What is an Industrial Fanless NUC? How do they Differ from Consumer NUCs?

By ·Categories: Depend OnLogic, Industrial IoT, Tech Explained·Published On: July 12th, 2023·7.1 min read·

The birth of the Industrial Fanless NUC quickly followed the release of the consumer-focused Intel® Next Unit of Computing (NUC). The NUC was created to pack the performance of a full sized computer into a compact package. Though it was launched as a consumer product, the NUC’s small size and impressive capabilities made it instantly appealing to professional users.

OnLogic (formerly Logic Supply) had the pleasure of developing some of the very first Industrial Fanless NUC enclosures. These units were designed for use in an industrial environment, where environmental factors can potentially damage computer hardware. Since then, each new generation of NUC motherboards have increased the performance and potential of these compact systems. With those advancements has come even greater flexibility in the way industrial computer users are leveraging these mini-PCs.

The Intel NUC discontinued

In July of 2023, Intel announced that the company would be discontinuing its investment in its NUC series. According to ServeTheHome, Intel expressed that the company would enable its ecosystem partners to continue the growth and innovation of the NUC series, and would fulfill its commitment to the ongoing support of the NUC products that are currently in the market.The Intel NUC will certainly be missed, but fortunately there are a range of NUC alternatives available that offer similar size and functionality.

A brief history of the NUC

When Intel chose to leap into the burgeoning small-form-factor PC market in 2012 with its Next Unit of Computing platform, the move made waves. As the market leader in CPU manufacturing, it was surprising to see them take such a big step into distributing full systems.

But Intel’s commitment to their NUC line paid off. In the years that followed, Intel NUC hardware began to crop up in many forms, and other motherboard manufacturers started releasing their own versions.

Small-form-factor systems based on Mini-ITX and Pico-ITX boards were nothing new, but the NUC offered a unique combination of size and performance that made it ideal for installation in space-constrained environments. In addition, previous generations of mass-produced, proprietary small-form-factor PCs often required customization to best serve a given application. In contrast, NUC offered a fixed I/O configuration that didn’t rely on utilizing onboard pin headers to achieve I/O for industrial applications.

The arrival of the industrial fanless NUC

The first wave of consumer NUC enclosures were not designed for the type of challenging conditions commonly found outside of an office setting. Plastic cases, complete with cooling fans and air vents, create problematic reliability concerns when installed on a busy manufacturing floor, or when mounted to the wall in a dust-filled wood mill. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before industrial NUC systems hit the market, distinctly engineered to offer a more durable, more reliable solution.

What makes a fanless industrial NUC Different?

The most obvious departure from a consumer NUC to its industrial counterpart is the enclosure. Consumer NUCs utilize a mix of polycarbonate and plastics. Industrial NUC systems most commonly employ steel or aluminum construction. These materials allow them to better stand up to impact forces and vibration.

Consumer NUC systems follow a standardized form factor and aesthetic that’s become universally recognizable. Industrial NUC systems, on the other hand, frequently offer additional capabilities like expansion bays for more storage, specialized add-on cards, or industry-specific I/O.

Industrial NUC enclosures look a little different than their consumer counterparts because they employ passive cooling technology. Most include design features such as fins to dissipate the heat. Furthermore, many industrial NUC enclosures are able to eliminate all extraneous openings in the case that would otherwise be required for active cooling.

One of the most impactful reliability improvements that many industrial NUCs employ is the removal of all moving parts, including the fan and spinning platter drives. The use of mSATA and M.2 drives allow for a range of storage options, without the inherent vulnerabilities of hard disc drives (HDDs).

Engineering reliability into the NUC

A photo of the ML100G-53 and the ML100G-41 from OnLogic

OnLogic’s ML100G-53 and ML100G-41 industrial fanless NUCs.

