Control cabinet – focus: DIN Rail PC
What exactly is a control cabinet? It houses the electrical and electronic components of a machine tool or production facility that are not located directly in the machine.
Basically, a wide variety of PCs can be installed in a control cabinet. In this article we focus on the DIN Rail PC, equipped with a DIN Rail mount. And what is a DIN Rail PC? It is a PC like any other, but with a small addition: it is equipped with terminal strips (DIN Rails) with which it can be fastened in the control cabinet.
The DIN Rail PC is equipped with a 3-pole terminal block, which is also partly installed on Vehicle PCs. Thanks to its current input, which accepts 9-36 VDC (DC voltage), the DIN Rail PC can also handle unusual voltages. This is important so that it can work in different cabinet configurations with different power supply solutions. Such a Mini-PC does not require an external power supply. This type of PC assumes that there is one in the control cabinet in which the PC is installed, that generates the voltage acceptable to the PC. The terminal strip is screwed to the PC and thus sits firmly in the housing, the wires from the customer power supply are screwed into the connector as with normal screw terminals. In contrast to our NOVA Q170 the DIN Rail PC has only the terminal bushing and no additional DC IN bushing.
DIN Rail PC vs. standard: the differences
The current input on the DIN Rail PC differs from the standard by the socket and by the voltage, which is accepted. While the standard current input consists of a DC IN socket and is supplied with an external 19V power supply, the PC is supplied for a control cabinet with a 3-pin screw-on terminal block that accepts a voltage between 9 and 36 volts.
More power inputs: standard and vehicle-PC
In addition to this current input, we have described two more in detail in our blog series, the standard and the vehicle PC. Read more about the features of these two power inputs and the challenges they face in the other articles of our blog series “Power Inputs for Mini-PCs.”
spo-comm Mini-PCs with DIN Rail mounts:
spo-comm Mini-PCs which can be attached to the DIN Rail mounts are the PCs of the BRICK series and those of the WINDBOX series. However, a DIN Rail mount does not automatically mean that a PC has a wide range power input and vice versa. A RUGGED, for example, is equipped with a wide range power input as well as with a terminal strip socket but does not have DIN Rails and is therefore not suitable for a control cabinet.
##Discover the BRICK-Series
##Discover the WINDBOX-Series
##Discover the RUGGED-Series
