FEATURE ENCLOSURES
Radio silence IMRAK cabinets selected to serve the LSRC
With sensitive information being stored and transmitted by the armed forces every day, the latest generation of radio equipment requires an effective solution to maintain it. Verotec believes it has that
T
he Land Systems Reference Centre, LSRC, is the test and reference services centre that supports the armed forces’ Coalition, Command, Control, Communications and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) capabilities. To sustain the operability of the LSRC, and to ensure that the military functions optimally, a solution is needed. In light of this, Verotec’s IMRAK 1400 19 inch rack was originally specified by the MoD as the default cabinet for the communications test equipment. During the initial contact with Verotec, it was agreed that the best way for LSRC to specify what they needed led to Verotec providing a 47U high, 1000mm deep assembled bare framework that could be configured through trial and error to accept all the equipment in the ultimate layout. LSRC personnel brought their radio units to Verotec’s Southampton facility; given the security rating of some of the items, they also supplied secure storage, to which Verotec agreed that only a limited number of staff members would be allowed access. This approach worked very well. The relaxed atmosphere meant that the bare cabinets were initially fitted with standard shelves, so that the vertical heights between them could be arranged
to accommodate the LSRC units throughout the height of the rack, as desired. Once the basic configurations were finalised, the layout drawings were finalised by Verotec on their in-house CAD system. Attention then turned to the details of
the individual shelves. As considerable power is used when testing the radios, ventilated shelves were specified, with each shelf also being modified with securing locations tailored to the physical size of the pieces of equipment. Once the layouts of each shelf had been finalised, they too were drawn up on the CAD system. All modifications to standard IMRAK components were carried out on site, with the CAD drawings directly communicating with the CNC punching and bending machines to produce the finished design. Standard front and rear ventilated doors are fitted to the IMRAK, specified because of the need to maximise airflow through the rack when the equipment is under stress due to testing. A custom top cover, fitted with a DC fan tray and configured cutouts for the required cables, was designed and manufactured. Given the nature of the housed equipment, earth bonding between all components was important. So, a customised solution with additional
bonding cables was developed by Verotec to meet LSRC’s requirements. Each cabinet was then tested to ensure that the framework, doors, top covers and shelves were interconnected with a low resistance throughout. The final step to providing LSRC with a ready-to-run cabinet was for Verotec to install and label the military-grade cabling that LSRC had free issued. The exercise was a good example of
Verotec’s approach to customer service. The standard IMRAK is a versatile and configurable design, and the standard components are all designed, drawn and manufactured, reducing the cost and time of procuring a fully custom cabinet. Standard products are exactly that, so asking the original manufacturer to modify them to meet the needs of the project makes a lot of sense. The ‘try it and see’ initial approach, and then the in-depth capability of Verotec’s in-house design and modification capabilities once the requirements had been finalised, meant that the application-specific cabinets were supplied to the required specification on time and to budget.
Verotec
www.verotec.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 2380 246900
Electronic enclosures. Plastic, extruded & die-cast. In-house mod services: • machining • printing • drilling • custom colours
24 FEBRUARY 2020 | ELECTRONICS
01256 812812 •
sales@hammond-electronics.co.uk •
hammondmfg.com / ELECTRONICS
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