Moxa white paper

Industrial Computer Hardware

Computer and peripheral suppliers

I/O sensor/computer interfacing suppliers

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January 2011 Industrial Computer Hardware

Bruce Chen, project supervisor, Moxa

How to build industrial computers that resist vibration and shock for rolling stock applications.

Industrial computers need to be designed to withstand vibration and shock, which are a fact of life in many industrial applications. Manufacturers need to deliver a product that is rugged, hardened, and reliable to a degree beyond the consumer standard. These requirements exist because industrial computers are often deployed in severe conditions and harsh environments, sometimes even on moving vehicles. One key industrial requirement is vibration and shock resistance, which allows industrial computers to operate in truly extreme conditions.

There are some industrial applications, such as rolling stock, where vibration and shock are the most significant factors affecting the stability and reliability of system operations. Computers in rolling stock applications are deployed on moving objects that rattle and shake, so anti-vibration and anti-shock technology is a central requirement. Certain rolling stock applications, such as network video recording (NVR) systems, specifically need high storage capacity to record and store surveillance video images. Hard disks would be the most reasonable and cost-effective way to store all of this data, but deploying hard disks in a high-vibration high-shock environment, such as on a bus, train, or truck, is a significant challenge.

An effective industrial computing system needs to approach anti-vibration and anti-shock from a comprehensive system-wide perspective. A thorough understanding of the narrow component perspective is important, but it is also important to understand how each component fits together into the big picture of a broader anti-vibration and anti-shock technology. This means that hardware, thermal design, and component engineers need to collaborate to create the optimal, integrated system solution.

Physically, there are two kinds of vibrations: free vibration and forced vibration. Free vibration occurs when a mechanical system is acted on by an initial input and then allowed to vibrate freely. Forced vibration occurs when an oscillating force or motion is applied to a mechanical system.

This white paper first explains some background about the physics behind vibration and shock, and then explores the specific mechanisms and technology used to build an industrial computer with high resilience against vibration and shock.

Readers interested in the strategies for building ruggedised industrial computers can find the full white paper at http://instrumentation.co.za/+C14597

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