When selecting materials for electrical cabinets, we should prioritize rationality and cost-effectiveness.
Green and Environmentally Friendly Design
- During the design, production, and entire lifecycle of the product, we should minimize the impact of the product on the natural environment.
- We should reduce or eliminate noise interference during the design and manufacturing of cabinets.
General Requirements for Cabinet Material Selection
- The material of electrical cabinet must be able to withstand mechanical stress, electrical stress, and thermal stress as specified in the control cabinet product standards. It should also resist moisture and other environmental factors that may arise during normal use.
- The selected materials for the electrical control equipment cabinet should withstand physical and chemical effects that could occur under specified conditions. Factors like the potential harm of materials to humans, their aging, corrosion resistance, and electrical insulation properties should be considered.
- The materials chosen for the electrical control equipment cabinet should meet the requirements of the manufacturing process and have good machinability to ensure the rationality and quality of the product.
- The materials used in the cabinet should support energy conservation, environmental protection, and a circular economy. We should ensure that production scraps and waste products are recyclable.
- To minimize material costs, we should use inexpensive materials while ensuring part functionality and reducing material consumption.
- We should use common metal materials to reduce material specifications. Within the same product, we should minimize the variety of materials and plate thickness specifications. For electrical control equipment housing and large plug-in boxes, we must focus on reducing the weight of the entire system.
- For electrical control equipment, we should prioritize special profiles and plates designed specifically for cabinets and enclosures.
Requirements for Materials to Withstand Abnormal Heat and Fire
- Insulating materials that may be affected by thermal stress due to electricity and may compromise the safety of electrical and control equipment should not suffer adverse effects from abnormal heat or fire.
- We should conduct tests on materials following regulations. The manufacturer must provide data for the insulation materials that meet the required standards for hot wire ignition and arc ignition tests.
- Insulating material parts used to secure current-carrying components should meet the glow-wire test standards, with the test intensity set at 850°C or 960°C depending on the fire risk of the insulating parts. The product standard should select the appropriate temperature value according to the fire hazard test method for electrical and electronic products.
- For smaller insulating parts (surface area no more than 14mm×14mm), the relevant product standards may specify other test requirements, such as a needle flame test. In other cases, such as when the metal parts are larger than the insulating materials (e.g., terminal blocks), the standard test method can still apply.
- During material testing, we may use hot wire ignition and arc ignition methods to assess flammability based on the technical standards. The relevant product standards should specify how to test solid electrical insulating materials for combustion performance after exposure to ignition sources.
Material Verification Test Requirements
We can conduct material verification tests on the electrical control equipment, its components, or samples of the same material with appropriate cross-sectional areas. The material of electrical cabinet should have the ability to resist abnormal heat and fire.
