According to the "Enclosure Construction 4.0" study, around 72 percent of the assembly time for an enclosure is spent on mechanical assembly and wiring. Rittal can now speed up this process with an integrated solution comprising an enclosure and cooling unit. Control, switchgear and machine manufacturers as well as system integrators and operators of systems and IT infrastructures benefit from the elimination of assembly work, planning reliability and energy efficiency as well as simple integration into IoT applications for smart services.

In the integration solution, a cooling unit with a cooling capacity of 1.5 kilowatts and Blue-e+ technology is integrated into a VX25 bayed enclosure system measuring 800 x 2,200 x 600 millimetres. The cooling unit is installed in the upper section of the enclosure and can be operated from the outside via a touch display.

Plug and play
The integration solution is supplied under one order number as a complete system with ready-to-connect installation of the cooling unit, door limit switch and cabling. This completely eliminates the need to install the cooling unit. Fitters can start removing the enclosure immediately. This avoids errors when machining flat parts and the risk of faulty break-outs, which often occur when retrofitting an external cooling unit. The high IP54 protection rating is maintained, which is not so easy to achieve when installing a cooling unit.

As the integrated cooling unit works with the new Blue-e+ technology, it always delivers exactly the cooling capacity that is currently required. In the event of low power loss or cool ambient temperatures, purely passive cooling via the heat pipe may be sufficient. For maintenance purposes, the cooling unit can be conveniently pulled out of the front of the enclosure on rails so that all components are easily accessible.

The integration solution is available as a digital twin in the Eplan Data Portal for efficient planning. The engineering tool Eplan Pro Panel can be used for virtual 3D superstructure planning. Planners can use "Thermal Design Integration" for support with questions about climate aspects. With the function implemented in Eplan Pro Panel, planners can graphically display, among other things, ventilation-related restricted spaces, the optimally air-conditioned area or hot spots. High data quality for professional 3D layout planning in combination with "Thermal Design Integration" thus leads to reliable and efficient planning.

Industry 4.0 applications
With the optional IoT interface, the cooling unit can be easily integrated into various IoT applications. For example, maintenance and service of the air conditioning solution can be optimized in the future, thus reducing operating costs. Historical operating data can also be analyzed from a higher-level system. The communication capability of the integrated solution will also make typical Industry 4.0 applications such as smart or predictive maintenance possible in the future. as