A protective casing and an industrial communication terminal

Abstract

This invention provides a protective housing and an industrial communication terminal, belonging to the technical field of industrial communication equipment. The protective housing includes a main body with an inner cavity for accommodating the industrial communication terminal. The top of the main body has a multi-functional interface compartment, and the side walls have dynamic airflow components. The inner cavity contains an elastic buffer and a heat-conducting base. The multi-functional interface compartment integrates a waterproof cover and a dust plug holder, achieving centralized management and sealed protection of the interface. The dynamic airflow components include an outer insect-proof net, rotatable airflow louvers, and an inner dust filter, providing ventilation and heat dissipation while protecting against multiple pollutants. The elastic buffer and heat-conducting base, through limiting grooves, thermally conductive silicone pads, and raised heat dissipation columns, combines shock absorption and heat conduction. The industrial communication terminal integrates a multi-protocol communication core module, an edge computing and data preprocessing module, a wireless roaming and link aggregation module, and a unified configuration and management interface module, supporting multi-protocol access, edge intelligent processing, high-reliability wireless transmission, and remote management. This invention achieves synergistic optimization of protection, heat dissipation, buffering, and intelligent communication, significantly improving the reliability and environmental adaptability of the industrial communication terminal in harsh environments.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of industrial communication equipment and related protection technology, specifically relating to a protective shell and an industrial communication terminal. Background Technology

[0002] Industrial communication terminals are the "nerve endings" of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), responsible for collecting data and converting protocols in harsh industrial environments, and transmitting the data to the cloud or control center via wireless / wired networks. They solve the problems of "silent" and "information silos" in factory equipment, and are key hardware for realizing intelligent manufacturing and remote operation and maintenance.

[0003] When industrial communication terminals are put into use, protective structures are required to effectively prevent damage that may occur during use. However, current protective structures are often inadequate for industrial communication terminals due to harsh industrial environments such as dust, humidity, vibration, and impact, which can occur in workshops and outdoors, leading to reduced protective effectiveness. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a protective casing and an industrial communication terminal, which solves the above-mentioned shortcomings of the protective casings of existing industrial communication terminals.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows: The present invention provides a protective shell and an industrial communication terminal, including a shell body, wherein the shell body is provided with an inner cavity for accommodating the industrial communication terminal; The top of the main body of the outer shell is provided with a multi-functional interface compartment; The side wall of the outer shell is provided with a dynamic air duct assembly for ventilation and heat dissipation. The inner cavity is equipped with an elastic buffer and a heat-conducting base for mounting industrial communication terminals.

[0006] Preferably, the multi-functional interface compartment includes a chamber with an opening, the opening of which is hinged to a waterproof cover; a dust plug hanger is provided on the inner wall of the waterproof cover.

[0007] Preferably, the dynamic air duct assembly includes an outer insect-proof net, a rotatable air-guiding louver, and an inner dust-proof filter cotton arranged sequentially from the outside to the inside.

[0008] Preferably, the blades of the air-guiding louver are coated with a hydrophobic coating.

[0009] Preferably, a temperature and humidity sensor is provided in the inner cavity, the temperature and humidity sensor is connected to a control module, and the control module drives the flow guide louvers.

[0010] Preferably, the elastic buffer and thermally conductive base includes a base body, the upper surface of which is provided with a limiting groove for engaging an industrial communication terminal, the bottom of which is embedded with a thermally conductive silicone pad, and the bottom of which is provided with a plurality of raised heat dissipation columns, the free ends of which are in contact with the bottom of the outer shell body.

[0011] Preferably, heat dissipation fins are provided on the bottom outer side of the outer casing.

[0012] Preferably, the industrial communication terminal includes: The multi-protocol communication core module is used to run at least two industrial fieldbus protocol stacks and at least one industrial Ethernet protocol stack simultaneously to achieve unified data access for heterogeneous field devices. The edge computing and data preprocessing module is connected to the multi-protocol communication core module and is used to perform local parsing, filtering, compression and edge-side logical operations on the received field device data, and generate standardized data. The wireless roaming and link aggregation module integrates at least two independent wireless communication units to enable seamless roaming between multiple wireless networks and aggregate multiple wireless links into a single logical channel; The unified configuration and management interface module provides a unified web configuration interface, OPC UA server interface, and RESTful API to support remote configuration and management of communication protocols, data processing logic, and wireless parameters.

[0013] Preferably, the industrial communication terminal includes a breakpoint resume function and a data cache, which is used to store the data to be uploaded in the local cache when a network interruption is detected, and to automatically resume the transmission after the network is restored.

