Fanless DIN rail computers support the open architecture in which it provides easy installation inside the control cabinet racks of industrial applications. Industries like city surveillance, agriculture, and facility management often time utilize fanless DIN rail PCs to fit into limited spaces while performing various controls and computing tasks. Moreover, fanless DIN rail PCs are highly robust for DIN rail deployments within extreme environments, thanks to their fanless technologies. But, how do fanless DIN rail PCs work? They work by allowing DIN rail embedded systems to operate without any fans. The fanless DIN rail PCs are attached to the global industry-standard metal strip (DIN rail) when operating within space-constrained industrial DIN rail applications. Therefore, here in this blog, we will guide you to fully understand what Fanless DIN rail PC is and what makes fanless technologies so special.
What is a DIN rail?
A DIN rail is an international standard-sized long metal strip used as a mechanical support structure for mounting industrial equipment, including industrial PCs DIN rails are made from a cold-rolled carbon steel sheet with a zinc-plated material to resist the high operating temperatures from the computers. DIN rails play a crucial role when it comes to computer installations in factory equipment setups because it provides easy system maintenance and operational efficiency for many automation lines. Furthermore, DIN rails are used in cabinet racks to conserve space for industrial applications that require compact, rugged solutions such as railway and assembly line equipment. Overall, the DIN Rail standard allows for industrial PC manufacturers to design solutions that can mount easily in industrial infrastructure already using DIN rail setups.
A Fanless DIN rail PC is an example of a computing solution that supports DIN Rail mounting. Its fanless design and compact size complement various industrial applications that benefit from DIN Rail mounting. In addition, the fanless design takes up less space compared to standard commercial PCs because of the elimination of an active spinning fan.
How Does a DIN Rail PC work?
A DIN rail mount PC usually operates inside a control cabinet rack to simplify system monitoring and maintenance. The fanless mountable DIN rail PCs use adaptors or mounting kits as the link between the computers and DIN rail mounts. This adaptor will be mounted on the bottom of the computer, enabling the computer to be attached to the DIN rail directly. Here at Premio, we provide various ruggedized fanless DIN rail PC and DIN rail mounting kits.
Which DIN Rail Type Is The Best?
There are three different types of DIN rails you can find in various industrial deployments; the G-rails, top-hat rails, and C-rails. G-rail is the strongest DIN rail type among the three. G-rail is a DIN rail type that provides extra support to mount larger and heavier components such as Fanless industrial computers. While the top-hat Rail is the most common, it is not the strongest and is oftentimes used for lighter electrical equipment installations. Finally, the C-rails are stronger than the top rails, but they are no longer used to mount equipment than the other two types of DIN Rails.
In addition, the G-rail shape DIN rail prevents computers from being installed upside down, and their robustness has made G-rail the best option for industrial applications. As a result, Premio provides the G-rail type DIN rail for the strongest and most durable fanless DIN rail PCs. That said, let's go further to understand more about Fanless DIN rail PCs and what makes fanless technologies distinctive for industrial deployments.
What Is a Fanless DIN rail Industrial Computer?
Fanless DIN rail Industrial PCs refer to industrial DIN rail PCs that are built with passive cooling technologies and can mount on DIN rails. Fanless DIN rail PCs utilize heat sinks and heat pipes to dissipate heat away from critical components in the system design. Fanless DIN rail PCs offer distinct advantages and features that make them superior to standard commercial PCs for applications that use DIN rail mounting. For example, some organizations use fanless DIN rail mountable computers for PC-based control systems to replace legacy PLC controllers for industrial automation and control applications. Fanless DIN rail PCs are great replacement options because they offer open architecture and industrial-grade ruggedization in compact form factors. As a result, DIN rail embedded PCs have been widely used as system controllers and communication gateways for monitoring and control systems in factory automation setups.
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How Do Fanless Technologies Work?
Fanless DIN rail computers utilize a passive cooling mechanism that uses ultra-conductive heatsinks and heat pipes located on the hottest part of the computer (CPU). Heatsink and heat pipes consist of ultra-conductive materials, such as aluminum and copper, which help dissipate the heat up to the outer portion of the computer in an efficient manner. In addition, the heavy-metal chassis acts as a giant heatsink to dissipate heat away from the computer. Furthermore, the fanless design allows the computer enclosure design to be much smaller due to the elimination of a physical fan. This feature allows the computer to be deployed in tight din-rail spaces with little to no ventilation.
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Features of DIN Rail mountable PCs
Easy Installation
Industrial DIN rail PCs can be mounted into the DIN rail with just a snap or a slide eliminating the need for a different mounting option. In addition, fanless DIN-Rail PCs can be conveniently organized, which brings ease to maintenance and monitoring processes. Overall, the installation process enables easy integration, replacement, and upgrades in the future.
Space Saving
With the integration of DIN rail in the cabinet rack, DIN rail mountable computers can be organized in countless configurations. Moreover, DIN rail PC mounting allows tight configurations and provides more spaces for wiring circuits. Premio's compact and rugged, fanless DIN rail PCs can seamlessly fit into the DIN rail cabinet racks.
Cost-Effective
Fanless DIN rail industrial computers are organized in a high-density adjacent mounting, reducing the wiring and cabinet space needed for applications that use DIN Rail mounting. As a result, industrial fanless DIN rail industrial PCs are designed to mount with DIN rail mounting standards and do not require additional mounting; ultimately, this saves on additional costs for mounting hardware.
