This power electronics enclosure for a test setup is full of high-power electronic components generating massive waste heat. A customer found that the cabinet’s internal temperature was rising above acceptable temperatures and came to ACT because they were worried about overheating electronics causing downtime during testing.
The cabinet is set up inside a dusty warehouse with an average ambient temperature of 21°C. The 15 heaters inside of the cabinet are 100W each and create approximately 450W of waste heat. Before implementing a cooling solution, the internal cabinet temperatures were reaching 48°C, on average. This was putting the internal power electronics above their maximum operating temperature of 43°C and causing stress on the electronics; over time this can result in a power failure. The customer was proactive and reached out to ACT before the excess temperatures led to overheating of the components in the cabinet, potentially ruining the test setup. Adding a heat exchanger helped regulate the internal temperature, and the choice of an ACT Sealed Enclosure Cooler was ideal because NEMA rated sealing gasket ensures that the cabinet is not impacted by the dusty warehouse environment. An added benefit is that by choosing a NEMA 4X-compliant model, washdown operations are possible.
Impact of Installing an ACT-HSC-22
ACT’s HSC-22 sealed enclosure cooling unit provided the customer with a sealed cooling solution for their power electronics cabinet.
After installing the ACT-HSC-22, the average internal temperature of the power electronics cabinet dropped to 35°C, which is far below the maximum operating temperature of 43°C. After operating the test equipment for 2 minutes the internal cabinet temperature readout was 38°C, remaining the average temperature throughout the test.
The customer was pleased with this solution that provided the needed cooling while preventing worries about filters and regular cleaning inside of the cabinet. They also expressed satisfaction that the unit was quieter than an air conditioner.
Overview of the Solution
