Tag: electric

Non Hazardous Purge Cabinet Cooler Systems

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Last fall, when our youngest “flew the coop” and moved into a dormitory to begin his college experience, my lovely bride and I also embarked upon an exciting adventure: finding, purchasing, and moving in to our “empty nest” dream house.  While packing up the contents of the house where we had raised a United States Marine AND a hippie college student, I moved my trusty laptop from its perch on a desk in a dark basement corner, where it had resided, in that one spot, for more than a couple years.

As I was looking for its carrying case, I noticed the fan grill was almost completely obscured with more than a couple years’ worth of environmental contamination (or dust).  I vacuumed out the grill, but wondered how much more environmental contamination (dust) had made its way into the deep recesses of the laptop…and more importantly, what might it be doing to the sensitive electronics inside my trusty internet browsing device?

If a computer’s fan in a residential environment can get this dusty, imagine how much worse a control panel on a factory floor can get.

I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but electronics and dust don’t mix.  We have this conversation a LOT with callers inquiring about our Cabinet Cooler Systems.  The protection they offer against environmental contamination is integral with the protection they offer against heat.  In the panel cooling market, our Cabinet Cooler Systems are unique in that respect: a total protection solution.

When properly installed on a sealed enclosure, the only thing the inside of that enclosure is ever exposed to is cold, clean, moisture free air.  But what if the enclosure can’t be completely sealed?  One option is to use a Continuous Operation Cabinet Cooler System.  It works just as the name implies:  cold air is continuously flowing into the enclosure, creating a constant purge flow…if that cold air is blowing out of any openings in the enclosure, there’s no way for environmental contamination to get in.  Problem solved.

Well…almost.  Something else I’m sure you already know is, compressed air is costly.  Organizations like the Compressed Air & Gas Institute (CAGI) and the Compressed Air Challenge (CAC), who are devoted to optimizing industrial use of compressed air, have lists of “inappropriate uses of compressed air”, and panel cooling is on that list…EXCEPT when they’re thermostatically controlled.  At EXAIR, we couldn’t agree more, and if a caller asks any of us Application Engineers about a Continuous Operation Cabinet Cooler System, they’re inviting us in to a conversation about that.

Sometimes, the initial question is cost…well, we have to pay for the components that make up the Thermostat Controls, so we ask our customers who want those products to as well.   A quick conversation about the operating cost of continuous operation vs thermostat control is usually all that’s required in those cases.

Other times, a panel that can’t be sealed is installed in a particularly dusty or dirty environment, and they want the continuous flow of cold air, as described above, to keep those contaminants out.  A Continuous Operation Cabinet Cooler System will, of course, do that.  But EXAIR wants you to get the most out of your compressed air use, so we developed a “best of both worlds” solution: Non-Hazardous Purge Cabinet Cooler Systems.  Here’s how they work:

  • Based on a few key pieces of data that you can submit in our Cabinet Cooler Systems Sizing Guide, we’ll specify the appropriate Cabinet Cooler System to manage that heat load.
  • The system will be thermostatically controlled: a bimetallic Thermostat, mounted inside the panel, will open and close the Solenoid Valve plumbed in the compressed air supply to operate the Cabinet Cooler as needed to maintain temperature inside the panel.
  • The Solenoid Valve is modified to pass a small amount of air flow (1 SCFM) even when it’s closed.  This saves you from using the full rated air consumption of the Cabinet Cooler when cold air isn’t required, and still maintains enough purge air flow to prevent environmental contaminants from entering a less-than-ideally-sealed enclosure.
Whatever you do, DON’T do THIS to your panel.

The Non-Hazardous Purge option is just one way that EXAIR Corporation can help you address specific environmental challenges that may be presented in electrical and electronic panel cooling applications.  If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Reliable Heat Protection Right Now: The EXAIR Cabinet Cooler System

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Electrical and electronic devices can be finicky creatures.  Shutting them away inside a sealed enclosure keeps dust, fumes, and humidity away, but it’s about the worst thing you can do to them, heat-wise.  If you don’t provide some means of cooling, they’re going to simply burn up, and you’ll have to replace them.  If they’re critical for your operation, you better keep a spare, because they’re not always on the shelf, and they’re not even always in the country.

