Feature Racks, Cabinets & Enclosures
Made to order
Martin Traut & David Martin at Pentair - Schroff UK explore some of the current trends in cases and subracks and how these are offering greater individuality combined with additional services for most design requirements
W
hat are the current trends in regard to cases and subracks? If we take a closer look at what is currently happening in this area, one word comes up again and again: individuality. This relates to the functionality, construction, dimensions, appearance and also to accompanying service options. Various manufacturers offer cases and subracks as catalogue items. These off-the-shelf products offer the user certain advantages - they are easy to order, are delivered fast and offer better value for money than cus- tomised products. Nevertheless, the proportion of off-the-shelf products to individualised products has shifted significantly towards the individu- alised; and this adaptation should of course be affordable. In the past, modifications to off-the- shelf products for particular conditions and requirements in an application or requirements for a particular look were often carried out by the customer themself. In the course of the concen- tration of capacity and the focusing by businesses on their core competences, however, the customisation of cases and subracks is now increasingly becoming the task of the manufacturer. This customisation incurs addi- tional costs for the manufacturer that must ultimately be borne by the cus- tomer. The extent of these extra costs is determined largely by the use of appropriate development concepts and by the scope of the off-the-shelf product portfolios. If emphasis is given to allowing a high level of modification and flexibility of off-the-shelf products from the development stage, these products can often already cover some 90 percent of all requirements. In this situation the benefits of standard products are com- bined with those of custom solutions.
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Such a concept, demonstrated by the example of subracks, shows the advantages obtained. Because the demands for use are different from one market segment and application to another, it is important that customers are able to order subracks in different versions. If these modular subracks are based on a product platform, they can be fitted with different off-the-shelf components to create a range of differ- ent products on a unified basis. They can thus be configured for varying requirements concerning dimensions, price structure, and also static and dynamic loading levels such as shock and vibration resistance, elec- tromagnetic interference shielding and individual internal mounting options. A standard subrack consists of at least two side panels and four horizontal profiles, the horizontal rails. Suitable additional accessories include cover plates that fit over the board cage, front panels, rear hoods, guide rails and various parts for internal fittings. The basic EMC shielding may for example be easy to retrofit, depending on the customer's requirements, and there are various EMC gasketing con- cepts available for the front panels (textile or stainless steel gaskets). Subracks of this type can be individu- ally configured if so required by the customer. The high level of versatility of these modular 19" units and the wide range of components mean great flexibility in design and construction. Another trend for cases is the con- stantly increasing level of miniaturisa- tion
of the electronics. Thus, in
addition to the established 19" market, there is now also a growing market for non-modular applications. A simple 'box' to accommodate a motherboard, a large PCB or an ARM module are now the subject of regular inquiries. Small cases of this type also offer solutions
Figure 1:
Modular off-the- shelf subracks are created from a single platform
for holding non-standardised PCBs for various applications in industry, rail- road systems, measurement and instrumentation, security applica- tions, medical technology, energy sys- tems and communications and network technology. In particular in the area of embedded systems, so- called computer-on-module (COM) solutions, for example, can thus be constructed. Here again, well-designed development concepts pay off for offering flexibility in terms of case shape, dimensions and fixing options effectively as standard.
Martin Traut is Product Manager for Subracks and Cases and David Martin is Managing Director, both at Pentair - Schroff UK
Overall, customers of cases and sub- racks are making increasing demands for extra services related to the prod- uct. As fewer and fewer electronics manufacturers can afford their own mechanics division, requests for particular modifications, machining or even complete assembly of cases and subracks are growing constantly. Help during and simplification of the ordering process are also a recur- ring theme. What is necessary in order to construct cases and subracks on an individualised basis, i.e. a very exten- sive range of off-the-shelf component options, can be a stressful experience when ordering.
Pentair - Schroff UK
www.schroff.co.uk Enter 213
Pre-configured subracks To simplify ordering for the customer, some manufacturers also offer sub- racks as pre-defined kits. By specify- ing the required dimensions and application, customers can then order the complete product with a single order number. The kit thus ordered contains all the components and some pre-installed parts (e.g. threaded inserts, EMC gaskets and hole or insu- lation strips). Consequently, the customer can be sure that all the necessary components are included. More and more customers are also seeking time and cost savings on their own premises with regard to assembly and thus do not order their cases or sub- racks as kits but rather expect them to be supplied fully assembled - potentially saving a substantial amount of time.
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014 Electronics
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