Tough Computer Components For Tough Environments

As we all sit at our PCs typing away in Word or adding up columns in a spread sheet, we can forget that the humble computer has come a long way in the decades since it was first conceived. Day-to-day use for many people will consist of some pretty mundane tasks such as writing a letter or balancing the books. Sure, some of us will push the boat out and play a few games or chat to our uncle in Canada using Skype, but these tasks are usually done in our nice safe environment. For most, the only danger is a particularly hot cup of coffee.

The PC, however, has many applications from the humble household use all the way up to managing complex systems on a battleship or handling navigation to an army unit in the middle of a desert - in these instances, you can't simply pop to PCWorld to get your kit - you need some specialist equipment.

If you need to utilise software or control hardware in an industrial environment, then you need to consider using an industrial PC or you could end up with less than satisfactory reliability. You may think your PC can withstand the rigours of a day in a factory or on a ship, but given the things floating around in the atmosphere of most factories, you'll likely find they begin to fail alarmingly quickly.

For this reason, whether you're building from scratch or buying complete, you need robust components that are designed for and tested in environments that are likely to destroy most off-the-shelf equipment.

Some of the things that can affect the performance of a PC are:

Chemicals & acid

In a factory or engine room you find all sorts of lubricants and chemicals that are necessary to ensure the safe and smooth running of some high performance machinery. However, many of these products are incredibly acidic and can cause damage to the internal components of a PC. It's not only direct contact though, very often tiny droplets can accumulate over time and eventually eat through some of the sensitive components of a computer resulting in failure.

Water

Perhaps the most overlooked environmental threat (unless you've recently been flooded!), water is the enemy of anything electrical unless it's been well protected. Most computers have a humidity rating because, and many don't understand this, there's water in the air. If the humidity in your environment goes above what your PC is rated for, you will begin to see problems.

Shock

No, you can't frighten your PC, but you can drop it, or even worse, it could be subject to sustained vibration or regular knocks. Drop a normal PC on the floor and it'll likely never switch on again.

So what can you do when you have specialist requirements and need a tough PC to handle it all? Well, the key is in the components and luckily there are solutions for all sorts of applications, whether you're after an industrial computer, touch screen monitor or 1U rack-mount system.

It's rare you can find the exact correct specification of PC you're after, already built and ready to go as many systems are bespoke and designed exactly for the application, so you're going to need to look for a components supplier who can get you all the parts you need.

The correct components together with a rugged chassis will then give you the starting point for the system you need. All you need to do then is marry them up with some sort of display and input device and that's where it gets really interesting.

The humble mouse has come a long way in recent years but as a robust way of moving a pointer around the screen it's fairly lacking. Instead, many companies have done away with them completely and instead invested in touch-screen displays. Touch screen displays have revolutionised the way people work in challenging environments and they enable people to do much more without having to mess with fiddly input devices.

So, if you're looking for an industrial PC that needs to survive in the toughest environments, don't go to the High Street, instead check out more robust solutions that can be found, of course, on the Internet.

Andy is a marketing expert helping to promote the benefits of using properly specified, tested and designed computing products in the industrial arena. Normal computers don't cut it when reliability and usability is required in a tough environment such as a factory or on a boat, so custom industrial computer solutions are the answer. Whether it be a rack mount system or a laptop PC, a rugged solution that has been tested thoroughly will enable you to operate with confidence.

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