How often do you really notice your kitchen cabinets when you reach for a bowl? You may not give enclosures much thought until something squeaks, breaks, or fills to overflowing.
Electrical enclosures are an integral part of control panel design, not an afterthought. Choosing an optimal enclosure design affects the application’s flexibility, efficiency, and maintenance throughout the life of the panel. There are 3 major concerns that control panel professionals take into account for the highest quality results.
Expansion
Electrical controls are increasingly adapted to multiple applications, and must be scalable to provide the most value to the customer. Spare space requirements are usually set around 20%, but this percentage isn’t concrete or even necessarily common knowledge. A control panel specialist needs to understand the applications being controlled in order to design for what the electrical enclosures may need to accommodate in the future.
Wiring
Panel builders who wrangle wires into the box without thoughtful foresight are planting the seeds for tomorrow’s service calls. Customers often want smaller and smaller electrical enclosures without reducing the volume of wires, and inefficient wiring layouts may waste half the space of any given enclosure. Top shelf control panel builders don’t just “make the wires fit,” but arrange wires for optimal performance and ease of maintenance.
Spacing
Electrical enclosures can be seen as a necessary evil to some customers. They want electrical control, but they don’t want to sacrifice valuable floor space to a big metal cabinet. Many panel builders have responded with smaller enclosures, creating higher device density and a greater risk of overheating. As professionals, panel builders need to nurture the empty space cushions for both the integrity of the control panel and the safety of the customer. Future expansions and maintenance may not always be obvious at the start of a project, so the responsibility ultimately lies with the panel builder to apply the best practices.
And finally, panel builders with the best reputations also choose high quality electrical enclosures for their projects. Dents and gritty paint finishes degrade the quality of a cabinet, while sharp edges and cheap materials pose a threat to the builders and workers in direct contact with the enclosure.
When you’re shopping for a control panel supplier, look for experts who understand the value of these three elements to make sure that you’re getting the best in safety and performance. PanelShop.com produces highly professional control panels using the best practices and will provide a quote within 48 hours of recieving your inquiry. Find out how an online panel supplier can lower costs for you.
