Keeping Control Panels Cool in Malaysia’s Palm Oil Industry

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

As the weather warms up, we start hearing from more customers who are dealing with hot, humid plant environments. Heat is often the first concern when it comes to protecting an electrical control panel, but in many facilities, humidity is just as much of a problem. Moisture inside an enclosure can lead to corrosion, nuisance faults, and shorter component life, especially when sensitive electronics are involved.

A recent application came from a customer building a control panel for an end user in Malaysia. That location immediately stood out because Malaysia’s climate is hot and humid year-round, and the end user was in the palm oil processing industry. Palm oil is big business in Malaysia. The country is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters, and the industry supports a large network of plantations, mills, refineries, food ingredient suppliers, and downstream manufacturers.

It is also an important piece of the broader food and beverage industry. Palm oil is widely used as an edible oil and as a functional ingredient in products such as baked goods, snacks, confectionery, margarine, shortenings, instant noodles, and other processed foods. For food manufacturers, it offers consistency, shelf stability, versatility, and availability at scale. So, when a palm oil processing plant has production equipment or control panels go down, the impact can reach well beyond one facility. It can affect ingredient supply, processing schedules, and the larger food production chain.

That is why uptime matters so much in this kind of application. Palm oil plants are built around continuous production, and the surrounding conditions can be tough on electrical enclosures. In this case, the customer needed a NEMA 12 Cabinet Cooler System capable of providing approximately 1000 Btu/hr. of cooling power. To provide some extra capacity and keep the system from being undersized, I recommended a 1700 Btu/hr. Cabinet Cooler System with 24 VDC thermostat control. The 24 VDC option also made sense because the customer could power the thermostat from inside the panel without having to run additional electrical circuits. The thermostat would control the temperature to within 2 degrees of its 95F setpoint. Electronics can live comfortably at a bit higher temperature than can humans. This helps save energy to cool the application without overdoing it.

Another benefit that really helped this application was the constant supply of clean, cool, dry air into the enclosure. Instead of pulling in the same hot, humid plant air that surrounded the cabinet, the Cabinet Cooler System purged the enclosure with compressed air that had already been treated at the production point and then filtered again at the panel with the included 5 micron compressed air filter/separator. That helped bring the cabinet environment down from the typical tropical humidity range of 80–90% RH to something closer to the 40–50% RH range inside the enclosure.

Before making the change, the end user had been using small DC fans to pull outside air through the panel. In a Malaysian palm oil processing environment, which meant pulling hot, humid air directly into the enclosure. The fans may have moved air, but they did not solve the heat problem, and they contributed to the moisture problem. By switching to the Cabinet Cooler System, the customer was able to address both concerns at the same time: lower internal temperature and lower humidity. Since the system has no moving parts to wear out, it also keeps maintenance simple, which is always a welcome advantage in a production environment where downtime can get expensive fast.

This was a good example of how a relatively simple enclosure cooling solution can make a big difference. In industries closely tied to food and beverage production, reliability is not just about protecting one panel. It is about keeping a process moving, protecting product flow, and helping a plant stay on schedule.

Neal Raker, Application Engineering Manager
nealraker@exair.com

Predictive Maintenance with Ultrasound: Find Compressed Air Leaks Before They Cost You

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

Compressed air is one of the most expensive utilities in a manufacturing facility, yet it is also one of the easiest to waste. Small leaks often go unnoticed for months or even years, quietly increasing energy costs, reducing system performance, and forcing compressors to work harder than necessary.

The good news is that these hidden losses don’t have to remain hidden. By incorporating ultrasonic inspection into your predictive maintenance program, maintenance teams can identify leaks early, schedule repairs during planned downtime, and significantly reduce operating costs.

Why Compressed Air Leaks Matter

Even well-maintained compressed air systems develop leaks over time. Vibration, worn fittings, damaged hoses, aging seals, and loose connections all contribute to air loss throughout a facility.

The consequences extend beyond higher utility bills:

  • Increased compressor run time
  • Higher maintenance costs
  • Reduced available air pressure
  • Shorter compressor life
  • Greater energy consumption
  • Increased carbon footprint

Many facilities lose 20–30% of their compressed air to leaks, and in poorly maintained systems, losses can exceed 40%. Finding these leaks quickly is one of the fastest ways to improve system efficiency.