Computer crashes are a frustrating experience for anyone, but the ramifications of unreliable industrial computers can cost a business an incredible amount of time and money. Hardware failures can bring a manufacturing line to a halt, result in unusable product, or render data inaccurate or inaccessible. The reliability of a computer system is influenced by a wide range of variables. Industrial PC manufacturers have worked hard to eliminate the most common points of failure in order to maximize uptime.

The unique environmental concerns of industrial computer users extend beyond those that can be seen or felt. Protection from interference is an important feature for devices being installed in and among other equipment. Industrial fanless NUCs may utilize double right-angle interfaces at enclosure joints to limit RF and electrostatic discharge (ESD). Anodized aluminum and nickel-plated steel parts as well as specialized ESD shielding gaskets further help to prevent interference.

Custom-machined heatsinks or heat pipes are used inside industrial fanless NUC systems to transfer thermal energy from internal components directly into the system chassis. From there, heat is dissipated by the surrounding air. The elimination of ingress points for airborne contaminants helps to keep out dust, grease, chemicals, and corrosives, which can quickly build up on internal components and lead to overheating or electrical shorting.

Operating temperature is another key concern in industrial computing. Consumer NUC motherboards all hover around 0°C for their specified low operating temperature, and 40-50°C on the high end. Motherboard manufacturers are beginning to experiment with wider ranges for use in less temperature controlled environments. These types of extreme temperature applications are becoming increasingly common among industrial PC users as computing power continues to be deployed at the network’s edge where temps can hover around freezing and/or reach well into the triple digits fahrenheit.

NUC lifecycle differences

Industrial computing projects rely on component standardization to ensure consistent product delivery and performance. Many industrial certifications and regulatory tests also require a device to be locked down to a set configuration in order to be approved. However, consumer electronics, especially computer hardware, rarely feature a product lifecycle of longer than a year or two.

While consumer NUC systems typically offer a one to three year lifecycle, some industrial NUCs provide a full five-year lifecycle. A longer product lifecycle means that integrators can more easily standardize on a hardware configuration and be assured that the components will be available for future orders or replacements.

Connectivity options

The final key difference between consumer and industrial NUCs is one of the first things that most consumer computer users will notice — the connection options. The connectivity needs of industrial users tend to be very different from those of the average personal computer user. 

Legacy infrastructure integration in a machine shop or industrial automation application often requires the use of I/O connection standards commonly seen as antiquated in the consumer space. As an example, it’s not uncommon to find serial ports (COM) or even DVI ports on industrial computers. Digital input/output (DIO) is also a frequent feature in today’s industrial systems, allowing for versatile individualized programming and control.

OnLogic Industrial NUC

The future of industrial fanless NUCs

The NUC form factor has come a long way since 2012. After years of exclusively being available with Intel CPUs, hardware manufacturers have begun releasing systems in the familiar 4x4in form factor powered by AMD processors. The crossover appeal remains, and even with the discontinuation of Intel’s NUC series, industrial PC users have a new range of options on which to develop their solutions.

What’s next? For our part, OnLogic’s ML100G-53 and ML100G-41 provide a pair of new NUC form factor options, powered by the latest Intel and AMD processors respectively. The ML100 is already being used to power underwater remote operated vehicles, advanced unmanned aerial vehicle control systems and a wide range of robotics, IoT and Industry 4.0 solutions. 

There are also other small form factor, fully capable industrial computing platforms suitable for the kind of workloads a NUC might typically be used for, even if they’re not technically classified as a “NUC”. Our Helix 401, for example, is similar in size to an Intel NUC and is perfect for industrial applications.

Be sure to check out our full line of NUC systems for yourself, and contact us with any questions today.

Note: We originally posted this blog on August 9th, 2021. We updated it for content on July 12th, 2023. 

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About the Author: Darek Fanton

Darek is the Communications Manager at OnLogic. His passion for both journalism and technology has led him from the newsrooms of local papers to the manufacturing floor of IBM. His background in news gathering has him always on the lookout for the latest in emerging tech and the best ways to share that information with readers. In addition to his affinity for words, Darek is a music lover, juggler and huge fan of terrible jokes.