[0014] Preferably, the wireless roaming and link aggregation module supports wireless communication methods including 5G / 4G, Wi-Fi 6, and LoRa.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: This invention provides a protective shell and industrial communication terminal, which integrates an inner cavity, a multi-functional interface compartment, a dynamic air duct assembly, and an elastic buffer and heat-conducting base to form a systematic physical protection for the industrial communication terminal. The inner cavity provides accommodating space, the top multi-functional interface compartment facilitates centralized arrangement and protection of interfaces, the side wall dynamic air duct assembly ensures ventilation and heat dissipation while effectively blocking dust, insects, and moisture, and the bottom elastic buffer and heat-conducting base has both shock absorption and heat conduction functions: on the one hand, it absorbs external vibrations and impacts to protect the internal terminal; on the other hand, it efficiently conducts the heat generated by the terminal's operation to the shell for heat dissipation. The overall design achieves synergistic optimization of protection, heat dissipation, and buffering, significantly improving the operational reliability, environmental adaptability, and service life of the industrial communication terminal in harsh industrial environments. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the protective shell in this invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the planar structure of the protective outer shell in this invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the multifunctional interface compartment in this invention; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the disassembled structure of the dynamic air duct component in this invention; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the top structure of the elastic buffer and heat-conducting base in this invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the connection between the elastic buffer and the heat-conducting base and the protective shell in this invention; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the bottom structure of the elastic buffer and heat-conducting base in this invention; Figure 8 This is a system diagram of the industrial communication terminal in this invention; The components include: 1. Outer shell; 101. Temperature and humidity sensor; 102. Heat dissipation fins; 2. Multifunctional interface compartment; 201. Waterproof cover; 202. Dust plug bracket; 3. Dynamic air duct assembly; 301. Outer insect screen; 302. Airflow guide louvers; 303. Inner dust filter cotton; 4. Elastic buffer and thermally conductive base; 401. Limiting groove; 402. Thermally conductive silicone pad; 403. Raised heat dissipation column. Detailed Implementation

[0017] In the following description, specific details such as particular system architectures and techniques are set forth for illustrative purposes and not for limitation, in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of this application. However, those skilled in the art will understand that this application may also be implemented in other embodiments without these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, apparatuses, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of this application with unnecessary detail.

[0018] It should be understood that, when used in this application specification and the appended claims, the term "comprising" indicates the presence of the described features, integrals, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components and / or a collection thereof.

[0019] It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used in this application specification and the appended claims means any combination of one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations, and includes such combinations.

[0020] As used in this application specification and the appended claims, the term "if" may be interpreted, depending on the context, as "when," "once," "in response to determination," or "in response to detection." Similarly, the phrase "if determined" or "if detected [the described condition or event]" may be interpreted, depending on the context, as meaning "once determined," "in response to determination," "once detected [the described condition or event]," or "in response to detection [the described condition or event]."

[0021] Furthermore, in the description of this application and the appended claims, the terms "first," "second," "third," etc., are used only to distinguish descriptions and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0022] References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" as described in this specification mean that one or more embodiments of this application include a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment. Therefore, the phrases "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in other embodiments," "in still other embodiments," etc., appearing in different parts of this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but rather mean "one or more, but not all, embodiments," unless otherwise specifically emphasized. The terms "comprising," "including," "having," and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to," unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

[0023] Example 1: Please see Figure 1 - Figure 7 This embodiment provides a protective housing and an industrial communication terminal, including a housing body 1. The housing body has an inner cavity for accommodating the industrial communication terminal. The housing body 1 further includes: The multi-functional interface compartment 2 is integrated on the top of the outer shell 1. The multi-functional interface compartment 2 has an upward-opening compartment. The top of the multi-functional interface compartment 2 is sealed by a flip-up waterproof cover 201. The inside of the waterproof cover 201 is integrated with a dust plug hanger 202.

[0024] A multi-functional interface compartment 2 is centrally located at the top for convenient line access and management. A flip-up waterproof cover 201 provides space for interface operation when open and ensures a dustproof and waterproof seal when closed. An integrated dust plug holder 202 inside the cover allows for easy storage of dust plugs when the interface is not in use, preventing loss and keeping the interface clean.

[0025] The dynamic air duct assembly 3 is disposed on the side wall of the outer shell body 1. The dynamic air duct assembly 3 includes an outer insect-proof net 301, a rotatable air guide louver 302 and an inner dust filter cotton 303, which are stacked sequentially from the outside to the inside. Through the coordinated operation of the multi-layered structure from the outside in, the equipment can effectively protect against multiple pollutants such as dust, insects, and water droplets while ensuring ventilation and heat dissipation inside the main body 1, thus improving the long-term operational reliability of the equipment in harsh industrial environments.

