In harsh industrial environments, a PC must be able to withstand special conditions such as excessive shock, high temperatures, and continuous operation. B&R industrial PCs are right at home in these types of environments. Stable housing, robust connectors, EMC compliance, and cable-free construction provide the basis for the effective use of PCs in machine and systems manufacturing.

Unlike many other IPC complete solutions, Provit industrial PCs from B&R have an uncompromising modular design. This means that display units and IPC5000C or IPC5600C controllers can be selected and combined as desired when using Provit 5000 and Provit 5600 systems. Restrictions such as only being able to use the largest display diagonal with the most memory and fastest processor simply don’t exist. This allows both the display unit and the controller to be optimally matched to the respective application.

Provit industrial PCs are "Made by B&R". As a result, all of the relevant components such as the motherboard and housing are developed and manufactured by B&R. The latest production and testing equipment guarantees the high quality that industrial users expect for continuous operation.

IPC5000C and IPC5600C industrial PCs offer unique flexibility in this performance class. Their division into bus and system units means that these industrial PCs can be configured with a varied number of slots. For example, the IPC5000C can be equipped with two or five half-size PCI, ISA and PCI/ISA slots. A bus unit with five slots is available for the IPC5600C as well (four of these slots are for full-size cards). All bus units are offered in two versions for 120/230 VAC or 24 VDC. The processor and RAM can also be selected from the available product spectrum.

The IPC5000C and IPC5600C are equipped with all of the necessary interfaces required for industrial communication:

• 2 x RS232
• 1 x parallel
• 2 x USB
• 2 x PS/2 for keyboard and mouse
• 1 x VGA for an external monitor (in addition to the display unit)
• 1 x Ethernet 10/100 MBit/s
• External floppy drive or remote CD-ROM drive

In addition, other insert cards with interface expansions can be added at any time.

Modularity plays a role even for the mass memory. Instead of a hard disk, the IPC5000C has a slot which can be used to connect either a hard drive, a CompactFlash adapter, or a combination of both. CompactFlash memory currently has capacity between 32 MB and 2 GB. The IPC5600C also offers a second slot so that a second mass memory device be connected here as well. All of these options are enough to guarantee secure operation for all applications, even under unusual conditions.

In addition to demands on mechanical stability and load capacity, operational safety and diagnostics also play a crucial role. For this reason, a logbook is available on the PROVIT™ 5000 and PROVIT™ 5600 devices to record operating hours, power-on cycles, overtemperature hours, and fan and display operating times. This information can then be interpreted by the user to gain insight into the operational status of the IPC.

The Provit 5000 also allows the display unit to be operated remotely from the controller. For example, they could even be built into swing arm systems. With a depth of just 3 cm, this system is also suited for use in cramped spaces. The Panellink interface doesn’t just transfer picture information between the display unit and the controller, it also conveys the key codes for the functions keys and LED control. In addition, Provit 5600 display units are equipped with PS/2 interfaces on the front (behind a cover) and back of the display to connect an external keyboard. This allows the IP65 keyboard to be operated remotely without needing an additional cable to the controller.

Provit 5000/5600 display units are available with diagonals of 10.4" to 15" and VGA to XGA resolution. The front of the panels features IP65 protection. Devices are available with a touch screen, a touchpad (Provit 5600), and function keys to ensure optimal user guidance. Function keys can be individually marked with symbols using legend strips. Both key and LED functions can be easily defined using software.