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Tiny industrial PC ‘will open up new applications’
Published:  28 November, 2016

The German automation manufacturer Beckhoff has developed a tiny industrial PC (IPC) that, it predicts, will open up new applications for IPCs, especially where there are cost or space limitations, or where expensive customised motherboards would have been needed before.

The “ultra compact” IPC – measuring just 82 x 82 x 40mm – was unveiled at last week’s SPS IPC Drives trade show in Germany. It is one third of the size of Beckhoff’s previously smallest PC (the 6905) and will cost about 25% less than the company’s previously least expensive x86 PCs. Powered by an Intel Atom processor with up to four cores operating at speeds of up to 1.91GHz, the micro-IPC includes a 30GB solid-state drive, 2GB of RAM (expandable to 4GB), a DisplayPort connection, a dual-Ethernet adaptor with two 100/1000Base-T connections, and ports for both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0.

The C6015 IPC is supplied with the Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system, with Windows 7 or 10 as options.

To provide the flexibility to make up to six connections in tight spaces, the IPC can be mounted vertically or horizontally on the rear wall of a control cabinet, or attached to a DIN rail. The passively cooled device has a robust aluminium and zinc die-cast housing and can operate in temperatures up to +55C. Cooling air can flow from any direction.

Beckhoff's tiny industrial PC offers a choice of mounting positions to make connections easier

Roland van Mark, Beckhoff’s product manager for IPCs, says that despite the IPC’s small size, “there have been no compromises in the design”.