Industrial control

In the industrial control field, chips are widely used, for example, an industrial computer will use many chips and components. An industrial computer, also known as an industrial PC, is a computer specifically designed for industrial applications. It is also a computer, but it has its own design technology and standards. An IPC needs to have strong anti-interference ability and be able to withstand vibration, dust, moisture, electromagnetic radiation, etc. in harsh indoor and outdoor industrial environments. Industrial computers can be divided into five types according to the application scenarios: IPC (PC bus industrial computer), PLC (programmable control system), DCS (distributed control system), FCS (fieldbus system), and CNC (numerical control system). Industrial computers can also be divided into categories according to the height of the chassis, such as 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U, 5U, 6U, 7U, and 8U, where 1U is 44.5mm high, and the other heights are calculated accordingly; the width of the rack-mounted units is also standardized, with the chassis having a uniform width of 430mm and a width with handles of 482mm, which is called a 19-inch rack-mounted chassis. Industrial computers can also be divided into desktop, wall-mounted, and embedded industrial computers according to the installation method. Industrial computers can be divided into industrial computers based on the architecture of the main control chip, such as X86, ARM, RISC-V, and Loongson architecture. The hardware composition of industrial control computers (IPCs) is similar to that of personal computers, consisting of a motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive, graphics card, sound card, power supply, cooling fan, interfaces and connectors, button battery, and resistors and capacitors. The interface types used in IPCs for different scenarios are also different. Common interface types include COM ports, VGA interfaces, RS-232/485 interfaces, LAN interfaces, CAN interfaces, USB interfaces, audio interfaces, HDMI interfaces, Profinet interfaces, PCI/PCI-E interfaces, and SATA interfaces. Developing and designing an IPC, the industrial control motherboard is the core. Based on the actual application scenarios and the fragmented needs of customers, each industrial control computer manufacturer also sells industrial control core boards, which are more convenient for customers to customize. When an engineer develops an IPC, the design of the industrial control motherboard and the selection of components are particularly important.

There are many chips and components on an industrial motherboard, which need to be selected in advance during the research and development process. The selection process for industrial motherboard R&D takes longer to ensure that the product can work in harsh conditions, with high reliability of components being the top priority. In simple terms, the components on an industrial motherboard need to be able to adapt to a wide temperature range, so industrial-grade materials with a temperature range of -40°C to 85°C must be selected. Intel, AMD, VIA, Loongson, Phytium, and Zhaocheng have all launched industrial-grade chips from the original manufacturers. In addition, industrial-grade solid-state capacitors, sealed inductors, and resistors must be selected, as well as specialized components for applications requiring high temperatures, humidity resistance, and moisture sensitivity. For example, components with a moisture sensitivity level (MSL) of 2 or higher are needed, or specifically designed for waterproof applications. This can effectively ensure normal operation in harsh environments (during the lifetime of continuous operation, adverse weather, humidity, vibration, dust, radiation, and high temperatures) The industrial control motherboard uses high-quality surface-mounted solid-state capacitors, tantalum, and ceramic capacitors, even if electrolytic capacitors are used, the quality, performance, and lifespan requirements are much higher than those of consumer electronics products. Nowadays, industrial control motherboards are basically all using solid-state capacitors, especially the mid-to-high-end ones. Commercial motherboards generally use a large number of pin-type electrolytic capacitors, because electrolytic capacitors are cheaper, have a larger capacitance, and one can replace multiple chip or tantalum capacitors. In terms of properties, electrolytic capacitors are less stable than tantalum capacitors and ceramic capacitors, have a shorter lifespan, and are not as good at withstanding high temperatures. Chip capacitors are more stable than pin-type capacitors. In terms of price, tantalum capacitors are more expensive than ordinary electrolytic capacitors, and since tantalum capacitors have a smaller capacitance, more capacitors are needed when used on a motherboard, making the cost of tantalum capacitors tens of times that of electrolytic capacitors. This is one of the reasons why industrial control motherboards are more expensive than commercial motherboards. As more and more domestic solid-state capacitor manufacturers emerge and the price of solid-state capacitors drops, high-end commercial motherboards are now using solid-state capacitors as well. The industrial motherboard uses a 6-layer or more PCB design, which is designed to enhance the motherboard's resistance to electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility, improve stability, and so on. The industrial motherboard is designed for the industrial market, and has higher requirements for resistance to electromagnetic interference. It needs to pass EMI, EMC tests and certification. This requires consideration from two aspects, one is from the motherboard's layout design, the other is from the selection of materials and structure of the case, power supply, and grounding.

The lifespan of industrial motherboards is closely related to the chips and components. Unlike commercial motherboards with a lifespan of two to three years, most industrial motherboards require a lifespan of more than 3 years, and some high-quality industrial motherboards even require a lifespan of 5 years or more.Industrial motherboards are required to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without interruption. It is inevitable to encounter system crashes. Therefore, industrial motherboards need to be designed to consider deadlocks and other abnormal situations, with special power protection, watchdog circuits, and anti-surge impact functions to ensure the high stability requirements in harsh environments. The fragmented industrial computer market also makes the gross profit margin of industrial computer chips much higher than that of commercial-grade chips. There are CPU vendors such as Intel, AMD, VIA, Loongson, Phytium, Huawei Pengpeng, Zhejiang Guoxin, Suzhou Guoxin, Shenwei, and HaiGuang in the industrial computer chip industry; there are MCU vendors such as NXP, Analog Devices, Infineon, Renesas, STMicroelectronics, Microchip, RISC-V, Allwinner, JHICC, Huawei Pengpeng, and Zhongguancun Microelectronics; there are DSP vendors such as Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, NXP, JinXin, HongYun, ChuangChengwei, HaoXin; There are FPGA vendors such as Intel/Altera, AMD/Xilinx, Lattice, Microchip/Microsemi, Achronix, Everspin, Allwinner, Jingweiqi, Fudan Microelectronics, Zhaowangguo, Ziguang, and ZhiDuojing; and industrial-grade memory or hard disk vendors such as Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Western Digital, Shimmy Technology, Micron, ALLIANCE, Ruida, Commsilicon, Apacer, Jingyong, Creative Technology, Advantech, AcBel, Compal, Lite-On, Transcend, Apacer, Baiwei, Kingtec, Tianxin, Zhiyu, ForeSee, Jiahejingwei, Shenzhen Yuncun, Dapuwei, Shiqian, Jiuhe, etc.