Ruggedised protection for control systems in harsh environments

When located close to rotating machines or on commercial vehicles, modular Schroff subracks can be subjected to high levels of shock and vibration. For these applications, standard components such as strengthened side panels or robust horizontal rails with added fixing points are used; this increases the loading capacity of the subrack to 25 'g'. If higher resistance to shock and vibration is required, more ruggedised chassis variants are available rated up to 40 'g'; for instance, Pentair offers a chassis that conforms to the ATR (Air Transportation Rack) specification.

Particularly high levels of IP and EMC protection, as demanded in defence systems, for example, can also be realised from the wide selection of standard components. Such systems, which are normally completely enclosed, have higher cooling requirements that are normally prescribed by the type of application. Here again, Pentair offers standard cooling systems for different levels of ruggedness, from forced air cooling, through conduction cooling and cold plates, to water cooling for hot spots.

Additionally, an extensive choice of bus technologies is supported, including VMEbus, VXS, VPX, CompactPCI Plus IO, and CompactPCI Serial, and the appropriate high-performance PSUs (power supply units) are integrated. From this wide portfolio of standard components, embedded systems can be configured or modified to the customer's requirements and to the necessary level of ruggedness.

Follow the link for more information about Schroff 19-inch components and subracks for applications in harsh environments.