[0026] The elastic buffer and heat-conducting base 4 is located at the bottom of the inner cavity of the outer shell body 1. The upper surface of the elastic buffer and heat-conducting base 4 is provided with a limiting groove 401 for fitting and snapping the bottom of the industrial communication terminal. The interior of the elastic buffer and heat-conducting base 4 is embedded with a heat-conducting silicone pad 402. The bottom of the elastic buffer and heat-conducting base 4 is provided with multiple downward protruding heat dissipation columns 403.

[0027] The limiting groove 401 on the upper surface can securely fix the communication terminal module and prevent it from moving or loosening in the inner cavity. The internal thermally conductive silicone pad 402 and the raised heat dissipation column 403 at the bottom can efficiently conduct the heat generated by the communication terminal during operation to the outer shell body 1, and use the outer shell body 1 for heat dissipation, which solves the heat dissipation buffering problem of key modules in the confined space, and has the dual functions of shock absorption and heat conduction.

[0028] See Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 Specifically, the waterproof cover 201 is connected to the multi-functional interface compartment 2 via a torque shaft, and the dust plug holder 202 is provided with a slot that matches the shape of common interface dust plugs.

[0029] The waterproof cap 201 is connected to the torsion shaft, allowing it to remain suspended at any angle for easy operation. The slots on the dust plug holder 202 ensure a secure engagement of the dust plug, further preventing it from falling off in vibrating environments.

[0030] See Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 Specifically, the airflow guide louver 302 rotates within the range of 0 to 90°, and the surface of the blades of the airflow guide louver 302 is coated with a hydrophobic coating.

[0031] The airflow deflector louver 302 is adjustable within the range of 0 to 90°, allowing for flexible adjustment of the air intake angle and airflow according to ambient wind speed, wind direction, or heat dissipation requirements, thereby optimizing heat dissipation efficiency. The hydrophobic coating on the blade surface of the airflow deflector louver 302 effectively prevents water droplets from adhering and penetrating, enhancing its protective capabilities in humid or rainy environments.

[0032] See Figure 1 , Figure 2 Specifically, a temperature and humidity sensor 101 is also installed in the inner cavity of the outer shell 1, and the temperature and humidity sensor 101 is electrically connected to a corresponding control module.

[0033] Based on the monitored temperature and humidity data, the control module can ultimately adjust the rotation angle of the airflow guide louver 302.

[0034] See Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 Specifically, the elastic buffer and heat-conducting base 4 is made of highly elastic rubber material, the protruding heat dissipation column 403 contacts the bottom plate of the outer shell body 1, and the corresponding position on the bottom plate is provided with outward protruding heat dissipation fins 102.

[0035] The elastic cushioning and thermally conductive base 4, made of highly elastic rubber material, provides excellent shock absorption and cushioning performance, protecting internal terminals from impact and vibration damage. The raised heat dissipation pillars 403 contact the bottom plate of the casing and direct heat to the heat dissipation fins 102 on the outside of the bottom plate, greatly increasing the heat dissipation area and improving passive heat dissipation efficiency, making it suitable for fanless, hermetically sealed designs.

[0036] Working principle: Physical Protection and Interface Management: The main body 1 is physically protected by a multi-functional interface compartment 2 integrated at the top. The multi-functional interface compartment 2 features an upward-opening design and is sealed by a flip-up waterproof cover 201. When cables need to be plugged in or unplugged, the waterproof cover 201 is opened for operation; after operation, the waterproof cover 201 is closed, using its seal to prevent the intrusion of dust and water droplets. The dust plug holder 202 integrated inside the waterproof cover 201 provides a dedicated storage location, ensuring that unused interfaces are properly protected by dust plugs, preventing foreign objects from entering and causing poor contact or short circuits. This design solves the problems of easily lost small parts and easily contaminated interfaces in industrial environments.

[0037] Intelligent ventilation and dust protection: The dynamic air duct assembly 3 installed on the side wall achieves a balance between heat dissipation and protection. This is based on multi-layer filtration and a controllable air duct. The outermost insect screen 301 first blocks larger foreign objects such as mosquitoes and willow catkins. The middle rotatable airflow guide louvers 302 are active adjustment components; their blades can rotate within a range of 0–90°, adjusting the airflow volume and direction by changing the angle to optimize heat dissipation efficiency. The hydrophobic coating on the surface of the airflow guide louvers 302 allows water droplets to roll off quickly, preventing water seepage. The innermost dust filter cotton 303 filters fine dust, ensuring clean air entering the equipment. Furthermore, the temperature and humidity sensor 101 installed inside the main body 1 monitors the internal environment in real time. Its data can be linked to the control module to assist in adjusting the opening angle of the airflow guide louvers 302, achieving intelligent temperature control based on environmental conditions.

