Your Human Machine Interface (HMI) units are essential to the operation of your business. They facilitate the efficient and simple operation of your equipment and take the place of more intricate units in your production facilities that have hundreds of buttons and switches. These interfaces are prone to breakage, screen failures, and other issues because of their constant use. It’s critical to utilize your interface appropriately since, over time, the device may develop reliability issues due to heavy use. How do you determine when to change your HMI unit?
1. Insufficient Lighting on the Screen
It may be necessary to replace the display if the backlights or inverter circuit stopped working, the screen is poorly lit, difficult to see, or the graphics are improperly shown. Some HMIs like Allen-Bradley PanelView 500 have screen dimming or “patchy” areas because the incandescent light bulb that illuminates the display becomes so hot that they melt the fiber optic connections. When this occurs, the screen effectively ceases to work and becomes unsafe to use since incorrect choices may be made. This might lead to equipment damage, machine malfunctions, or even the possibility of an accident involving your operator. To avoid this, we at T2 Industrial replace this with an LED that is not hot.
2. Touchscreen Is Not Responsive Anymore
It’s time to replace your HMI device when you can’t make selections on your touchscreen anymore. To make a choice, you might need to push firmly or attempt numerous times. Your touchscreen is broken if this occurs, regardless of whether it was caused by heavy use, a bad connection, or a loss of calibration. The accumulation of materials such as dirt, oil, or other contaminants may have an impact on the functionality of your touchscreen. Your ability to make accurate choices might be impacted by the touchscreen’s alignment.
3. Defective Cable Connectors
The communication port or cable may be troublesome if the connection between your PLC and HMI is compromised. It’s conceivable that the driver chips for your communication ports have stopped functioning if contact between the two cannot be established. A failure on your PLC and HMI might result from intermittent communication, which could lead to incomplete data transfers. When a connection cannot be made, your HMI has to be replaced or repaired.
4. Broken or damaged screen
When your HMI is used incorrectly, for as by using screwdrivers or hard objects to touch the screen, rather than your fingertips, the entire device may be harmed. This includes the touchscreen, keypad membrane, screen overlay, and display. The effectiveness of the HMI unit will be adversely affected by all of these factors. A cracked or damaged screen should be replaced because it will surely affect input. You don’t need to acquire a new HMI if your current one is causing any of these issues.
In summary, if you are experiencing these with your HMI units, we suggest considering replacing your screens as it is more costly for your business to replace the whole unit. We have multiple replacement parts for units like Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Anilam, Dynapro, Fanuc, and a lot more. You can check our product catalog here.
