Category: Cabinet Cooler

EXAIR High Temperature Cabinet Coolers for Extreme Environments

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

EXAIR‘s High Temperature Cabinet Cooler Systems prevent electrical panel failures in extreme environments where ambient temperatures reach up to 200°F (93°C). Traditional cooling methods like fans or standard air conditioners fail when positioned near intense heat sources. EXAIR’s specialized vortex-tube-powered coolers deliver reliable thermal protection to ensure your operations keep running smoothly without catastrophic heat downtime.

Industrial electrical cabinets often face brutal environments. Standard electronics are designed to operate optimally around 95°F (35°C). However, when control panels are installed near high-heat infrastructure, internal components quickly bake and fail. Typical problem areas include:

  • Boiler rooms
  • Furnaces and foundries
  • Industrial ovens
  • Steam lines and casting operations

Standard cabinet coolers struggle when ambient temperatures exceed 125°F (52°C). For these ultra-hot zones, a heavy-duty solution is required.

EXAIR High Temperature Cabinet Coolers use advanced vortex tube technology to turn ordinary compressed air into a clean, cold air stream. In the video below, you can see this cooling effect in action. All of this is achieved without the need for refrigerants or moving parts.

Some key benefits of Vortex Tube technology are:

  • Zero Moving Parts: No fans, motors, or bearings to wear out or clog from ambient dust.
  • No Refrigerants: Eliminates Freon leaks, compressors, and complex chemical maintenance.
  • Instant Installation: Mounts in minutes through a standard electrical knockout.
  • Continuous Integrity: Available in NEMA 12 (dust-tight), NEMA 4 (splash-resistant), and NEMA 4X (corrosion-resistant stainless steel) ratings to maintain your enclosure’s structural seal.

Precise and Efficient Temperature Control

Compressed air is a valuable resource, and EXAIR systems are optimized to ensure it isn’t wasted.

  • Thermostat-Controlled Systems: These configurations use an adjustable mechanical thermostat factory-set to 95°F (35°C). The cooler only activates when the interior temperature hits critical levels, automatically shutting off once cooled.
  • Electronic Temperature Control (ETC): For precision applications, the EXAIR Electronic Temperature Control system utilizes a digital LED readout and a quick-response thermocouple to manage internal environment settings accurately down to the degree.

Choosing the right unit depends on your specific cabinet dimensions and internal heat loads. High-temperature models start at cooling capacities of 1,000 BTU/hr and can scale up significantly to handle heavy component loads.

To avoid guesswork, you can use the online EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Calculator to input your panel’s dimensions and temperatures. The tool will automatically determine if a high-temperature system is required and identify the exact BTU capacity you need. Or if you would like an Application Engineer to assist you, feel free to give us a call at 1-800-903-9247!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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Beat the Heat: How to Correctly Size an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Electrical enclosures are the brains of modern manufacturing. When heat builds up inside them, it triggers tripped breakers, blown fuses, and costly component failures.

Standard air conditioners are bulky and require heavy maintenance. EXAIR Cabinet Coolers offer a low-maintenance alternative by using vortex tube technology to turn compressed air into cold air.

Compressed air goes in; cold air comes out of the Vortex Tube and is circulated through the enclosure. The Vortex Tube’s hot flow and the warm exhaust from the enclosure are vented through the Cabinet Cooler’s body.

To protect your electronics, you must choose the right cooler size. Sizing requires calculating the total heat load of your enclosure. Here is the step-by-step process to get it right.

The Four Sources of Heat Load

To find the total heat load, you must look at how energy enters or builds up in your panel. The total heat load is determined by adding four main areas together: internal, external, fan, and solar heat loads.

1. Internal Heat Load

The internal load is the heat generated by the inefficiencies of your electrical devices inside the panel. You can calculate this by listing the wattage or volt/amp ratings of your major devices—like VFDs, power supplies, and transformers. Alternatively, you can measure the current internal and external air temperature. The difference between these two can be used to calculate the internal heat load.

2. External Heat Load

External heat enters the panel from the surrounding room or nearby high-heat equipment like ovens. To ensure your electronics stay cool on the hottest day, you must compare the highest expected external air temperature against your maximum desired internal temperature. Most electrical components are designed to operate around 95°F (35°C).

