A company that manufacturers metal sheeting opted to do a program in preventative maintenance.  They looked at the potential problems that could occur within their process.  One potential problem was the over-temp fault with their VFDs, Variable Frequency Drives.   VFDs control the speed of the motors that run the production line.  With the summer months approaching, the ambient temperatures would rise increasing the temperatures inside their cabinets.  In this industry, production is very extensive, and they wanted to prevent the fault from occurring on the VFDs.

They contacted me because they were interested in EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems. I asked the general questions to correctly size the Cabinet Cooler; the dimensions, maximum ambient temperature, current ambient temperature, and current internal temperature within the cabinet.  When they went to check the temperature inside the cabinet, they noticed that the electrical components were dirty and dusty.  This raised a flag in determining the correct type of Cabinet Cooler.  Being the plant had a dirty environment, the dust particles were able to get into every little crevice and spot.  Another issue was created with the efficiency and effectiveness of the filthy electrical components.

An option for the EXAIR Cabinet Coolers is the Non-Hazardous Purge (NHP).  This product is designed to continuously bleed about 1 SCFM (28 SLPM) of compressed air into the cabinet.  This will cause a slight positive pressure to keep any dust particles from migrating into the electrical cabinet.  From the heat load calculation, the NHP4340 was the correct EXAIR Cabinet Cooler selected.  This would accomplish two things:  keep the electrical components cool during heavy operations and keep the electrical components dust free.   With this complete system which included the thermostat control and the NHP solenoid valve, the company was able to save compressed air during the cooler months and keep the dust off the electrical components.  Now that I shared the preventative maintenance program from this company, you can use it to your advantage to keep your electrical components cool and clean.  If you have any questions, you can always contact the Application Engineers.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Creative common license type by Dennis van Zuijlekom.