Leading-edge technology adopted for industrial use

11th October 2016

Anna Flockett

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One of the first display products to take advantage of the worldwide standard 4.3” LCD screen size is the 4.3” HG1G HMI from IDEC Corporation. As this screen size is so widely used in consumer gaming devices and other commercial products, it effectively obsoletes HMIs with smaller screen sizes by offering a larger and higher resolution display area at a lower price.

The HG1G display is TFT Color LCD with high resolution of 480x272 pixels, 65K colours, and 800cd/m² brightness. This level of resolution produces an improved viewing experience, and the increased brightness allows screens to be easily viewable in direct sunlight.

Viewing can be configured for either portrait or landscape, with a viewing angle of 60° from top, 65° from the bottom, and 70° from left or right.

HMIs often need to communicate with a variety of different PLCs, controllers and other HMIs from different vendors, and the HG1G HMI delivers this functionality by supporting multiple communication protocols, up to four simultaneously.

The serial port can support both RS-232C and RS-422/485 communications simultaneously, and the Ethernet port can support up to four Hosts and three User communication protocols at the same time. The serial port and the Ethernet port combined can thus support up to nine communication simultaneously, two serial and seven Ethernet.

The HG1G has a built-in web server which provides full remote monitoring and control via any web browser running on a laptop, desktop PC, smartphone or tablet. Remote users can monitor current values or processes—and control operation, print information, switch screens or change programme values—just as if they were in front of the touchscreen display.

Users can also remotely perform troubleshooting, run tests and perform maintenance. No additional software tools or modules are needed to use this Remote Monitor and Control function.

Support for industry-standard FTP communications allows users to transfer project, recipe, picture, sound and movie files between the HG1G HMI and a PC without having to load the IDEC HMI programming software on the PC.

If an IDEC PLC is being used with the HMI, this feature can also be used to download an updated PLC programme from a PC to the PLC through the HMI. This greatly simplifies HMI and PLC programme updates as it’s no longer necessary to have the IDEC programming software installed on multiple PCs throughout a facility or a company.

A common problem with HMIs in this class is limited backlight life, particularly since the backlight is typically not field-replaceable. The HG1G HMI LED backlight addresses this issue with a best-in-class life of 70,000 hours, which will provide many years of operation as the backlight can be automatically switched off when the unit is not in use.

The HG1G HMI has a wide range of operating temperatures from -20 to 55°C, and it is rated IP66F/IP67F and NEMA 4X to allow for installation outdoors, or indoors in washdown areas.

The unit is suitable for installation in Class 1, Division 2 hazardous location installations and has UL 508 approval. Input voltage is 12-24VDC, allowing the HG1G HMI to be powered by solar cells and other dc sources. Startup time is only 1.5s compared to up to 40s for competing units.