Feature: Enclosures
Evolving enclosures for evolving electronics
By Robert Cox, Marketing Director, OKW I
ndustrial electronics enclosure design has been dominated in recent years by elegant panel PC and touchscreen housings. Teir clean lines and sleek contours have enabled automation, robotics and
modern machine control in 21st-century smart factories. However, what of the diecast aluminium
enclosures that preceded them? Has their innovation journey reached its summit? Absolutely not, because the very latest IP-rated housings are indeed diecast – and they’re packed with smart features. Rolec, the company that has transformed
industrial electronics enclosure design for over 30 years, has just launched a new generation of tough, fit-anywhere housings for walls, bulkheads, machines and desks. Its aluDOOR (IP 66/67/69K) is effectively a compact cabinet, with an innovative lid that features a clever integrated hinge design. Te lid opens 100° for easier access; it can be specified with or without a recess for a membrane keypad or a label. A2 stainless steel lid screws and threaded inserts ensure corrosion-resistant assembly in harsh conditions. Fitting the lid is quick and easy: with its integrated hinge pin it is pushed into place
34 May 2022
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
then secured with two tamperproof Torx T25 (M5) screws. Ten the lid is shut and locked down with two more T25 screws. Extruded aluminium trims conceal and protect the fixings. Te seal is a new foamed-in polyurethane
gasket that offers greater protection because it is continuous – there is no join that could eventually become a weak point. And like many other Rolec diecast enclosures, aluDOOR features separate mounting screw channels so it can be installed ‘lid closed’ – protecting the electronics and the seal.
Forward thinking New aluDOOR is a significant step forward in enclosure design but its technical innovations are underpinned by a long history of forward thinking. Tese innovations go back not just to Rolec’s launch in the 1980s, but even further – to the 1960s, when the company’s founder Friedhelm Rose first became an entrepreneur. Unimpressed by the plain boxes available at the time, he launched a radical new design that would rewrite the rulebook. It was 1967, the avant-garde highpoint of a decade synonymous with design innovation. For Rose, 1967 was the dawn of ‘the age of enclosures’.
Years later, the enclosure that changed
everything was aluCASE (IP 66/67/69K) – a model so advanced and popular that it remains Rolec’s premium diecast line. Its technical features would set the tone for decades to come: lid-closed installation, clip-on trims to hide the fixing and mounting screws, lid retaining straps, a generous lid recess for a membrane keypad or product label – many of these benefits still feature on a whole series of Rolec enclosure models. One such model is aluDISC (IP 66/67/69K), the world’s first round diecast enclosure for industrial electronics – a remarkable achievement, especially since aluDISC isn’t actually circular. Its main display area is indeed round, but enclosures need flat edges for mounting connectors, so Rolec took its inspiration from the shape of a wristwatch – not squaring the circle but extending it, while still retaining the roundness. Meanwhile, aluCLIC (IP 66/67/69K)
enclosures offer a unique benefit – they can be clipped onto a base plate for fast installation, and unclipped just as rapidly. Tis is vital in extreme outdoor environments; the enclosure remains sealed until it can be opened in a safer location.
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