Feature Enclosure design
“If you were to take a sample group of 100 applications where a gas strut was required to support an enclosure lid, I would happily bet that no two applications required the same force.” (Chris Putman)
gas struts as standard. Stocking adjustable gas struts, however, means more flexibility, lower unit prices and shorter delivery times.
Most adjustable gas struts are easy to calibrate, requiring a small allen key or screwdriver to open a valve which releases pressure from the chamber. Once the first gas strut has been cor- rectly calibrated it is easy to calculate the required force for the application by applying increasing loads to the gas strut until it begins to depress. It should be noted that, once released, pressure cannot be added so it is important to release the pressure slowly on a test sample. To help, WDS supplies an adjust- ment key with each product and can supply a simple equation to help users work out the required force for their application.
Lifting the lid on enclosure design
Large metal or composite enclosures tend to have heavy doors and lids, which can be an issue from a user point of view when lifting these, keeping them open, or when frequent opening is necessary. Adjustable gas struts can provide the solution, says WDS
lthough ideal for protecting valuable or delicate contents, it can be difficult to not only lift the lid of large metal or composite enclosures but also to keep it open! A solution to this comes in the form of pressurised gas struts. Pioneered by the car industry for tail- gates and bonnets, these can share a degree of the required opening force against the lid, which helps to reduce the apparent weight for the user. Depending on the applications this may extend to supporting the entire weight or, in some cases which require self opening lids, slightly more. Different scenarios, however, require different degrees of load to be taken by the gas strut, which can make specifica- tion difficult when choosing a suitable pressure, especially for single, variable or short-run applications. This has been hampered in the past by gas struts having a single fixed load rating. But, because the range of possible requirements is so large, and a pres- sure difference of just a few Newton
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metres can make a gas strut unfit for purpose, many suppliers are now supplying self adjusting gas struts which can be easily adjusted to suit individual requirements.
Meeting application demands “If you were to take a sample group of 100 applications where a gas strut was required to support an enclosure lid, I would happily bet that no two applications required the same force,” commented Chris Putman, sales and marketing director for WDS. “Some applications require the gas strut to simply reduce the weight of the lid while others may require the lid to be held in place. In the first example the accuracy of the force isn’t as critical so long as it does not exceed the closing force of the lid; however the second requires the exact closing force of the lid to be matched.”
Putman adds that due to the wide range of possible pressure require- ments, it isn’t possible to offer a complete range of pre-calibrated
WINTER/SPRING 2013 Enclosure & Panel Building Solutions
“Where an OEM may require many gas struts to perform the same func- tion, once they have identified the ideal pressure for their application we are able to supply them with fixed pressure products which have been pre-loaded with the correct force,” explained Putman.
WDS products are able to supply forces of between 20Nm and 2,500Nm. Furthermore, these use high quality materials for the adjusting valve and seals to ensure that constant and precise pressure is maintained once adjustment is complete.
WDS T: 0845 606 6677
www.wdsltd.co.uk
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