Category: Flat Panel PCs

Medical Tablets for Sanitation

Michelle

Medical Tablets: Handheld and Sanitary Computer Solutions    

 

People tend to forget that public computers and touchscreens are prime breeding grounds for bacteria and infection. Just this week, a study done by a British newspaper, Metro, announced that they found gut and fecal bacteria on the touchscreen computers in all eight of the McDonald’s chain restaurants that they checked. The main bacteria found was coliform but the dangerous listeria bacteria was also found on some of the screens. The restaurant chain responded that the touchscreens are regularly cleaned, but how much stewardship and regulation goes into a restaurant’s computers cleanliness? There didn’t appear to be much foresight into how easily communicable germs and bacteria are.

It’s no small surprise that infection control is one of the top priorities within medical facilities. Any reputable hospital system has written and publicly published policies and procedures related to infection control for everything including computer equipment. An industrial panel PC from Tangent is the optimal choice for tackling the threat of infection. For example, the KW series panel PC is rated with an IP65 level of protection which precludes any sort of dust or contaminant ingress into the panel PC, and can also withstand direct water jets and cleaning solutions. The panel PC can be sprayed and wiped down an innumerable amount of times and never get damaged from it.

The industrial grade metal enclosure offers a rugged, corrosive resistant surface that is also treated with an antimicrobial coating to further protect patients and staff from the spread of infection. The inside of the panel PC also plays a large part in promoting cleanliness and durability. The computer operates entirely without fans or moving parts. Failures within a computer are often attributed to components that wear out. The Tangent panel PC requires less maintenance, has more uptime, and doesn’t blow any dust particles around.

Another feature that’s making panel PCs the new norm in medical facilities is their compact size and all-inclusiveness. Having no separate PC box or cabling drastically cuts down on the space needed. Keyboards and mice are notoriously hard to keep clean, so the option to cut them out of the equation is very possible and attractive with a Tangent panel PC. They are offered with 4-wire resistive touch or PCAP multi-touch screen to provide a range of functionality based on the client’s needs. Optional Intel Wireless AC-7260 and Bluetooth functionality also adds to the cord-cutting versatility of Tangent’s panel PC line.

Tangent took the extra step of ensuring that their medical tablets and industrial panel PCs are validated to be fully compliant with both Epic and Cerner applications, two of the biggest providers of health information technology solutions and services in the world. A lot of effort was put into creating a line of purpose built industrial panel PCs that would give medical practices powerful computing capabilities, ease-of-use, reliability, and to help avoid infection scares like with the fast food touchscreen fiasco. It’s a big enough scandal for a big name restaurant, but it would be catastrophic for a small health facility.

 

Rugged Industrial PCs in Agriculture

Michelle

Rugged Industrial PCs in Agriculture

Not many industrial sectors look to technology for efficiency with as much fervor and adoption as agricultural industries. In 1793, the cotton gin machine was patented which immediately contributed to the success of cotton in Southern farms. The industrial revolution of the 1800s brought about many new inventions including the McCormick mechanical reaper that could harvest an acre of wheat in an hour, whereas it formerly took all day to gather the same amount using hand reapers. Automated feeding systems for livestock, computerized milk collection and milking machines have been around since the late 20th century and resulted in much faster and larger yields. In our modern times, industrial farmers and ranchers are no less inventive and mindful of progressive techniques and advanced computer applications and software.

 

An interesting example comes from a Canadian company who began using early versions of RFID (radio-frequency identification) on ostrich chicks in the 1990’s.These birds are highly valued, but unfortunately have a high mortality rate. Because of this, the company began tracking the birds in the field with RFID enabled leg bands to see how long they stayed at feeding troughs and how much they ate during each visit. That information gathered on computers enabled ostrich ranchers to identify which birds were at risk, and thus their lifespans began to lengthen with the help of  targeted treatment. Many ranches now use RFID to track cattle health, their behavior, and to also track their numbers and location. By pairing a cow’s tag RFID number with other sensor data, ranchers are able to see how an animal is acting and feeling, and can therefore determine which ones are thriving and what factors are leading to that. This is an amazing amount of insight into individuals amongst a herd which may number in the thousands.

Industrial Computer F15
F15 Industrial Computer

The computers best suited for field data collection will always be rugged industrial computer systems that can stand up to the elements and dusty environments endemic to agricultural and/or open grazing lands.  The Tangent F15 15” rugged tablet computer is not only completely sealed and protected against water and dirt intrusion, its sturdy case is designed to withstand falls, shock and vibration. The tablet has no internal fans, which equates to a long-lasting and reliable operation stemming from no moving parts to break and no ingestion of dirt and contaminants. It’s designed to be easily mounted on vehicles like forklifts or agriculture vehicles as to serve multiple purposes. The F15 tablet computer is equipped with an RFID module, a 3G module, and GPS so that farmers can easily pursue innovative livestock tracking solutions like the ostrich and cattle ranchers mentioned in the example above, or excel in crop and inventory management amongst many other efficiencies using the same technologies. This rugged industrial computer can operate at extreme temperatures ranging from -4  to 140°F, which many ranches and farms across America can easily put it through. Anything short of industrial grade and rugged construction on a work tablet would cause a loss of revenue on both the computer equipment but on essential data about livestock or crops.

