You might have seen microcontroller boards in your engineering college, but not in industries. Have you ever wondered why don’t we use Arduino in the industry? Don’t worry!
There is a pretty obvious reason Arduino is not a good fit for industries. Most of the industries use PLCs (much more expensive than the board) instead of Arduino (probably around $25-$3)5 because the Arduino has lacked protection and shielding. Arduino is a sensitive board and can’t handle the dust, moisture, and hot temperature inside the industry.
In the simplest terms, Arduino would require more components that would raise the cost to meet the industrial requirements, but there is a high possibility that it would lack efficiency because of the industry environment such as higher and lower temperatures, and dust.
By the end of this post, you will understand why it is not used in the industry and what alternates we have instead of Arduino.
Table of Contents
Reasons you should know why Arduino is not used in the industry
Lower and higher temperature
No industry works in a moderate environment, and the temperature differs slightly from the open environment. However, Arduino is good for learning, and experimentation; often with breadboards, but it’s not made to work in higher and lower temperatures. Somehow, if it works, this would lack reliability and lead to damage to the industrial equipment.
Dust
Arduino can only bear temperatures up to 85C, and it might damage because of the environment. I wouldn’t recommend you use it in the dust or outside instead you could use it in a closed plastic box.
Money Involvement
You may have witnessed where multiple Arduinos are used to set up your industrial equipment, but this would only decrease the durability and reliability of the boards. The founder of Arduino didn’t make it used as an industrial board. There are many other boards that could do well instead of Arduino.
NOTE: I wouldn’t recommend you to use these boards on the multi-million dollar industry machines. You could seriously damage your machines or end up risking your operator’s life. Arduino boards could do well in lesser voltages.
Is there an Industrial Arduino available?
Atmel is widely used in industrial/commercial embedded systems and some of the reasons are mentioned below:
- In IoT, Atmel offers dual-band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz a/b/g Wi-Fi chips from its Ozmo securing.
- Atmel makes both touchscreen controller ICs and its XSense flexible touchscreen.
- It offers secure memory with its CryptoMemory product line of EEPROMS in capacities from 1 to 256 kbits.
- Atmel offers a trusted stage module that gives solid hardware-based open key (RSA calculation) security for both individual computers and implanted processors on a single chip.
- Atmel moreover has chips specialized for the shrewd vitality and shrewd metering markets.
Is Arduino suitable for industry standards?
In today’s world, engineers use different Arduino boards within the industry, but they don’t go by that name. It’s the chip on the Arduino board that truly makes things tick – the Atmel ATMega328P.
Chips like this are found all over and utilized for everything from making coffee to flying rockets. What sets them apart; are how effective they are, clock speed, memory, etc?
Programmable logic controller is your go-to for industry, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use Arduino for industry purposes. Arduino is widely used in home automation projects and is great for small-form solutions. It is great for keeping track of collection of data and processes and can replicate in your labs and home easily.
The chip is fundamentally a microcontroller. You code it what to do, and it does it for you. As it were, microcontrollers are famously troublesome to program. On the off chance that you see the datasheets, all you see is C’s enormity. Well, at least to a gadget hobbyist like me who isn’t used to the software.
So the Arduino was made to create programming microcontrollers simpler and more open to common (i.e., non-programming) people. The Arduino family of boards is not as it was once accessible. There’s the Raspberry Pi (somewhat more complicated, much more effective), and the STM32-based sheets.
What alternative do you use instead of Arduino?
Industries use PLCs instead of Arduino because they deal with large products and they are simple to function. PLCs are utilized in mechanical robotization to extend unwavering quality, and framework steadiness, and minimizing the involvement of men, and reduce the chance of human blunder.
PLCs can be modified in a few ways, from step rationale, which is based on electromechanical transfers, to extraordinarily adjusted programming dialects of Essential and C.
What type of industries can use Arduino?
Small and home-based industries where security doesn’t matter and they don’t work on a larger scale; use Arduino. It is used to create DIY solutions at home or lab that include prototyping digital dashboards, monitoring, and creating a control center.
Here I am listing some of the most famous projects within the Arduino community. Engineering Arduino projects for industries and home-based are as follows:
- Pick to Light Project 2 Wi-Fi
- Industrial Line Follower for Supplying Materials
- Rolling Material Monitoring
- Intelligent Transportation System In City Bus Shelter
- Remote Facility Command and Sensing System
Some of the top most used home-based projects using Arduino are as follows:
- Arduino Music Instrument
- Arduino UNO Fingerprint Door Lock
- Arduino Robot Car
- Arduino UNO Handheld Games Console.
- Laser Tripwire Alarm Security System.
- UNO Home Automation
- Arduino UNO Car/ Truck Simulator
- UNO Universal Remote Control
Advantages of Arduino (For home-based projects)
Arduino is famous among students and helps students to learn to codeto code through it. It has a number of Advantages, but I am listing some of the untapped advantages of Arduino.
- Inexpensive
- Programming ease
- Open-source in software
- IDE Software operates on any operating system
- Open source in hardware
What other alternatives can be used instead of Arduino and PLC?
The development life of development was the Arduino stage for open source, a motherboard with a microcontroller and its claim advancement environment (Processing/Wiring programming dialect and a bootloader), which can support a wide assortment of entrepreneurial innovation ventures.
It is the foremost known and used, but it isn’t as it were elective inside advertising that’s always growing. Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Sharks Cove, Minnowboard MAX, Nanode, Waspmote, or LittleBits are a few of the foremost interesting choices to Arduino. Clearly, Arduino and Raspberry Pi are the ones getting the foremost consideration inside the community of computer program designers.
Reliability of Arduino
Arduino boards have demonstrated their reliability due to their differing and viable applications, and it is not good for industrial applications. Arduino is utilized not only by specialists but in mechanical applications as well, where one can control overwhelming apparatus through microcontroller programming.
Here I’ll talk about the scenarios beneath which Arduino boards can be utilized essentially and can demonstrate their unwavering quality. Is your speculation in Arduino boards aiming to be worth it for your projects? Let’s jump in!
What Makes Arduino Boards Reliable?
Before I talk about what makes Arduino boards solid, let’s begin with characterizing what a solid microcontroller means. A dependable microcontroller capacity agrees to the modified commands and executes adjusted yield values, without any errors.
Arduino is one of the foremost prevalent microcontroller boards among understudies, specialists, and businesses all around the world.
Experts think Arduino is reliable due to the following capabilities
- Arduino can stay for a long time
- Arduino has multiple power options
- Arduino has a built-in voltage regulator
- Arduino has protection diodes
- Arduino is compatible with different shields
Why should you not use Arduino for professional work?
I think it ought to be self-evident why Arduino (code and libraries) ought to not be utilized for professional work. Particularly the need for appropriate debugging support makes it difficult to solve the issues of the genuine world.’printf()’ fashion of investigating is straightforward, but it could be the biggest waste of time.
I have seen numerous understudy ventures coming up short since the failure to legitimately investigate the framework and illuminate the problems. Even equally imperative for proficient work is the subject of IP and authorizing. Be mindful of the permitting terms and conditions as pointed out by the article.
Recommended Reading
What Projects you should make as a beginner – If you are looking up for cool projects using Arduino then this guide would be a gold mine for you. Crazy Arduino projects that would enhance your coding skills and help you to make a good grip on your electrical concepts.
What Board Should You Pick From the Arduino Family – If you are confused what board should you pick that fits in your all projects? So you don’t have to spend dollars on other boards. This guide would do wonders and help you in selecting the right board.