[0038] Shock Absorption and Efficient Heat Conduction: The elastic cushioning and heat-conducting base 4, located at the bottom of the inner cavity of the main body 1, undertakes the responsibilities of mechanical protection and thermal management. Its highly elastic rubber material body can effectively absorb and buffer vibrations and impacts from the outside, protecting the delicate communication terminal module inside. During operation, the heat generated by the communication terminal is first transferred to the thermally conductive silicone pad 402 inside the base through the contact surface at its bottom. The thermally conductive silicone pad 402 has good thermal conductivity. The heat is then guided to multiple downward-facing raised heat dissipation columns 403 at the bottom of the base. These raised heat dissipation columns 403 are in close contact with the bottom plate of the main body 1, and finally conduct the heat to the heat dissipation fins 102 on the outside of the bottom plate of the main body 1. By efficiently conducting the heat inside the device to the entire surface area of ​​the main body 1 for passive heat dissipation, the heat dissipation problem of key modules inside the sealed protective shell is successfully solved, achieving a unity of protection and heat dissipation.

[0039] In this embodiment, the industrial communication terminal includes: A multi-protocol communication core module, used to simultaneously run at least two industrial fieldbus protocol stacks and at least one industrial Ethernet protocol stack; The edge computing and data preprocessing module is used to perform local parsing, filtering, compression, and edge-side logical operations on the data from the connected field devices. The wireless roaming and link aggregation module integrates at least two independent wireless communication units, supports seamless roaming between multiple wireless networks, and can aggregate multiple wireless links into a single logical channel to improve bandwidth and reliability.

[0040] The unified configuration and management interface module provides a unified web configuration interface, OPC UA server interface, and RESTful API, allowing remote configuration and management of communication protocols, data processing logic, and wireless parameters.

[0041] By integrating a protective shell with multiple protective functions with a high-performance industrial communication system, an integrated industrial communication terminal is formed. This terminal not only has strong physical protection, but its internal functional system also achieves multi-protocol compatibility, intelligent edge processing, high reliability of wireless communication, and unified and convenient management. It meets the comprehensive needs of modern industrial IoT for data acquisition, processing, transmission, and equipment management, and reduces the complexity of system integration.

[0042] Specifically, the edge computing and data preprocessing module has a built-in rule engine and a lightweight time-series database, which executes data preprocessing scripts based on time or event triggers and temporarily stores historical data.

[0043] The edge computing module has a built-in rule engine and a lightweight time-series database, enabling the terminal to perform complex logical processing and temporary storage at the data source. On the one hand, this reduces the uploading of invalid data and saves network bandwidth and cloud storage costs; on the other hand, it can maintain local logical operation and data temporary storage when the network is unstable or interrupted, thereby improving system autonomy and continuity.

[0044] Specifically, the wireless roaming and link aggregation module supports wireless communication methods including 5G / 4G, Wi-Fi 6, and LoRa, and intelligently selects or aggregates communication paths based on signal strength, network congestion, and service priority.

[0045] By integrating multiple wireless communication methods and supporting intelligent routing and aggregation, the system ensures that terminals can obtain optimal and highly reliable wireless connections in various industrial scenarios. Link aggregation technology further enhances data transmission bandwidth and reliability, meeting the demands of demanding business transmission requirements.

[0046] Specifically, industrial communication terminals also include breakpoint resume and data buffer; When a network interruption is detected, the data to be uploaded is automatically stored in the local cache and will be automatically resumed after the network is restored.

[0047] The design of breakpoint resume and data buffer ensures that critical on-site data is not lost during temporary network interruptions. The terminal can automatically cache data and resume transmission after the network is restored, greatly enhancing the reliability and integrity of data reporting in complex network environments.

[0048] Working principle: Multi-protocol access and data aggregation: The terminal's multi-protocol communication core module is the data entry point, capable of simultaneously running multiple industrial fieldbus (such as PROFIBUS, Modbus) and industrial Ethernet (such as PROFINET, EtherNet / IP) protocol stacks. By monitoring and processing data from different protocol networks in parallel, it unifies signals from heterogeneous PLCs, sensors, actuators, and other field devices into a standardized data format that can be processed internally, solving the "information silo" problem caused by the coexistence of multiple protocol devices in industrial fields.

