A control panel is a flat, often vertical, area where control or monitoring instruments are displayed or it is an enclosed unit that is the part of a system that users can access, such as the control panel of a
security system (also called control unit).
They are found in factories to monitor and control machines or production lines and in places such as
nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
s,
ships,
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...
and
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...
s. Older control panels are most often equipped with push buttons and analog instruments, whereas nowadays in many cases
touchscreens are used for monitoring and control purposes.
Gallery
Flat panels
File:FS Clemenceau (R98), engine control panel.jpg, Control panel of the engines of the '' Clémenceau'' aircraft carrier
File:INS Shivalik IVCS.JPG, Control panel with touchscreen for the frigate INS Shivalik
INS ''Shivalik'' (F47) is the lead ship of her class of stealth multi-role frigates built for the Indian Navy. She is the first stealth warship built by India. She was built at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) located in Mumbai. Construction o ...
File:Kontrollpult Flammrohrkessel 1.jpg, Control panel from two Horizontal Return Tubular boiler
File:S-IB_Networks_panel.jpg, One of the control panels from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Control Center
The Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center (commonly known as just the Launch Control Center or LCC) is a four-story building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, used to manage launches of launch vehicles from Kennedy Space ...
Firing Room during the Apollo era
File:controls.of.lifeboat.17-31.arp.jpg, Some of the control panels of a Severn class lifeboat
File:00-bma-automation-operator-panel-with-pushbuttons.JPG, HMI of a machine for the sugar industry
The sugar industry subsumes the production, processing and marketing of sugars (mostly sucrose and fructose). Globally, most sugar is extracted from sugar cane (~80% predominantly in the tropics) and sugar beet (~ 20%, mostly in temperate cli ...
with pushbuttons
Enclosed control unit
File:Honeywell home alarm.JPG, Wireless home alarm system control panel
See also
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Control stand
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Dashboard
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Electric switchboard
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Fire alarm control panel
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Front panel
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Graphical user interface
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Control panel (computer)
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Dashboard (software) virtual
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Lighting control console
A lighting control console (also called a lightboard, lighting board, or lighting desk) is an electronic device used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple stage lights at once. They are used throughout the entertainment industry and a ...
*
Mixing console
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Patch board
A patch panel is a device or unit featuring a number of jacks, usually of the same or similar type, for the use of connecting and routing circuits for monitoring, interconnecting, and testing circuits in a convenient, flexible manner. Patch ...
*
Plugboard
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Telephone switchboard
A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange ...
Control devices
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