Industrial PCs are used in a large range of fields including automation, AI, IIoT, data acquisition and analysis, cloud, and edge computing. The demand for industrial PCs is currently high and, according to market research, is set to grow over the next few years.
Figure 1. ModBlox7 example layout.
Currently there is a huge number of manufacturers with equally different products in terms of performance, interfaces, market qualification, and mechanics. Many of these are proprietary to its own product family.
The ModBlox7 specification is set to change this by offering the advantages of modular systems with highly integrated box PCs. The increased demand for space-, size- and weight-optimised industrial PCs, combined with the lack of interoperability and flexibility of the current offering, formed the motivation for the ModBlox7 specification.
Figure 2. Standard and redundant architectures.
Based on a modular and flexible IPC system, every functional unit like the PSU, CPU, and I/Os can be combined in multiple ways to form an individual system. The system offers different mounting options like wall, DIN-Rail or 19-inch rack and comes with standard mechanical and electrical interconnection between functional units. For high availability solutions, redundant architectures can also be realised.
Benefits to having a modular approach are:
• Cost saving, as only units needed are purchased.
• Scalability at lowest space requirements.
• Interoperability between different manufacturers.
• Easy design of redundant architecture.
The ModBlox7 standard is expected to be released early in 2023.
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