PCs in Industry - Protecting Your Hardware


by Richard N Williams - Date: 2008-05-28 - Word Count: 410 Share This!

Noteverybody is fortunate to work in an air-conditioned office, many of us have toendure warehouses and factory floors which can be dusty and grimy; often bakingin the summer and freezing during the winter and full of potential hazards.

Of courseour employers are at liberty to keep us protected. Overalls are provided tokeep our clothes clean, jackets to keep us warm while hard hats and toeprotection is now a legal requirement in many workplaces.

Obviouslyemployees are a company's greatest asset and only a fool or bad businessman wouldneglect the welfare of their staff. Yet with many more tasks and processesbeing automated, more and more computers are being utilized in these sorts ofenvironments.

Of courseIT and technological systems can be a great asset, reducing production timesand increasing productivity, but computer hardware can also be a substantialinvestment - especially if they have to keep being repaired or replaced due tothe nature of the environment they are situated

Computersare fragile pieces of technology, designed to work at optimum conditions andtemperatures the opposite of the conditions in most warehouse, factories andproduction plants.

Dust canclog the keyboard and mouse making them unusable, whilst also blocking filtersand clogging up the PC and causing it to overheat and often short circuit.Whilst the cold can freeze circuits destroying processors and data stored ondrives while the heat can be even worse as it can actually melt the processorsand sensitive hard drive.

Even ifyour warehouse has adequate heating and air-conditioning, knocks and bangs fromfork lifts and pallet trucks could easily wreck a machine whilst spilt fluidscan cause instant short circuits and even fires!

Fortunately,there are plenty of solutions available. Specialist industrial PCs areavailable but can be very expensive, particularly if you regularly upgrade yourIT and have to replace them but cheaper alternatives in the form of dust coversand water and dustproof keyboards.

However, byfar the best way of ensuring trouble free computing even in extreme conditionssuch as freezers and ovens, is to use specially designed industrial PC enclosures. These are often air sealed and completely water and dust proof and canoften contain heaters or air conditioners to assist in temperature control.They also have the benefit of being able to house conventional PCs so there is needto keep buying specialist equipment.

Made fromdurable metals including food grade stainless steel, a decent enclosure shouldbe able to withstand even the most ineffectual forklift driver, some are evenbombproof! Many companies opt to store their IT in these enclosures even whenthe working environments are not particularly hostile.

 

 

 

 

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Richard N Williams is a technical author and aspecialist in the industrial computer industry helping to develop industrial pcenclosures and protection for all environments.Please visit us for more information about industrial computer solutions.

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