Booming the Brewing Industry

Michelle

Booming the Brewing Industry: One Flat Panel PC at a Time

We can’t think of a grassroots industry in California that’s had as big a boom as the craft beer industry has in recent years. In 2016, San Diego County alone was home to one hundred and twenty five licensed craft breweries – the most of any region in the United States. In that same year, craft breweries all over the state contributed $7.3 billion to the state’s economy, so it’s clearly a high profile industry. With so much competition, breweries often move to expand their brand and distribution through on-premise bottling and canning. The size and scope of these operations can vary a great deal, and the technology used to manage them is pivotal to a successful business.

It’s posited that the most important step that goes into the mass production of bottled beverages is the one in which bottles are sealed with caps. Capping mistakes can cause quality control issues, with some serious cases forcing the brewery to abandon whole crates of bottles. This can be devastating to the bottom line of a small craft brewery. Not only will a loose or missing cap make bottles unfit for shipment, it allows contaminants into the beers that can make them unsafe for consumption, and that poses a lot of potential liability risks for the company. Poor labeling and miscounts can also plague production lines. That’s why it’s important for companies to invest in quality monitoring system for their bottling operations, and this can be efficiently achieved through the use of industry grade flat panel touchscreen PCs.

An excellent offering in the industrial flat panel, all-in-one computer space is Tangent’s Vita 474 19” flat panel PC. Coupled with capacitive sensors and production line management software, the Vita 474 is a powerful, durable, and reliable computer that can keep up with the demands of any bottle production schedule. It’s fanless design lends itself to reliability and helps maintain a clean working environment. The IP64 rated front panel of the PC offers protection against dust and water (or beer) splashes and can be wiped down without damaging the unit. The flat panel PC has both wired and wireless internet network interfaces, which allows for additional monitoring from stations within or outside the brewery. The PCAP capacitive touchscreen feature makes switching between applications or focusing on particular stations a breeze. Storage space on the flat panel PC can go up to 2TB with a hybrid SSD/HDD drive and can be equipped with up to a beefy 32GB of memory. Other handy features include a good variety of communication ports for peripherals, VESA 75/100 options for flexibility in mounting the flat panel PC, and a very wide operating temperature range of -4ºF to 122ºF. Depending on the software used, the flat panel PC can be configured for communication with most PLCs and motion controllers.

Production management and monitoring is a key component to any successful distribution operation, and equally important is the equipment used to ensure those tasks are handled with accuracy day in and out. Flat panel  all-in-one PCs offered by Tangent have been tried and tested to stand to the rigors of industrial use, and can be customized and scaled to suit the needs of businesses both small and large. Because brewery business needs can vary as much as their beers do, Tangent creates products to best suit those needs.

 

Flat Panel PCs

Michelle

Flat Panel PCs for Industrial Applications

A flat panel PC uses a thin panel design and is lightweight allowing more portability than monitors. Tangent’s line of Industrial Flat Panel PCs are built with rugged components allowing heavy duty applications capable of withstanding harsh environments.

Built with reliability in mind, our industrial flat panel PCs come fanless for use in dusty environments. Many of our flat panel PCs are IP64, IP65, IP66, or IP69K sealed for waterproof, dustproof, shock  and vibration proof.

Our reliable flat panel PCs are capable of operating in up to 140 degrees.

Backed by our three and a half year warranty, you can rest assured that our Flat Panel PCs will operate reliably and are dependable.

Offering nine flat panel PCs, we have the flat panel PC you need for your industry specifications. Our flat panel PCs feature all-in-one touchscreens and are customizable with large I/O expansion to meet industrial standards.

f15F15

The F15 for example. This flat panel PC comes standard with a forklift mount, resistive touch, MIL-STD-810F, four RS232 & four USB ports, camera, 3G, GPS, RFID. Everything you need for your warehouse or factory. With programmable buttons, the F15 permits for one-handed operation while operating a forklift.

sS Series

Our S Series Flat Panel PC is IP66 and IP69K fully waterproof. It has a stainless steel housing offering a corrosion resistant surface. Our S Series is ideal for factories, wet environments such as car washes, and in-vehicle applications.

panels

For Tangent’s full list of flat panel PCs, complete with specifications, take a look at our Industrial Flat Panel PC page. Here you will be able to find your industry specific flat panel PC: Tangent’s Flat Panel PCs