An industrial computer is just the same as a conventional PC, only they are considered and built to withstand a lot of of the cruel elements of industrial environments. Industrial areas hold many of things that computers and other responsive electrical items struggle to cope with.
Water is common in many industrial areas particularly those that process food products and water and computers do not mix well together. Water, if it penetrates a computer or other electrical item; will right away short circuit it and probably render the device inoperable in the future.
For this reason a lot of industrial computers are designed as waterproof computers. They are built intrinsically sealed to prevent any ingress of water and a potential short circuit.
Another main constituent of industrial areas is the prevalence of dust. Dust is generated from all sorts of industrial processes from grinding and polishing to easy cleaning. Dust can clog filters and encase an electrical item like a PC and over-insulate it causing it to overheat. Another feature of dust is that it can contain many elements counting conductive particles. When these dust particles penetrate an electrical item, such as an industrial computer this will also cause a small circuit for this cause Industrial computers are built also as dustproof computers.