Dear Matt, Thanks a lot for your detailed explanations!
About the enclosure: I think I will go for a non-sealed solution. I'm not sure if IP67 sealed solutions including cable seals are available, and it sounds a lot more bothersome. In case it starts leaking I will get humidity issues. And like you say, I might get really high temperatures as well. Our current computers are not sealed airtight (but they are weather-coated), and that seems to work fine so far (2000 units installed, although admittedly, not offshore yet). Since it will be inside a cabinet inside a closed tower at maybe 20 m above sea level, I hope the salinity is not going to let it corrode too much. Not sure though if all weather coating is comparable? I am wondering about the serviceable contacts, like you say. Least I can do is use a naturally ventilating case with power and ethernet openings on the down side. Should I insist on a special material for these connectors, such as copper? How about the wires? The USB opening on the upside should be covered by the casing, I shouldn't need that one anyway. And I think the uSD will be a weak point, I prefer to not use that one and get 128GB flash on the board instead, if someone can deliver that. Periodic transfer to the server of the primary data is not really an option for reasons of logistics, data management, and network availability. Thanks again for the comments, I'm happy to hear any further tips! Kind regards, Otto 2015-07-13 17:42 GMT+02:00 CEinTX <mpo...@gmail.com>: > Otto, > > This will prove to be an interesting challenge for you. > To handle your environments, you will likely need to enclose whatever board > you choose in an IP67 or Nema 4 sealed enclosure. I don't think potting > or conformal coating will suffice if you have salt and/or potential for > condensing > humidity. Serviceable contacts will eventually corrode (Power, Enet, uSD, > etc...) > > So when you enclosure your board you will have the potential to exceed the > 70*C > inside the enclosure. Ambient plus the thermal load of the board. > So, unless you use some form of active cooling transfer - not sure that > will help with > the condensing humidity or the saline. If you use thermo-electric > (peltier) you damn > better make sure you get 100% sealing or you will condense on your > internal heat(cool) > sink and eventually your enclosure will fill (been there done that). If > you are not 100% > sealed, thermal cycling will pull moisture in - condense on the heat sink > and fill the enclosure > Until something if not everything fails. > > So you will likely need industrial (+85) if not automotive (+105) temp > components - probably will need > testing to determine which will be needed. > > Next, I haven't heard of 128GB uSD cards being supported on BBB. I'm sure > the community will chime > in on that one. So you will likely need a bank of FLASH memory. Or create > a process that will fill what > you have/put on the board and periodically download/stream to a server or > the like. > > The IP67 or Nema 4 case will aid in longevity and reliability except in > the regards of heat. > Use the appropriate connectors to get you network and power inside and all > should be good. > > There are likely other systems out there that can potentially handle this. > You'll just have to do research. > > Alternately CircuitCo or some other companies can do a custom version of > the BBB that > can meet your needs. > > I could even do this as I've done an industrial temp version of the BBB > customized for my > company's needs - just not sure if I'll have time to do it. It could > potentially be modified > to meet your memory needs. So as long as you don't need functioning in > temps above > +85*C a variation of it could work for you. > > If you decide you want/need a custom board and are not going to do it > yourself, please give > CircuitCo the 1st chance at this since they do so much to support this > community. > > Best of luck to you in your endeavor, > Matt > > On Monday, July 13, 2015 at 9:10:10 AM UTC-5, otto....@gmail.com wrote: >> >> Hi all! >> >> I'm working for a wind turbine manufacturer, and I want to set up a >> super-robust data acquisition system. Basically it needs to: >> >> - receive about 200 channels, single precision, 10-50 Hz through wired >> network >> - store data for some time (I need about 128 GB storage ideally) >> - process it into secondary (much smaller) data summaries >> - and then the data summaries will be transferred over the wind farm >> network. >> >> Although it will be installed inside the turbine, conditions are still >> harsh: >> >> - Temperatures may range from about -20 to +70 C >> - condensation/humidity may be an issue >> - offshore use is also planned so salinity could be an issue. >> >> Lifetime should be long, say 10 years, with no/very few manual >> interference. I want to have about 2000 units in the next year. >> >> What do you think, will the BBB be an option for this task? Is airtight >> (and pressure resistant) casing available to avoid >> condensation/humidity/salinity issues? Is a micro SD card robust enough >> when inside this airtight casing? >> >> If the BBB is too hobbyist for my purpose, do you know a more robust >> system that I could use? >> >> Thanks for the help! >> >> Otto >> > -- For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
