Mark VIe Enclosure

Z

Thread Starter

Zeylemi

We are using Mark VIe panel inside the container which sizes are 12x5m. We have chiller for that container but Mark enclosure is not. Since the chiller insufficient to decrease temperature, we have to keep open Mark enclosure's door.

When i mentioned about this issue, GE supervisors told me that no need a cooling fan system for the MarkVIe panel. Now i need a international standard (EU or US) about cooling fan system for enclosures which have more twenty cards inside of it.

I'm gonna really appreciate that if you help me about this issue.
 
Zeylemi,

I don't believe you're going to find a standard about cooling of an enclosure, and if you did it would have nothing to do with the number cards in the enclosure. Because just about every card (by any manufacturer) will have a slightly different heat dissipation and cooling requirement. And placement of cards in an enclosure can also impact the cooling requirement.

GE factory engineers have spreadsheets with heat dissipation data and they are supposed to use the spreadsheets, by entering the numbers of the various components being put inside an enclosure, and the spreadsheet will calculate the total heat dissipation which will tell the engineer if any cooling is required in an enclosure.

In my experience, it's not necessarily the "cards" that generate the heat but the I/O Packs, in particular the I/O Packs for discrete outputs, the I/O Packs for combined discrete inputs and outputs (PDIO, if I recall correctly), and the PCAA I/O Packs (the combined analog I/O Packs). I believe the servo output cards (TSVC, I think) have large heat sinks, as well, but I don't recall them generating as much heat as the PDIO I/O Packs.

If the PDIO I/O Packs are arranged in a vertical column, they can generate quite a bit of heat.

Enclosure ventilation fans are inexpensive and easy to install. The thing you need to be careful about when installing ventilation fans is the when air is "forced" or "drawn" into an enclosure it will contain more dirt (dust) and humidity than natural convection cooling will. It's very important to install filters (if they're not already in place) to help filter the air being used the cool the components, or else the electronics will get dirty fast and any humidity will accelerate failures exponentially.

Many times GE does not know what kind of "container" or compartment the electronics will ultimately be located in. And the circulation of air in the container or compartment is as important as the temperature. If cool air can't be drawn into an enclosure because of some blockage (other control panels/enclosures) then it might be prudent to install ventilation fans.

I have been to many Speedtronic installations around the world over the years where the Customer has installed their own ventilation fans. Some were very simple; others were very complicated. Attention needs to paid to the ability of the air to get into the enclosure, as well as to get out of the enclosure. It's not simply about putting fans in an enclosure, it's about increasing the air circulating into and out of the enclosure.

And maintaining the cleanliness of the air with filters and regular filter maintenance.

GE doesn't make the enclosures any longer; like everyone else, they buy them from a manufacturer. So, look to see who the enclosure manufacturer is and look up their website and find the accessories they sell for their enclosures and order a small fan to start with. You may not need to increase the air flow by very much, and, again more air means more dirt--even through a filter, because filters don't catch everything. And, in some parts of the world the dust can be very fine, indeed.

Hope this helps! Waiting for GE to take responsibility for what may--or may not--be their problem might happen. You would probably have to put some instrumentation in the enclosure and take some pretty detailed recordings of temperatures, with the doors open, and with the doors closed, in the night, and in the day, and at various ambient temperatures. You would also need to be recording air temperature entering the enclosure as well as air temperature leaving the compartment. And air temperatures at specific places in the compartments near the heat-generating sources.

All of that takes time, and time is money. It's cheaper to buy and install fans, and be done with it.
 
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