Enclosures: Improve NEMA designs, enclose wireless equipment, keep cabinets cool
By Control Engineering Staff -- Control Engineering, 8/7/2008
NEMA-rated enclosures can be designed smarter. Panel builders and systems integrators also can find advice and solutions for enclosing wireless equipment for hazardous areas, and keeping electrical cabinets cool.
Avoid enclosure design errors: Bud Industries, through distributor Newark, explains, “The Top 5 Pitfalls in Designing NEMA Enclosures.”
Avoiding a few common design errors can save time and cost in enclosures designed to NEMA ratings. Enclosure design errors to avoid include wrong ratings, incorrect materials, and wrong enclosure sizes. A whitepaper from Bud Industries explains all five pitfalls and offers additional enclosure advice.
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| Companies can now safely use their standard indoor wireless equipment in zone 1 and 2 hazardous areas by housing it in Extronics' new universal access point enclosure. |
Explosion-proof wireless enclosure:Extronics iWAP103 is an ATEX approved, zone 1, universal access point enclosure. The explosion-proof enclosure is designed and certified to house leading wireless vendors’ equipment safely in zone 1 extreme and hazardous environments.
Variants are available for equipment from Aruba, Cisco, Firetide, Meru, and Motorola, among others. Provided the wireless equipment will physically fit and does not contain batteries or fans, other vendors’ devices may be installed in the iWAP103 as well.
The enclosure is protected to IP66 standard and designed to fit the specific vendor's access point with the basic configuration offering Power over Ethernet (PoE) input. Other new features include a 110/230 V ac or 24 V dc power supply, multi-mode fibre optic Ethernet connection, antenna lightning arrestors, and a heater to extend the temperature range of the wireless equipment to -20 °C and prevent condensation from occurring.
Two optional RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485 serial interfaces can be used to connect devices such as mesh sensor gateways or PLCs, and two 802.3af compliant PoE switch ports can be used to connect IP Cameras, further access points or other Ethernet equipment. Antenna mounting brackets and the iANT100 & iANT101 omnidirectional antennas allow deployment of non-certified wireless equipment in hazardous areas.
Cool your cabinets: Noren Products Inc. UL/cUL Listed Compact Cabinet Coolers are designed for use on UL508A enclosures. Air-to-air and air-to-water heat exchangers are available.
The UL/cUL listings extend the company’s cooling solutions. Noren, founded in 1968, offers products that prevent costly damage due to overheating in electrical, electronic, drive and device control panels.
– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief
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