3. Panel Fans

Installing an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler requires sealing all vents and removing old panel fans to allow the system to properly purge hot, humid air. Because you are removing an active, albeit less efficient, cooling device, you must factor that fan back into your equations. You will need to account for either the fan’s flow rate or its physical diameter.

4. Solar Heat Load

Solar heat is an extra thermal load that only applies if your panel is stationed outdoors without cover and under direct sunlight. For outdoor calculations, the color of your enclosure matters significantly; lighter cabinet colors absorb much less heat than darker finishes.

All of these elements can be plugged into our Cabinet Cooler sizing guide, or our online Cabinet Cooler Systems Calculator to give you the total heat load in BTU/hr. Once you have your final BTU/hr requirement, it’s as simple as matching it to the appropriate EXAIR system. EXAIR systems range from small 275 BTU/hr units up to heavy-duty 5,600 BTU/hr systems.

You also need to select the correct NEMA rating for your environment:

  • NEMA 12: For dust and oil-tight industrial environments.
  • NEMA 4: For water-resistant, outdoor, or washdown areas.
  • NEMA 4X: For corrosion-resistant stainless steel environments (food processing/chemical).

By taking precise measurements and calculating your true thermal load, you ensure your control panels stay cool, production keeps running, and you never waste compressed air on an oversized unit.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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The Cost Of Cooling Electrical Panels

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Heat, dirt, and moisture are natural enemies of electrical and electronic gear. Dirt and moisture are relatively easy to eliminate as dangers: just seal up the enclosure so they can’t get in. Heat, though, is a real “apex predator.” Whether the enclosure is sealed or not, the components inside will generate heat if they’re energized. And no matter what, the enclosure will get as hot as its surroundings in time, as long as the Second Law of Thermodynamics is in effect (spoiler alert: it’s immutable.)

So how do you keep the components in those panels cool? If the environment is clean enough and the temperature and humidity aren’t too high, fans can circulate cooling air from the environment through the panel. These are readily commercially available starting under $100.00, and generally won’t cost any more than about $50.00 a year in operating costs (electricity). If the environment is climate controlled and relatively free of contaminants, you can’t beat them. If you’re on a desktop computer, and it hasn’t burned out, there’s your proof.

Many, if not most, industrial panels, though, are in areas where fan cooling just won’t cut it. Not only will those aforementioned natural enemies like dirt & moisture be allowed in, they’ll be DRAGGED in. Luckily, modern technology presents us with a number of options, depending on the particulars of the environment. The following are some details on “the usual suspects”, and a table with total cost of ownership:

Panel air conditioners work on the refrigerant cycle and are capable of the highest cooling capacities of the methods detailed here. They’re also the most expensive, with a typical annual cost of over $1,100.00.

Aside from the high cost, they can be maintenance intensive and prone to failure, especially in dirty or oily environments. Their cooling capacity is also adversely affected by higher ambient temperatures.

Air-to-air heat exchangers transfer heat continuously through a sealed, hollow tube by vaporizing and condensing a refrigerant-type fluid. Instead of using compressors with electric motors and other mechanical components with lots of moving parts, they rely on capillary action to effect the phase changes. They can’t cool below ambient temperature, but they are the least expensive of these, coming in at around $370.00 in annual cost.

*Hot air (inside the panel) causes refrigerant in heat pipe to flash to a gas.
*Cold air (from the environment) causes the refrigerant to condense to a liquid.

Liquid-to-air heat exchangers work an awful lot like a car radiator: they circulate liquid (usually a water/glycol mix, like anti-freeze) through a heat exchanger/heat sink inside the panel and then through a heat exchanger outside the panel. Like the fan and refrigerant-based coolers, their cooling performance drops as the ambient temperature rises, except for the ones that use chilled water. In facilities that already have chilled water, that might not be a big deal, but if you need one that comes with the chiller, they can get pretty expensive. And, you still have the maintenance & durability issues that come with any refrigerant-operated cooler. Liquid-to-air systems can run as low as ~$425.00 a year in total cost, for the ones that don’t need chilled water.

Thermoelectric coolers use the Peltier effect: when voltage is applied to two electrodes connected to a semiconductor, heat is transferred from one side to the other. Their compact design with no moving parts makes them popular for high-performance gaming computers (like the one my son spends WAY too much time on), small coolers (wine experts like them because they don’t cause any vibration which can affect the wine’s quality), and certain lab, medical, and laser cooling equipment. They have a limited cooling capacity, and because electric current generates heat, that gets added to the overall heat dissipation. The annual cost for these is around $950.00.

EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems can be installed in minutes, have no moving parts to wear, no electric motors to burn out, aren’t affected by environmental contaminants or humidity. In fact, of all the methods available for panel cooling, they have the widest range of where they can be used:

They do require an adequate supply of compressed air, which makes up the bulk of their total cost of ownership, which is around $410.00 a year.

I’ve mentioned cost of ownership several times, so I had better get to what that means: it’s the cost of the equipment itself and installation (spread across the effective life of the equipment), plus the annual maintenance & operating costs. Here’s a table with a comparison of the panel cooling options above:

If you have electrical or electronic panels that need heat protection RIGHT NOW, we can help. ALL of our systems are in stock and available for same-day shipment. We can even help out with determining which one is right for your needs with the information from our Sizing Guide, or you can do it yourself with our online calculator. If you want some help with it, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Protecting Electrical Enclosures Safely and Reliably with Cabinet Cooler Systems

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

As summer temperatures increase, so does the volume of calls we get about Cabinet Cooler Systems. A typical call goes something like this:

“One of our control panels has a drive in it that’s overheating. If it goes down, so does the whole line. How soon can I get a Cabinet Cooler System?”

All of our Cabinet Cooler Systems — including the UL Classified HazLoc and ATEX models — are in stock and available for same day shipment.

“Great! How do I get one?”

With just a few key pieces of information, I can quickly and accurately calculate the heat load of your panel, and specify the right Cabinet Cooler System. You can input that information into our Sizing Guide online, or you can call me. It only takes a minute to do the calculations, and we do it over the phone all the time. Here’s what we need to know:

  • Panel dimensions: Grab your favorite tape measure & write down the height, width, and depth of the panel. We’ll calculate the heat transfer surface area from that.
  • Current internal & external air temperatures: Take a thermometer to where the panel is. Write down what it reads when you get there — that’ll be the ‘external’. Then, put it inside the panel, and write down what it reads after a few minutes — that’ll be the ‘internal.’ We use those to calculate the internal heat load — how much heat is being generated by the components inside the panel.
    • Optional: if you have accurate heat dissipation data for the housed components, we can use that instead of the temperatures. This is how we do it if the panel isn’t currently in operation.
    • Important note: if we ARE using temperatures, it’s important to measure the AIR temperatures, as opposed to using a heat gun to ‘shoot’ the surface temperature of a component. The formulas we use are based on tried-and-true HVAC formulas, and we’ve been proving their accuracy for decades.
  • Maximum external air temperature: How hot does it get on the hottest day of summer? We’ll use that to calculate the external heat load — how much heat the panel absorbs from the environment.
  • Desired internal air temperature: Many electrical/electronic component manufacturers specify a maximum operating temperature of 104°F (40°F), so the ‘industry standard’ in panel cooling is to maintain an internal air temperature of 95°F (35°C), so that’s where we pre-set our Thermostats. If you know for a fact that the components inside your panel need a cooler environment to operate in, the Thermostats can be reset. Keep in mind, we may need to provide a Cabinet Cooler System with a higher cooling capacity in those cases. Or, if you know for a fact that your equipment can handle a higher operating temperature, the Thermostats can be adjusted…and you can save on your compressed air usage.

If there are fans circulating outside air through the panel, we’ll need to know about them too. They’re providing a finite (sometimes substantial) amount of cooling, and they’ll have to be removed, and their holes covered, for proper operation of the Cabinet Cooler System. If not, that’s like running your air conditioner with a fan in the window.

The other considerations are all about where the panel is, and what it’s exposed to:

  • NEMA ratings are all about keeping the environment out of the panel:
    • NEMA 12: Oil tight, dust tight, indoor duty
    • NEMA 4: All that, and splash resistant, indoor/outdoor duty
    • NEMA 4X: All that, and stainless steel construction for corrosion resistance.
  • If it’s a UL or ATEX Classified area, we have systems for that:
    • HazLoc systems are UL Class I Div 1, Class II Div 1, and Class III rated.
    • ATEX systems are rated for use in ATEX Zones 2 & 22.

If you have an electrical or electronic panel that needs reliable, durable heat protection, you might need an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler System. To find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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