In, out, and about HMI: touchscreens, industrial monitors debut
Among noteworthy HMI-related products debuting this month are touchscreens from Touch International that use infrared technology, a stainless-steel bezel panel PC with detachable LCD monitor and modular computer from Arista Corp., and an industrial computer integrated with an LCD touchscreen monitor from Eurotherm.
IRTouch touchscreens from Touch International use infrared technology to provide a stable, maintenance-free, and calibration-free solution for industrial display applications.
Among noteworthy HMI-related products debuting this month are touchscreens from Touch International that use infrared technology, a stainless-steel bezel panel PC with detachable LCD monitor and modular computer from Arista Corp. , and an industrial computer integrated with an LCD touchscreen monitor from Eurotherm . Following are details about each of these introductions along with links to manufacturers’ Web sites
IRTouch touchscreens from Touch International use infrared technology to provide a stable, maintenance-free, and calibration-free solution for industrial process control and point-of-sale (POS) display applications. Touchscreens are highly transparent and feature high resolution. With no films or conductive layers, they achieve a standard transparency of more than 92%. According to the manufacturer, the touchscreens’ optical and mechanical designs perform well in any indoor or outdoor ambient light.
ARP-1717AX Panel PC from Arista Corp. has a NEMA 4x stainless-steel bezel panel mount 17-in. LCD and features an intuitive touchscreen interface.
“There have been significant advances made in infrared technology since it was first introduced to the market in the late 1970s,” noted Gary Barrett, Touch International’s chief technology officer. “There were issues in earlier versions with dead spaces or false touches when dust accumulated or objects landed on the infrared transmissive bezel. This would stop the technology from working properly. Today’s firmware, advances in materials and science, and automated gain controls have obviated those problems.”
OPtima Touch computer from Eurotherm has an integral LCD touchscreen monitor to serve as a general purpose HMI.
ARP-1717AX Panel PC with a NEMA 4x stainless steel bezel panel mount 17-in. LCD is the latest addition to Arista Corp .’s all-in-one panel PC line. Device has a modular computer unit that can be easily removed from the display to allow easy maintenance or upgrade. It features an intuitive touchscreen interface and can be integrated seamlessly into any environment. The Series, says the manufacturer, is designed for flexibility, versatility, and easy servicing, and can be upgraded quickly. OPtima Touch compact industrial computer from Eurotherm integrates an LCD touchscreen monitor to serve as a general purpose HMI. Unit comes standard with Microsoft Windows XP operating system and can be custom configured with several HMI software packages. It has an ambient operating temperature range of 32-122 °F and a low component count circuit design. An on-board 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port, two USB ports, three RS-232 serial ports (one configurable as an RS-232/422/485 port), one parallel and separate PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports accommodate expansion. Additional device or control bus networks can be added in the half-length 32-bit PCI card slot.
—Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, Control Engineering, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com
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