AIS Improves Usability, Efficiency, and Safety Human Machine Interface Systems with Hazard-Based Safety Engineering (HBSE) Standards & Testing for Operation, Control and Monitoring

American Industrial Systems, Inc. (AIS), the leading designer and manufacturer of open platform operator interfaces, touchscreens and panel PCs, announces its HMI design for manufacturability services for the new IEC 62368-1 hazard-based standard that will replace both IEC 60065 (Safety of AV Equipment) and IEC 60950-1 (Safety of Information & Communication Technology Equipment). The IEC 62368-1 Second Edition CB Certificates and Standards represent a major change or shift in focus in how the standards are being developed. The traditional prescriptive standards focuses on establishing a set of written rules to be followed, whereas the new hazards-based standard is focused on identifying safety hazards in the early product development phase and designing the product to eliminate them – and providing more performance options to demonstrate compliance to the standards. These new hazards-based testing methods require a more comprehensive and holistic approach to Design for Manufacturability, in which AIS already has tremendous expertise, in-house capabilities and services for over the past decade.

In the next five years, the predominant approach to safety engineering will significant shift from prescriptive rules to a new hazard-based concept, with more performance-based options. The new hazards-based standard is expected to be advantageous for AIS who designs, engineers and manufacturers highly advanced, reliable and safe open-based platform PC-based HMIs for their customers. Their Design for Manufacturability Services (DMS) and capabilities for open platform HMIs are focused on hazard-based principles, which are more performance-based requirements (vs. prescriptive) and their ability to better consider and incorporate innovative HMI and visualization systems design and construction.

IEC 62368-1 and Standards Will Effect Compliance, Certification & Standards Testing for HMI Manufacturers

In the ever-changing world of digital technology, safety standards for high-tech products are constantly being updated or developed to reflect new changes. Manufacturers need to transition their approach and stay abreast of ongoing developments of both the current standards (60065 & 60950) and IEC & UL/CSA 62368-1, the alternative to those traditional safety standards. As a leader in operation, control, monitoring and visualization technologies, standards and compliance testing are critical components to AIS’s overall new product development process. AIS is addressing these new standards requirements by now testing to meet IEC 62368-1 Safety Standards and Certifications for Information & Communication Technology Equipment.

The IEC 62368-1 – Audio/Video, Information and Communication Technology Equipment – Safety Requirements – has been an IEC standard since early 2010. The new approach, based on Hazard-Based Safety Engineering (HBSE), has the added benefit of better facilitating the introduction of new and innovative methods of construction and technology without first requiring amendment of the relevant standards to accommodate it. The new standards cover a wide range of high-tech products, including: computing and networking products, consumer electronics, displays and display units, telecommunication products, office appliances, musical instruments and similar varieties of audio/video, information and communication technology equipment.

AIS’s Open Platform HMI Product Development Teams Focus on Testing & Meeting Changing Standards, Certifications & Compliance Requirements

Human machine interfaces (HMIs) have always played a critical role in enabling plant operators to monitor and perform critical control actions in an operational context as well as facilitating advanced visualization into supervisory and enterprise-level solutions. In order to design and manufacturer highly-reliable HMI systems that deliver safe, cost-effective and intuitive performance, the AIS DMS team relies on the application of engineering best practices throughout design, testing and quality assurance processes.

AIS foresee several trends in manufacturing plants and industrial facilities to change business. Internet-based (TCP/IP-enabled) technologies will continue to drive how HMIs are designed, engineered and manufactured in the future. With increasing product liabilities, standards, certifications and compliance, there will be a strong push for open-based HMI control and monitoring equipment that provide higher quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, and above all else, higher safety requirements. The process industry and applications such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and utilities and discrete manufacturing applications (such as general manufacturing, automotive, metals manufacturing, packaging, aerospace and defense, electronics and semiconductors and machine tools) are also factors in AIS’s product portfolio roadmap in the coming years.

AIS HMI Control and Monitoring Solutions Meet Future Expectations & Demands

AIS realizes user expectations of HMI capabilities are continuously changing. Some of the key shifts impacting the operating and monitoring functions in the industrial space, and how AIS is already meeting these demands with their product portfolio include the following:

