Advantech Launches Dual-node Short-depth 4U Chassis

  • Sep 04, 2014

Advantech, a IPC service provider that delivers industrial computing solutions, is launching the 4U, dual-node, short-depth (350mm), industrial chassis ACP-4D00 which is designed for high-end machine automation applications that require two computers in one piece of equipment for workload sharing or parallel computing.

The innovative dual-node architecture allows the user to install two half-size slot SBCs in two sub-systems and integrate them in a compact 4U cage. Each node supports a CPU card with desktop Core i processor, 6-slot backplane and up to 350W power supply so the computer node can be used for either traditional control applications or for high end CPU/GPU computing. For example, in an AOI (Automatic Optical Inspection) application, one node can be used for controlling camera, robotic arm movements, capturing image or sensor data, HMI, etc. while the other can be used for processing data and generating inspection results.

By adopting half-size slot SBC architecture, ACP-4D00 depth is only 350mm, making it easy to integrate into equipment enclosures and leaving more space for air flow, device placement, and cable routing. Tool-less design allows the user to pull out the sub-system, open its top-lid, or take out the system fan just by loosening thumb-screws; no screwdriver needed. This facilitates equipment maintenance, and equipment mean time to repair (MTTR) becomes shorter.

Each ACP-4D00 node supports a PICMG 1.3 or PCI half-size CPU card with computing power up to desktop Core i7, 6-slot backplane with maximum 3 PCIe or PCI expansion slots (3 slots are occupied by CPU card) and 250W or 350W high-efficiency 80 Plus power supply. The excellent thermal design ensures that high-end Core i7 processor and discrete GPU card run stably for intense data or image processing tasks.

There is one external 3.5” shock resistant drive bay in each sub-system; the user can choose to install one internal 3.5” hard drive or one Advantech IDT-3120 drive bay converter module in either or both sub-systems. Each IDT-3120 converter module provides two hot-swap 2.5” drive trays; this makes for easy maintenance and is handy for RAID 0/1 arrays. The drive bay itself is protected by four special-design rubber screws so storage device read/write speed remains normal even in a vibrating environment. This is important because many pieces of industrial equipment have moving parts such as cameras, robotic arms, conveyors, etc., that generate vibration.

Currently, Advantech offers two PICMG 1.3 CPU cards—PCE-3028 (Intel Q87), PCE-4128 (Intel C226), and three PICMG 1.3 backplanes—PCE-3B03-00A1E, PCE-3B06-00A1E, and PCE-3B06-03A1E, for use with ACP-4D00. The system configurations support the latest Intel 4th generation Core i processors, advanced PCIe Gen 3, or legacy PCI expansions. These should meet most computing performance and scalability requirements for today’s high-end machine automation applications.

ACP-4D00 is an ideal industrial chassis solution for high-end equipment builders, and will be available in December 2014.

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