Advantages of Fanless DIN Rail PCs
The fanless design of ruggedized DIN rail PCs is highly essential to allow smooth operations and longevity during extreme industrial deployments. Not only does it help to dissipate the heat effectively, but passive cooling architecture brings several advantages that enable the computer to operate in harsh industrial applications.
Compact Form Factor
The compact size of the DIN rail computers enables easy installation and uninstallation, especially in a space-limited area like the cabinet racks. Without adding fans within the system, fanless DIN rail PCs can have a much smaller form factor compared to commercial PCs with active cooling fans and venting holes.
Shock and Vibration Resistance
Mobile applications like intelligent transportation often encounter high levels of shock and vibrations. These environmental occurrences can cause failure to standard commercial computers. Fanless DIN-rail industrial computers are designed to withstand such harsh challenges by incorporating fanless architecture, cableless designs, and SSDs storage drives. These features eliminate moving components altogether, reducing the number of components susceptible to shock and vibrations. Furthermore, being built with industrial-grade materials provide a robust structure that can withstand 50G of shock and 5Grms of vibrations amid industrial operations. Some of Premio's fanless DIN rail mountable computers even comply with the MIL-STD-810G military standard in shock and vibration, indicating a computer's ability to be used in the toughest environments.
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Wide Temperature Range
Premio's fanless DIN rail PCs are designed to withstand a wide range of operating temperatures ranging from –40°C to 70°C. Especially with the help of its fanless design, Premio's fanless DIN rail mountable computers are capable of being deployed in environments with extreme temperatures while maintaining high-performance reliability.
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IP Ratings for Dust and Debris
The fanless design is fully air-tight, which is capable of protecting the system from dust ingress that may jeopardize the computer's electrical components. Moreover, DIN rail mountable PCs applications like intelligent transportation or smart agriculture require computers to operate in wet and dirty environments. Therefore, the fanless design prevents the inflow of dust and foreign particles into the computer system by removing ventilation holes required with active fan cooling.
Where Do You Use Fanless DIN rail PCs?
In most cases, Fanless DIN rail embedded computers are often deployed in space-constraint environments, such as cabinet racks close to automation lines. Moreover, compact and fanless designs are essential in ensuring that the computers fit in the tight space while maintaining high-performance operations. Therefore, fanless DIN rail PCs can be deployed within various industrial applications such as:
- Intelligent Transportation
- Power Plant Automation
- City Surveillance
- Agriculture Automation
- Facility Management
What are the Different Types of Fanless DIN Rail PC?
There are various types of Fanless DIN rail PC based on their sizes and specifications. Here at Premio, we provide different types of ruggedized fanless DIN-Rail computers to meet your specific industrial requirements based on the applications and workloads.
Small Form Factors Fanless DIN Rail Computers | RCO-1000 Series
RCO-1000 series is incredibly compact; these fanless DIN rail mountable computers are the smallest type of fanless DIN-Rail PC; it comes in a form factor of 5.91" X 4.13" X 1.46". The ultra-compact size makes the RCO-1000 series easy to mount onto the DIN rails with tight spaces. In addition, RCO-1000 comes with Intel Celeron J1900, ideal for processing entry-level workloads. Here are the key features of RCO-1000 series:
- Intel Celeron J1900, Quad Core, 2.0GHz
- 2x RS-232/422/485, 1x USB 3.0, 3x USB 2.0
- 1x SATA HDD Bay, 1x mSATA, 2x SIM socket
- 3x Universal I/O Bracket (LAN, PoE, COM, USB)
- -40°C to 70°C Operating Temperature
In-vehicle Fanless DIN Rail PC | ACO-3000 Series
The ACO-3000 series fanless DIN-Rail PC is built specifically for in-vehicle applications. It includes the M12 connectors that enable waterproof systems to secure the computers for outdoor industrial workloads with heavy water exposure. Here are the key features of the ACO-3000 series:
- Intel Core™ i5-5350U, i3-5010U, or Celeron® 3765U
- Power Ignition Management
- 1x Universal I/O Bracket (LAN, PoE, M12, 10GbE, USB)
- 2x external SIM Slots
- -40 °C to 70 °C Operating Temperature
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Industrial Automation Fanless DIN Rail PC | RCO-6000-KBL
RCO-6000-KBL series is suitable for heavy computing workloads with powerful computing solutions that can be DIN rail mounted. This series of Premio's computers are built with the powerful 7th Gen Intel Kaby Lake processor. Here are the key features of RCO-6000-KBL:
- LGA 1151 socket for 6th/7th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 Processor
- 2x Universal I/O Bracket (LAN, PoE, M12, 10GbE, USB)
- Triple Independent Display
- 4x Full-size Mini PCIe, 4x SIM Socket
- -25 °C to 70 °C Operating Temperature
Learn More About RCO-6000 Series
Machine Vision Fanless DIN Rail PC | VCO-6000-KBL
VCO-6000-KBL series is specifically designed to be DIN Rail mounted for machine vision applications. This series supports the powerful 7th Gen Intel Kaby Lake processor with triple independent displays for multiple display outputs. Here are the key features of VCO-6000-KBL:
- LGA 1151 socket for 7th and 6th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor
- Expandable Multiple PCI/PCIe Slots
- Triple Independent Display Supported by 1x DVI-I and 2x DisplayPort
- 3x full-size Mini PCIe
- -25°C to 70°C Operating Temperature
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Why Premio?
With all that being said, the next step is to choose the best fanless DIN-Rail computers for your most robust industrial DIN rail applications. Here at Premio, we have been designing and manufacturing top-notch rugged industrial computers for over 30 years in the United States. Contact us to learn more about fanless DIN Rail computers and how you can use them in your industrial computing deployments.