Conventional wisdom, then, says you should provide some method of cooling.  You can use a vented enclosure, with a fan & louvers, assuming it’s not in a spray down/wash down area.  But if it’s in a dusty and/or humid and/or fume-ridden area, well, you’ve just compromised the reason you put them in an enclosure in the first place.

Refrigerant based panel coolers are prolific…they come in all shapes & sizes, and they’re probably sold by the folks you got the electrical panel from.  Thing is, they can be susceptible to the same dust, fumes, and humidity that you’re trying to keep from wrecking what’s inside the enclosure.  If the filters get clogged, the tubes get fouled, a refrigerant leak develops, the motor burns out, the compressor fails (just to name a few potential problems,) we’re back to recommending keeping spare parts around, or, even worse, opening up the panel for emergency cooling…

Don’t let this happen to you, or your control panels!

We talk to folks all the time who are looking for a better method of heat protection for the finicky gear inside their control panels, and the one common factor is reliability.  They all simply want something that works.  All day and every day.

So we introduce them to EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems.  They’re compressed air operated and have no electric motor to burn out.  They have no moving parts to break down, no filters or tubes to clean, no refrigerant to leak.  They install in minutes, and if you supply them with clean, moisture free air, they’ll run darn near indefinitely maintenance free.  And the only thing the inside of your panel will ever see is cold, clean, moisture free air.

Oh, and there’s no need for spare parts…other than filter elements for the compressed air supply.  Barring catastrophic physical damage, again, there’s really nothing to go wrong with them.

One last thing, which prompted me to write this blog today:  They’re on the shelf and ready for immediate shipment, unlike the refrigerant based panel cooler that a caller earlier today was looking to replace…their vendor was 2-3 weeks away from getting them one, which was 2-3 weeks longer than they could afford to wait.

This NEMA 4 Dual Cabinet Cooler System protects a critical equipment panel on a hot roll steel line.

It’s getting warmer by the day here in the Northern Hemisphere, so I expect calls about panel cooling will be increasing.  Not to worry; we’re ready for it.  If you want to find out more about reliable heat protection for your electronics, drives, and other critical components, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Save Money By Using Your Own Thermostat? Well…

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Last week, I wrote about what a great idea it is to use a thermostat with a Cabinet Cooler System. I’ll let another cat out of the bag right now and tell you that there are less expensive thermostats than ours. But just like the savings you might realize on the purchase by foregoing a thermostat, using a poorly specified thermostat can also be the last savings you see.

In a Cabinet Cooler System application, we’re refrigerating air. This makes for a cool, clean, and dry atmosphere for your electrical & electronic components to operate in.

UL Listed & CE Compliant, EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems maintain NEMA 4, 4X, or 12 integrity.
UL Listed & CE Compliant, EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems maintain NEMA 4, 4X, or 12 integrity.

Not all thermostats are designed to read air temperature – in fact, a LOT of common, commercially available thermostats are designed for use with liquid. Using these to control air temperature will lead to slow response times. That means one of two things will happen:

When the air inside the enclosure is cooled to the thermostat’s set-point temperature, it won’t shut off the compressed air flow to the Cabinet Cooler unit, resulting in unnecessary compressed air consumption.  And that’s a shame.

OR:

When the air inside the enclosure is heated to the thermostat’s set-point temperature, it won’t start the compressed air flow to the Cabinet Cooler unit, resulting in a potential overheating of those expensive…or critical…or both…electronic components.  And that’s a REAL shame.

We don’t want to see you using any more compressed air than you need to.  And we SERIOUSLY don’t want to see you fry your electronics.  If you’d like to find out more about EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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