Electronic components don’t like heat, which is kind of ironic, considering they generate so much heat by themselves. Heat causes them to malfunction, and prolonged exposure can shorten their lifespan, or even cause them to fail RIGHT NOW. In any case, it’s important to keep them cool.

The computer that sits on my desk has a little fan in the back. This circulates fairly clean air from our climate-controlled office through the inside, keeping everything working just like it should.

It’d be great if ALL electrical & electronic component enclosures were situated in such ideal environments. Many, though, are subject to HARSH conditions: dust, oil vapor, high humidity, water spray for sanitation, high temperatures, corrosive elements — just to name a few. And EXAIR has panel cooling solutions for ALL of them.

Today, dear reader, we’re going to look at that last one: corrosive elements in the environment. Some of the more popular places where we encounter these are:

• Paper mills use chemicals that create harsh vapors. If you’ve ever been around a paper mill, you likely know the smell of methyl mercaptan. Whether you know the name or not, it’s the source of that trademark odor that permeates the air for MILES around paper mills, and it’s a byproduct of pulp processing that’s corrosive in wet or humid environments . . .like paper mills.
• Wastewater treatment plants use highly corrosive chemicals to make clean water out of — let’s just say, not-so-clean water. And, the process releases hydrogen sulfide gas, which is HIGHLY corrosive.
• Chemical plants: they make corrosive stuff ON PURPOSE. To be fair, those harsh chemicals are used in the production of just about everything in the modern world.
• Electroplating facilities use some of the strongest acids and bases in their plating solutions, which release harsh & corrosive vapors.
• Food processing facilities have to wash down entire rooms within their buildings, and some of the sanitizing agents they use create corrosive conditions.

You obviously can’t use fans (like my desktop computer in our clean office environment) for cooling control panels in these environments. Panel air conditioners have filters that can get dirty in a hurry, cooling coils that get fouled and corroded, and electric motors that burn out quicker in harsh environments. These environments are where Cabinet Cooler Systems make the most sense. With no moving parts to wear or electrical components to burn out, they’ll run darn near indefinitely, maintenance free, as long as they’re supplied with clean compressed air. And since 100% of the cold air they make comes from the compressed air supply, when they’re properly installed on a sealed panel, the only thing the components inside are ever exposed to is clean, cold, moisture-free air.

EXAIR NEMA 12 (oil tight, dust tight, indoor duty) and NEMA 4 (splash resistant, indoor/outdoor duty) Cabinet Coolers are made of lightweight and fairly corrosion-resistant aluminum. When harsh corrosive elements are present, though, our NEMA 4X (corrosion resistant, indoor/outdoor duty) Cabinet Coolers are made of type 303 Stainless Steel. When PARTICULARLY corrosive elements are present, we also offer them in type 316 Stainless Steel as well.

If you’ve got electric panels in a harsh environment, EXAIR has reliable, durable cooling solutions. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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