Things to Consider When Choosing an HMI or Display for Your Mobile Equipment

Wade Wessler - Cross Company

Author Bio

Wade Wessler

Mobile Controls Product Manager - Cross Mobile Systems Integration

Wade Wessler is the Business Development Manager for the Mobile Systems Integration group at Cross Company. Throughout his career, Wade has centered his philosophy on deeply understanding a customer’s products, processes, and company goals to ensure that solutions deliver clear, measurable value. He is committed to partnering with customers to optimize their mobile equipment, concentrating on maximizing efficiency, reducing risk, and raising quality. In the rapidly evolving mobile market, Wade and the team at Cross Mobile Systems Integration team are leading the industry as mobile electrification partners for OEMs, providing experienced engineering resources to design optimal machine solutions. Our core competencies here at Cross Mobile Systems Integration are hydraulic design and build, mobile panel design and build, control system development and integration, and machine electrification. View Full Profile

Different mobile machines have different display requirements. Whether your machine requires a simple engine interface to meet Tier IV engine requirements, or it requires a complex HMI (human machine interface) to allow the operator to either run the machine or provide valuable operating and troubleshooting information, the experts at Cross MSI can help you select the right display to meet your machines needs.

Display for boom arm controlThere are a lot of things to be considered when trying to determine what display might be the best for your application. The following are some of the questions that need to be answered;

  • Is this display mounted in a cab, or is it exposed to outdoor conditions?
  • Is it mounted in direct sunlight?
  • What size display do you need (what and how much information you want to present on a page needs to be considered here)?
  • What programming language is required?
  • Is this display being used for machine control or is there a main controller on your machine?
  • Do you need analog camera inputs? For example, do you want to display a camera input when in reverse?
  • What if any communication protocol is needed? If using CAN, how many CAN channels do you need?
  • Do you need the ability to interface with electronic engines – meet Tier IV diesel engine requirements?
  • Do you need inputs and outputs in the display? If so, to do what? If you need to drive an output, what is the current requirements?
  • Do you want to do data logging? If so, how much?
  • Do you need to store PDF’s for troubleshooting or parts information?

display hmi from ifm for mobile equipmentFor even more display functionality, check out our article: The benefits of controls systems on mobile machinery.

 

How Cross Can Help

If you’re looking for experts in mobile systems (electric systems, hydraulic systems, mobile control components, or anything else), Cross can help. Contact the Mobile Systems Integration specialists at Cross Company today to discuss your application, vehicle, or prototype. We’re members of the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA), the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the International Fluid Power Society (IFPS), and closely follow ISO standards for mobile machinery. With our experience and expertise, we can get you where you need to go.

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