the presence of electromagnetic disturbances.
Some industrial computing applications require that the computer operates in extreme temperatures. MTG's BPC Line is a fanless system with aluminum housing and that enables better heat dissipation efficiency to meet the temperature requirement without failure.
A Panel PC is a perfect solution for digital signage as an advertising strategy to attract customer's attention. MTG's WCS Series is featured with its galvanized metal housing and it can protect the system from rusting for being exposed to moisture, it is a great fit for indoor wayfinding signage, POS system and self-service kiosk.
Feature products: WCS/WCA Series
In a healthcare environment, medical personnel is always on the go and it would be helpful for them to have a mobile tablet pc for exchanging the latest patient information in time. MTG's MMS Series is specially built for medical usage. The plastic enclosure has a smooth surface that tends to be easy to clean and assures medical devices to be maintained in the presence of electromagnetic disturbances.
Feature products: MMS0700
Some industrial computing applications require that the computer operates in extreme temperatures. MTG's BPC Line is a fanless system with aluminum housing and that enables better heat dissipation efficiency to meet the temperature requirement without failure.
MACTRON GROUP(MTG) has a comprehensive product line of Industrial PCs that are specifically built for your different industry usage, Contact us to find the right products for your workplace.