Old School Soapy water test to check for air leaks.

Ultrasound as Part of Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance focuses on identifying equipment issues before they become failures.

Ultrasonic inspections fit naturally into this strategy because they allow facilities to:

  • Detect developing air leaks early
  • Schedule repairs during planned maintenance windows
  • Monitor recurring problem areas
  • Verify repairs immediately after completion
  • Track improvements over time

Rather than waiting for system performance to decline or energy costs to spike, maintenance teams can proactively eliminate waste before it impacts production.

Why Choose the EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector?

The EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector is designed specifically for industrial maintenance professionals who need a fast, reliable method of locating compressed air leaks.

Key advantages include:

  • Detects ultrasonic frequencies beyond human hearing
  • Works effectively in noisy industrial environments
  • Portable, lightweight design
  • Easy-to-read visual indication of leak intensity
  • Simple operation with minimal training required
  • Ideal for preventive and predictive maintenance programs

Whether you’re performing routine inspections or troubleshooting unexpected air loss, the detector helps maintenance teams locate problems quickly and accurately.

Predictive maintenance is about preventing small issues from becoming expensive problems. Compressed air leaks are a perfect example. They develop gradually, often go unnoticed, and quietly consume thousands of dollars in wasted energy each year.

By incorporating the EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector into a predictive maintenance strategy, facilities can identify hidden leaks before they impact production, reduce energy costs, extend compressor life, and improve overall system efficiency.

When every cubic foot of compressed air has a cost, finding leaks before they grow isn’t just good maintenance—it’s smart business.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
E: JordanShouse@exair.com
O: (513) 671‑3322
F: (513) 671‑3363
A: 11510 Goldcoast Dr Cincinnati OH 45249
www.exair.com

Find time on my calendar by scheduling a meeting here.

How Can I Stay Calm When My Control Panel’s Overheating?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

We’re in the dog days of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) for sure…or, as we call it, “Cabinet Cooler Season.” If you’re having heat-related problems with a control panel, there are plenty of cooling options out there, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that’s as durable, reliable, available, and easy to install as an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler System. All we have to do is find the right one for your enclosure, and we have a couple of different ways to do that:

Cabinet Cooler Systems Sizing Guide: We’ve had this on our website, and in our catalog, for years now. We can also email you one, if you want to print it out & fill in the blanks. Then, you can either email it back, or you can call us with the data. It only takes a minute to do the calculations, and we do it over the phone all the time.

Cabinet Cooler System Calculator: This one’s for the do-it-yourself-ers, and it uses the exact same formulas that an Application Engineer will use if you submit a Sizing Guide. There are still some situations where you might need to contact us — if your enclosure is in an explosive environment, an area with a hazardous classification, or if the heat load is outside the parameters of our stock Cabinet Cooler Systems, the Calculator is going to politely decline to make a selection and refer you to an Application Engineer. Of course, if you have ANY questions about the application or the Cabinet Cooler products, don’t hesitate to call, even if the Calculator doesn’t make you.

Here’s what we’re going to ask for, and why:

