Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022 - 16
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Strategies to Solve Enclosure
Thermal Management
Challenges
S
ome electrical and electronic devices
are designed with housings
and fi ttings so that they can be
installed in a standalone manner
almost anywhere, but such devices
are the exception rather than the rule.
Most electrical and electronic components
must be installed in an enclosure
of some type to protect them from temperature
extremes, moisture, and other
harmful conditions.
Certainly, damage due to mechanical
reasons, vibration, contaminates, and
more is always a possibility. But defending
electrical and electronic systems
from high (and low) temperatures and
any amount of moisture are typically
key concerns. Design engineers, therefore,
need to select the right devices for
controlling temperature and implement
measures to address both temperature
and moisture issues. This article examines
the challenges and identifi es a variety
of thermal management solutions.
Environmental Control
Protecting the interior of an enclosure
from elemental extremes is the primary
issue, but it is equally important to control
the interior climate at an optimal
and consistent level. Environmental
controls should perform their duty and
must be instrumented so that users receive
an alarm if conditions are becoming
problematic.
High temperature is an obvious problem
for most electrical or electronic systems.
Excessive heat can be generated by
the electronics themselves, or from outside
infl uences like sun exposure. Overheating
may result in failed circuitry and
overcurrent protection trips, and it will
typically shorten the lifespan of components.
Low temperature is usually much
less of an issue, but it is associated with
moisture accumulation, which can cause
serious problems.
This is because low interior temperatures
can result in moisture condensing
within an enclosure, leading to droplets
of moisture and the potential for dripping
and accumulation. Too much moisture
can lead to corrosion and arcing
faults, both of which will cause failures.
Another possible situation is where an
application may require both heating
and cooling depending on the time of
day. This can be a consideration in areas
Targeted Solutions
Applying devices and design strategies
to control electrical and electronic enclosure
interior temperature conditions is
generally called " thermal management. "
Superfi cially, this seems straightforward:
Install a suffi ciently sized heating/ventilation/air-conditioning
(HVAC) system
for each enclosure. Sometimes, such as
for large data center installations, this is
exactly the approach that is used.
But as a practical matter, adding HVAC
to many types of electrical and electronic
enclosures is impractical because:
* The HVAC hardware is expensive to install
and maintain.
* HVAC equipment and ducting consumes
signifi cant working space.
* Energy operating costs are high.
* Many installations use dozens or hundreds
of smaller enclosures, which
where there are temperature fl uctuations,
such as exposed areas subject to
nighttime lows but daytime direct sunlight.
In this case, both cooling and heating
must be designed to work together
to maintain the ideal conditions within
the enclosure.
16
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Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022
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Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022 - Intro
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Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022 - Cov1
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