Editor's Pick: Featured Product News

Beckhoff: C60xx Ultra-Compact Industrial PCs

Extremely space-saving and flexible

The C60xx series of scalable ultra-compact Industrial PCs combines maximum computing power in what is currently the most compact format with a wide range of options for installation in the control cabinet. It is ideally suited for control, visualization and communication, for example into the cloud.

The latest Intel processors − in three different performance classes, from the Intel Atom with one core to the Intel Core i7 with eight cores – offer maximum scalability and power density with an optimal price-performance ratio.

Performance classes and application areas

The C601x series offers Intel Atom computing power for a wide range of automation and visualization tasks. Due to their impressive computing power in relation to their size, the PCs are mainly suited for use in Industrie 4.0 applications, for example as an IoT gateway.

The C603x series unites high-performance Intel Core-i processors with extremely compact housing dimensions. The processors from the 65 W class have only been used in the much larger ATX-based Industrial PCs up to now. The devices thus represent a new dimension in terms of power density. They are suitable above all for particularly complex automation and visualization tasks, but also for a wide range of other applications in the field of image processing, the handling of large volumes of data and in the IoT environment.

The C602x series is the link between the C601x and the C603x, and the fanless integration of Intel Core-i-U processors of the 15 W class opens up new application areas and options.

Read More

Article Feature - Monthly Industry Focus

Digital Control Cabinet “Right on a Desktop”

For their next meeting with an OEM or system integrator, can panel builders simply grab their smartphone and project the digital prototype of a control cabinet onto the desk of the managing director? Or right into the customer’s production facility? This admittedly sounds fantastical – but is already a reality. The new augmented reality (AR) add-on for the EPLAN eVIEW Free cloud software, in combination with the free Vuforia app from PTC, enables the free projection of completely assembled control cabinet into virtual space.

With EPLAN eVIEW Free AR, a new augmented reality (AR) application, EPLAN now brings the digital twin wherever users happen to find themselves. Designers can share their 3D designs of the control cabinet layout from EPLAN Pro Panel with co-workers and business partners via the cloud. EPLAN Program Manager Digitalisation Tim Oerter oversees the development of AR solutions and explains how to get started with EPLAN eVIEW Free AR: “A control cabinet is constructed in EPLAN Pro Panel and subsequently uploaded to the EPLAN ePULSE cloud environment. This makes it possible to share 3D designs with other users within an ePULSE organisation.” This also automatically generates both a link and a QR code that can be forwarded to the desired recipients. They can then use their smartphone or tablet computer to scan the code using the gratis app Vuforia View from PTC. Now the 3D design can be displayed anywhere using the camera of the end device – and can thus be projected onto a desktop or in the production environment as examples. Changes can also be made by touching any control cabinet components: simply tap the component and the system opens the 2D view of the schematics, for instance for further finetuning using the redlining and greenlining functions.

Read More