Alto Shaam CC-39540

CONTROL BOARD & FIRMWARE

Control boards are responsible for temperature, timing, activation and actuation, and other operational functions of restaurant equipment and HVAC systems. They may also display information to the user, such as the current ambient temperature, the temperature of a walk-in cooler, or the time remaining on an oven's cooking cycle. Some control boards may also have diagnostic functions and alarms to alert the user to any problems with the equipment. These boards are critical in ensuring personal comfort or the proper operation and optimal performance of restaurant equipment, helping to ensure that food is cooked and stored safely and efficiently.

Controls of all kinds are integral parts of restaurant equipment operation. A control is a switch or other device by which a machine is regulated. A control may be manual or automatically operated. An electro-mechanical control typically consists of multiple relays, timers, and/or counters wired together on an enclosure panel. Electro-mechanical control is also referred to simply as "Relay Control", which is a more accurate term since solid state electronic relays, timers, and counters are standard components. Contactors, motor and compressor starters, valves, thermostats, and other output devices are used to turn on/off motors, indicator lights, heating elements, and other components used in the equipment.

Firmware is software that's embedded in a piece of hardware and programmed into memory contained in the hardware itself. Modern commercial foodservice equipment of all kinds utilize control boards and keypads where the operation, inputs, and outputs of those devices are manged and processed by firmware. Firmware may be periodically updated to accommodate feature additions, processing upgrades, menu additions and more. Updates may be onboarded either over the air or via a physical port and cable connection. Most commonly, firmware update payloads are delivered via an SD card, USB stick, laptop, or other portable electronic storage device.