  • Enclosure dimensions. To calculate the heat transfer surface area
  • Current Internal Air Temperature. This is the starting point for figuring out the internal heat load…how much heat the components inside the box is generating. This needs to be the air temperature – don’t use a heat gun, or you’re going to give me the surface temperature of something that may or may not be close to what I need. Just put a thermometer in there for a few minutes.
  • Current External Air Temperature. We’re going to compare this to the internal air temperature…the difference between the two is proportional to the heat load. Also, if there’s anything cooling the enclosure right now (like circulating fans; more on those in a minute), this reading is key to figuring out how much heat they’re removing.
  • Maximum External Air Temperature. How hot does it get in the area on, say, the hottest day of summer? We’ll need this to calculate the external heat load…how much heat the enclosure picks up from its surroundings.
  • Maximum Internal Temperature Desired. Most electrical and electronic component manufacturers publish a maximum operating temperature of 104F (40C) – it’s kind of an “industry standard.” Based on this, a lot of us in the enclosure cooling business set our products’ thermostats to 95F (35C) – if we’re maintaining the air temperature a decent amount cooler than the components are allowed to get, history and practice has shown that we’re going to provide more than adequate protection. If your enclosure houses something with more sensitive temperature limitations, though, we can work with that too…that’s the only time you’re going to want to put something other than 95F (35C) in this field.
  • Cabinet Rating. This is all about the environment…we offer three levels of protection, per NEMA standards:
  • Other: If the enclosure is mounted to the side of a machine, or a wall in the plant, you really don’t need to put anything there. If it’s outside and exposed to direct sunlight, tell us what the surface finish (i.e., polished metal, painted grey, etc.) is so that we can account for solar loading too. If anything else is unusual or peculiar about the application, let us know that too.
  • My Cabinet Is… Not Vented, Vented, Wall Mounted, Free Standing, Fan(s). We’ll use what you tell us here to verify the heat transfer surface (a wall-mounted cabinet’s back surface isn’t a radiative surface, for example.) Also, I mentioned fan cooling before, so without further ado…
  • Fan diameter or SCFM. If there are fans circulating air into (and/or out of) the enclosure, they’re providing a finite amount of cooling right now. Proper installation of a Cabinet Cooler System is going to require their removal. Running a Cabinet Cooler System on a vented enclosure is just like running your air conditioner with the windows open. So, if we know the size (or the SCFM…sometimes there’s a label on those fans, and we LOVE those folks who do that) then we can use that, and the temperatures you gave us above, to take the fan cooling into account.

Once we (or the Calculator) have that data, we’ll calculate the heat load & specify the right system. Easy as that.

Before I go…here’s a nice little video, walking you through the Cabinet Cooler Sizing Guide. Yes, I just made you read the book before watching the movie…feel free to tell me which one you liked better.

Cabinet Cooler Systems are in stock and available for same day shipment with an order received by 2pm EDT. If you have a panel that needs cooling, we can fix that right now…give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Press Release: Dual Hazardous Location Cabinet Cooler Systems Protect Large Electrical Enclosures in Classified Areas

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

EXAIR’s Dual Hazardous Location Cabinet Cooler® Systems provide a powerful, maintenance-free solution for protecting large electrical enclosures in hazardous environments. Designed for classified areas, including Class I Div 1, Groups A, B, C, and D; Class II Div 1, Groups E, F, and G; and Class III, these high-capacity cooling systems prevent sensitive electronics from overheating while eliminating the need for costly air conditioners or panel fans. With cooling capacities up to 5,600 Btu/Hr, Dual Hazardous Location Cabinet Coolers are ideal for oversized control panels, motor control centers, and other electrical enclosures exposed to explosive gas or combustible dust atmospheres.

                Dual Hazardous Location Cabinet Cooler Systems use two engineered Cabinet Coolers working together to evenly distribute cold air throughout large enclosures, maintaining safe operating temperatures for critical electrical components. The systems are UL tested for hazardous locations and preserve the enclosure’s integrity by mounting through standard electrical knockouts. Each system includes an automatic drain filter separator to prevent moisture from entering the enclosure, while optional electronic temperature controls are also available. With no moving parts to wear out and no refrigerants to maintain, the systems provide long-lasting, reliable protection in the harshest industrial environments.

                Dual Hazardous Location Cabinet Cooler Systems are part of EXAIR’s complete family of Cabinet Cooler® Systems, offering solutions for NEMA 12, 4, 4X, and ATEX-rated enclosures ranging from 1,000 to 5,600 Btu/hr. Whether cooling a small control panel or a large electrical enclosure in a classified area, EXAIR provides engineered cooling solutions for virtually any enclosure cooling challenge.

                If you require assistance with sizing, EXAIR does have a Cabinet Cooler Sizing Guide to fill out for us to calculate the total heat load.  For our U.S. customers, we are offering a promotion.  You will receive an AC Sensor, a $77.50 value, for free as a promotional item from now until the end of August 2026 with a qualified purchase of our Cabinet Coolers. If you have any questions or need more information about our Cabinet Coolers, an Application Engineer can assist you. 

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