April 26, 2012 - R. STAHL introduced large-format widescreen HMIs to replace and upgrade existing 15" and 19" operating stations for hazardous areas.
Though the migration of a production site to a new operating or distributed control system is the most obvious conversion scenario, these modern 22" and 24" HMIs increase operating and visualization comfort across the board, since their LED backlights generally ensure a more luminous display and better readability of images. This is a clear benefit for users of older-generation process control systems as well. For more recent versions and for imminent upgrades of widely used DCSs, the large screens also provide the required higher widescreen format resolutions.
Hence, these powerful HMIs fully support possible future upgrades at control level whilst displaying process images of current systems in the usual way, without requiring any new engineering or configuration. In chemical plants, pharmaceutical processes and related areas of industry, upgrades from legacy HMIs of established manufacturers to R. STAHL widescreen systems are usually accomplished quickly and with little effort: only plugs and the explosion-proof terminal itself need to be replaced. Other existing installations such as stands or cables can be reused.
Thanks to the LED backlights, the current HMIs use about half the energy of conventional TFT monitors with conventional backlights, despite their much larger displays. In addition, the new devices are free of any hazardous substances such as mercury and lead.