Business profile
The computers behind the scenes
Diamond Point International has used its experience of designing technology for the military to build computers for the rail industry that are designed to work in the most rugged environments
T
hey don’t look that exciting and they don’t come in sexy ergonomically attractive boxes, but they are essential to just about every aspect of all of our lives. Whether you’re flying to Singapore on an A380 or using your mobile phone or on the 10:40 to Glasgow, buried in a control panel or at the side of a track is an embedded computer either controlling communications or communicating with other embedded computer systems. They will have to work in the harshest environments maybe -40 to +85 Celsius and very high humidity, shock and vibration, 24 hours-a-day, 365 days of the year – so how are computers like this designed?
Diamond Point International (DPI) has manufactured rugged computers for military and industrial applications for more two decades. Approximately five years ago, DPI turned its attention to the rail industry and now with over 1,000 rail-based systems under its belt, DPI has helped a wide range of rail companies meet their rugged computing goals.
power components within the system have a thermal path to the outside world. DPI uses this technique in all its rail- based computers, but without the costs normally associated with this technology.
Elements of a rugged embedded computer
A true embedded computer means the programs are embedded within the system in some form of solid state storage – this negates the use of conventional hard drives, as they are notoriously unreliable under heavy shock and vibration. If the environment is really harsh, cooling by fans isn’t a good option. Military computers have used different cooling techniques for years. The most common is conduction cooling where all high
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Unique issues for the rail industry The rail industry throws up some unique problems, not always seen in other heavy industrial environments. Available power is notoriously noisy, with large voltage surges and different potentials between vehicles. In order to combat these issues, isolated power supplies are required with the relevant surge suppression and filtering to pass demanding standards EN50155, EN50121, RIA 12 &18 for under the ground. DPI has also developed fibre optic transceivers to enable complete isolation between communicating systems.
Long term availability and maintainability
Rail operators expect equipment to work reliably for in excess of 15 years. This means selecting components with expected long life programmes in place and in the event of an obsolescence,
managing the situation to ensure sufficient stock is available to support the life of the installed systems. It is also important to understand the customer servicing requirements over long periods – the design must not only be rugged when assemble,d but also be durable when taken apart and re-assembled.
Flexibility of design
The Rail industry probably has a greater diversity of equipment and standards to meet than any other sector. Customers demand their systems have great flexibility. To meet this demand, DPI has designed and manufactured five different power supply options for one of its customers to meet a global demand, consisting of 12 to 30VDC, 48VD ,72VDC, 110VDC isolated options and 110Vac. Embedded computers are there to be not seen or heard and they do it very well as the unsung heroes of the industrial world getting on with the job. For more information on embedded systems for the rail industry call DPI on: +44 (0) 1634 300900, email:
john.vaines@
dpie.com or visit the website at:
www.dpie.com
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