[0049] Edge-side intelligent preprocessing: The edge computing and data preprocessing module is the "brain" of the terminal. It has a built-in rule engine and a lightweight time-series database. After receiving raw data from the communication core module, it first performs data cleaning, filters outliers, compresses redundant information, and executes simple logical operations (such as average calculation and limit alarms) according to pre-defined rule scripts (e.g., based on time or event triggers). The processed valid data is temporarily stored in the local time-series database. This process significantly reduces the amount and frequency of data that needs to be uploaded to the cloud or host computer, lowers network bandwidth pressure and cloud computing load, and achieves rapid local response.

[0050] High-reliability wireless transmission: The wireless roaming and link aggregation module is responsible for remote data upload. It integrates multiple independent wireless communication units (such as 5G / 4G, Wi-Fi 6, LoRa). It continuously monitors the signal strength and network congestion status of each wireless link, and dynamically selects the optimal communication path based on the service priority of data transmission. When the bandwidth of a single link is insufficient, it can aggregate multiple wireless links into a high-bandwidth, high-reliability logical channel for data transmission. When equipment moves or the current network quality deteriorates, it can achieve seamless roaming between different networks (such as switching from Wi-Fi in the factory to a 5G network), ensuring uninterrupted data connection.

[0051] Data Assurance and Remote Management: Resumable transmission and data caching ensure reliable data transfer. The module monitors network connectivity in real time. Upon detecting a network interruption, it immediately and automatically transfers the data packets that should have been uploaded to a local non-volatile buffer. Once the network is restored, the system automatically re-initiates transmission from the point of interruption, ensuring no data loss. The entire terminal configuration and management are handled through a unified configuration and management interface module, which provides a web interface, OPCUA server, and RESTful API. Administrators, regardless of location, can remotely configure communication protocol parameters, edit edge processing rules, and set wireless network preferences via a browser or host computer software, achieving centralized and standardized operation and maintenance of distributed edge devices.

[0052] The above-described embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and are not intended to limit them. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some of the technical features. Such modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and should all be included within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A protective casing and an industrial communication terminal, characterized in that, Includes a housing body, wherein the housing body is provided with an inner cavity for accommodating an industrial communication terminal; The top of the main body of the outer shell is provided with a multi-functional interface compartment; The side wall of the outer shell is provided with a dynamic air duct assembly for ventilation and heat dissipation. The inner cavity is equipped with an elastic buffer and a heat-conducting base for mounting industrial communication terminals.

2. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that, The multi-functional interface compartment includes a compartment with an opening, the opening of which is hinged to a waterproof cover; a dust plug hanger is provided on the inner wall of the waterproof cover.

3. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that, The dynamic air duct assembly includes an outer insect-proof net, a rotatable air-guiding louver, and an inner dust-proof filter cotton arranged sequentially from the outside to the inside.

4. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 3, characterized in that, The blades of the air-guiding louvers are coated with a hydrophobic coating.

5. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 3, characterized in that, A temperature and humidity sensor is installed in the inner cavity, and the temperature and humidity sensor is connected to a control module. The control module drives the flow guide louvers.

6. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that, The elastic buffer and thermally conductive base includes a base body. The upper surface of the base body is provided with a limiting groove for engaging an industrial communication terminal. A thermally conductive silicone pad is embedded in the bottom of the limiting groove. The bottom of the thermally conductive silicone pad is provided with multiple raised heat dissipation columns. The free ends of the raised heat dissipation columns are in contact with the bottom of the outer shell body.

7. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that, Heat dissipation fins are provided on the bottom outer side of the main body of the outer casing.

8. The protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that, The industrial communication terminal includes: The multi-protocol communication core module is used to run at least two industrial fieldbus protocol stacks and at least one industrial Ethernet protocol stack simultaneously to achieve unified data access for heterogeneous field devices. The edge computing and data preprocessing module is connected to the multi-protocol communication core module and is used to perform local parsing, filtering, compression and edge-side logical operations on the received field device data, and generate standardized data. The wireless roaming and link aggregation module integrates at least two independent wireless communication units to enable seamless roaming between multiple wireless networks and aggregate multiple wireless links into a single logical channel; The unified configuration and management interface module provides a unified web configuration interface, OPC UA server interface, and RESTful API to support remote configuration and management of communication protocols, data processing logic, and wireless parameters.

9. A protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 8, characterized in that, The industrial communication terminal includes a breakpoint resume function and a data cache, which is used to store the data to be uploaded in the local cache when a network interruption is detected, and to automatically resume the transmission after the network is restored.

10. A protective casing and industrial communication terminal according to claim 8, characterized in that, The wireless roaming and link aggregation module supports wireless communication methods including 5G / 4G, Wi-Fi 6, and LoRa.

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