Enclosures: more materials, flexibility, options

We’re told to ''think out of the box.'' Even so, sometimes you still need an enclosure. What’s going on with enclosures? Recent products include more flexible designs, more material options, better connections, hazardous-area duty, and more accessory options, among other features.

By Control Engineering Staff November 6, 2003

We’re told to ”think out of the box.” Even so, sometimes you still need an enclosure. What’s going on with enclosures? Recent products include more flexible designs, more material options, better connections, hazardous-area duty, and more accessory options, among other features. A sampling of enclosure announcements follows:

Arcom Olympus Ice enclosure provides a rugged industrial compact protection for the Arcom Intel Socket 370 Olympus single-board computer.

Adalet DN4X series of flange-mounted stainless steel disconnect enclosures in nine sizes protects from dust, water, and oil. Features include silicone gaskets, removable hinge pin, box and cover ground screws with internal/external grounding stud, and internal standoffs for mounting pans. They can be ordered in Type 316 stainless steel.

The Baker Co . SterilGard II Advance, Class II Type A2 biological safety cabinet has a new adaptive ergonomic design, including an exclusive 10-degree slanted view screen, for less glare and better reach.

Bebco EPS: Pepperl+Fuchs of Twinsburg, OH, acquired the Enclosure Protection Systems (EPS) division of Bebco Industries. Bebco EPS features a portfolio of purge and pressurization panels and control units for hazardous areas. Pepperl+Fuchs will retain the Bebco EPS brand name for the acquired product line.

Hoffman Fiberglass enclosures can protect a variety of instruments from corrosive influences.

Bud Industries offers electronic enclosures, accessories, brackets, cabinets, card racks, chassis, communication products, die cast aluminum boxes, large cabinet racks, open racks, plastic boxes, instrument cases, and small metal enclosures. New products include seven more sizes of Die Cast Aluminum NEMA 4X Boxes and three versions of ABS Plastic boxes—press-fit cover, screwed-on cover, and a snap-fit cover. More than 90% of products are available in stock for same-day shipment.

Hoffman Fiberglass Type 4X Enclosures for Flange-Mounted Disconnects provide UL Type 4X corrosion protection for drives, controls, instruments, and equipment in the most severe environments.

ITSEnclosures offers the OmniStation series of Operator Interface Enclosures to safely enclose panel devices, custom controls, human-machine interfaces, panel-mounted and thin-client PCs, LCDs, and industrial keyboards. The line features a Multi-Configuration System, NEMA 12 rating, wall, pedestal or pendent-arm mounting, easy and accessible cable management, small footprint, and thin profile, the company says.

ITW Vortex offers electrical enclosure cooling. Vortex Cooler, with no moving parts, uses a vortex tube and filtered compressed air to produce a chilled air stream distributed throughout an enclosure, up to 5,000 btu per hour.

The Moore Industries SB Stainless Steel Enclosure protects many manufacturers’ instruments.

Moore Industries-International has a SB Stainless Steel Enclosure for protecting field-mounted hockey-puck instruments. It meets standards for indoor and outdoor electronic instruments for use in explosion-proof, dust-ignition-proof, and intrinsically safe locations.

Nederman introduced the Original XL Fume Extraction Arm for prompt removal of hazardous welding fumes.

Rittal offers many industrial and electronic enclosures: from junction and wall-mounted boxes, freestanding and multi-bay systems, fiberglass and stainless steel enclosures, and operator interface and flange-mounted disconnect systems, in standard or custom configurations.

Saginaw Control & Engineering offers standard stock and custom-designed enclosures, including fiberglass, accessories, and computer workstation systems.

Schroff electronic enclosure products including cabinets, cases, subracks, front panels, AdvancedTCA, CompactPCI, PXI, VME and VME64x systems, and backplanes. Custom, value-add, and engineering capabilities are available.

Stahlin has a non-metallic Breather Vent for enclosure use.

Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures , manufacturer of fiberglass enclosure products, introduces a new composite fiberglass Breather Vent, ”currently the only non-metallic vent carrying a UL type 4X rating,” the company said in an August 2003 statement. The vent allows an enclosure to ”breathe.” Free passage of air equalizes the pressure differential between the enclosure and ambient air, before a leak path develops.

Enclosing a hazardous process is one way to ensure safety. For more on machine safety, look for an upcoming Control Engineering cover story on the topic in November 2003.

Control Engineering : Take a look at recent enclosure research along with the accompanying article, ” Enclosures: The First and Often Only Line of Defense .”

Buyer’s Guide : If you log in at www.controleng.com and go to the Buyer’s Guide , selecting the Enclosure category will return more than 175 manufacturers.

—Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, editor-in-chief, MHoske@cfemedia.com