Increased Demand for Comprehensive Certifications and Compliances

UL, cUL and IECEE CB Listed to Safety Standards and Certifications for Information & Communication Technology Equipment: UL 62368-1, CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 62368-1 and EN 62368-1
UL, cUL and IECEE CB Listed to Safety Standards and Certifications for Measurement, Control, and Laboratory Electrical Equipment: UL 61010-1, UL 61010-2-201, CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 61010-1-12 and EN 61010-1
UL and cUL Listed to Safety Standards: ANSI/ISA 12.12.01, 2013, Nonincendive Electrical Equipment for Use in Class 1, Division 2 Groups A, B, C, D Hazardous (Classified) Locations and CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 213-M1987 for Use in Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Locations
CE Ex Marked to Safety Standards: Explosive Atmospheres (ATEX)-Directive 2014/34/EU Complying with the Essential Health and Safety Requirements that relate to the design of Zone 2 Category 3 Electrical Equipment, certified to ATEX Protection Classes- “CE Ex mark” II 3 G Ex nA ic IIA T4
CE Marked to Safety Standards and Certifications for Information And Communication Technology Equipment: 2014/35/EU, EN 62368-1:2013
Compliance with the Essential Health and Safety Requirements has been assured by Compliance with IEC 60079-0, IEC 60079-11, and IEC 60079-15
Electromagnetic Emissions (EMC) Standards and Certifications: EU Directive 2014/30/EU, IEC EN 61000-3-3:2013, IEC EN 61000-6-4:2007/A1:2011, IEC EN 61000-4-11:2004, IEC EN 61000-4-3:2006+A1:2007+A2:2010, FCC 47 CFR Part 15 Class B, IECS-003 Class B, CISPR 22 Class B
Electromagnetic Immunity (EMI) Standards and Certifications: EU Directive 2014/30/EU, IEC EN 61000-4-2:2009, IEC EN 61000-4-4:2012, IEC EN 61000-4-5:2006, IEC EN 61000-4-6:2014
Environmental Standards and Certifications: 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2) and 2012/19/EU (WEEE)
Compliance with the Shock and Vibration Requirements has been assured by Compliance with EN 60068-2-27:2009 and EN 60068-2-64:2008
Compliance with the Chemical Resistance and Hygienic Equipment Requirements has been assured by Compliance with AISI 316L DIN 1.4435 and EN 1672-2:2005+A1:2009
Compliance with the IP66 Degrees of Protection has been assured by Compliance with EN 60529
Design with Risk Assessment of Machinery, Safety of Machinery and Safety Functions of Control Systems Requirements has been assured by Compliance with IEC ISO AWI 17305 and ISO TR 23849:2010 (EN ISO 12100, IEC EN 60204-1, IEC EN 61508, EN ISO 13849, IEC EN 62061)

Increased Demand for High Performance HMI Processor, Graphic, Memory and Power

4th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7-4650U processor with 4M cache, up to 3.30 GHz (Premium)
High performance quad-core, Intel® Atom™ Processor E3845, 2M Cache, 1.91 GHz (Standard)
High performance quad-core, Intel® Celeron® Processor N2920, 2M Cache, 1.86 GHz (Mobile)
Intel HD Graphics supports DirectX 11.1, OpenCL /GL, and 4K videos Quick Sync encoder
High memory bandwidth with DDR3L-1333/1600 (25.6 GB/s, up to 16 GB)
12 V to 24 V DC wide input-voltage range power supply (Premium and Standard)
Hot-swappable Battery with 5300mAh or 10600mAh (Mobile

Increased Demand for High Availability HMI Communication and Storage

High speed USB 3.0 port for data transfer (4.8 Gbps), speeds up to 10x faster than 2.0
High flexibility serial communication with multiple RS-232/422/485 I/O ports
High reliability power and I/O ports with isolation protection
High availability uplinks with 1 + 1 redundancy Gigabit Ethernet ports
High availability data storage with 1 + 1 redundancy SSDs

Increased Demand for High Reliability HMI Touch Screen

Surface durability zero-bezel: Touch screens meets pencil hardness 4H per ASTM D3363
Touch screen input methods: Finger, gloved hand, or stylus activation
Touch screen positional accuracy standard deviation error is less than 0.080 (2mm)
Touch activation force typically less than 4 ounces (113 grams)
High reliability LED backlight lifetime with 70K to 80K hours (half brightness)

Increased Demand for Rugged and Maintenance-Free

Highly modular design with field-replaceable front panel and box PC modules
Stainless steel bezel with IP66 sealing and chemical resistant surfaces
Reduces installation time with removable HDD enclosure and easily accessible PCIe slot
Highly robust design eliminates all moving parts by combining SSD and fan-less operation
0˚C to 50˚C (32˚F to 122˚F) wide operating temperature range (Premium and Standard models)
-20 to 60°C (-4 to 140° F) wide operating temperature range (Mobile)

Increased Demand for Comprehensive Operating System Software & Services

Offering complete software design, coding, testing, and documentation services
System drivers, BIOS, and embedded firmware software design
Supports Windows Standard 7 Embedded 64-bit and Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Supports Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry, Windows Embedded 8.1 Pro and Windows Embedded 8 Standard
Supports Linux and Android

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