Protect Sensitive Equipment From Heat Using Compressed Air

In any workplace environment, avoiding equipment damage during high temperatures is crucial. As heat waves become more frequent in the summer, protecting sensitive equipment becomes even more challenging. 

While enclosures are designed to keep out dust and moisture, they can inadvertently trap unwanted external heat, putting your equipment at risk of overheating and failure. This can lead to costly downtime and disruptions.

Here’s how to protect your PC enclosures effectively during a heat wave.

Sealed Workstation PC Enclosures

A sealed workstation enclosure can prevent the ingress of contaminants and moisture. A cabinet cooler powered by compressed air can keep electronic and mechanical components cool. Additionally, you can eliminate the dusty, humid air typically generated by cooling fans. 

An enclosure chiller that runs on compressed air has no electrical connection or moving parts, making it highly reliable.

Advantages of Compressed-Air Enclosure Coolers

Compressed-air enclosure coolers have several benefits:

  • Small Footprint: They allow the protected equipment to be used in even the tightest spaces.
  • Reliability: Vortex cooling tubes are highly reliable and virtually maintenance-free.
  • No Need for Filters: Unless your facility is unusually dusty or contains high levels of hazardous particulates, a vortex cooler enclosure will not need an air filter, which can decrease the flow of clean, cool, compressed air.

Custom PC Enclosure Designs

If you need to fully protect your equipment, ask us about a custom design for a NEMA 4, NEMA 12, or NEMA 4X enclosure manufactured from a durable ABS thermoplastic sheet. These are equipped to protect against all hazards, including excessive ambient temperatures.

How Compressed Air Controls Temperature

Vortex tubes, also known as Ranque-Hilsch tubes, use compressed air to offer a low-cost, maintenance-free option for protecting your investments. Here’s how they work:

Bernoulli Principle

An increase in a liquid’s speed (like air) creates a pressure drop. A decrease in speed causes pressure to rise.

Venturi Effect

An hourglass-shaped constriction varies the flow characteristics of the air. As the velocity of air moving through the tube increases, there is a drop in dynamic pressure.

Vortex Tube

The airflow is rotational, forming a vortex spiral. This causes the center of the tube to draw outside air inward while the fluid elements in the rotating body retain their angular velocity.

Thermodynamics

Dense, cold air sinks while hot air rises. The warmer air moves toward the outer metal casing of the tube and is quickly exhausted. A steady flow of clean, dry air is then allowed to constantly move through the sealed enclosure to keep sensitive equipment cool even under harsh industrial conditions. 

To learn more about an economical solution for cooling or heating an equipment enclosure, contact Dust Free PC to discuss your best options.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Vortex Tube Coolers

Although vortex tube coolers are not a universal answer for all situations, they do offer distinct advantages. Here are some benefits and drawbacks to consider when evaluating their suitability for your cooling needs:

Advantages:

Initial Cost and Maintenance: Vortex tube coolers offer advantages in initial cost, and very little time or money is required for routine maintenance.

Space Efficiency: For most installs, vortex tube coolers only require a supply of clean, dry compressed air to generate the chill to cool the internals without using refrigerants or fans. Since vortex coolers take up less room, a sealed equipment enclosure using compressed air may be an ideal choice where space is limited. 

Energy Efficiency: Experts say compressed air coolers are more energy efficient with lower electric bills, and there is no risk of spark or explosion.

Disadvantages:

Noise: When generating chilled air, vortex tube coolers can be pretty noisy, so they may not be the best choice for all environments.

Proper Sizing: Any enclosure cooler must be sized adequately for the electronic heat load to ensure system efficiency. 

Airflow Management: Monitoring a thermostat to manage airflow is sometimes necessary to avoid wasting compressed air. 

Despite these disadvantages, vortex tube coolers create positive pressure inside the sealed cabinet, preventing dust from entering and settling on heat sinks. Using a NEMA-4 sealed PC enclosure with a vortex tube cooler also eliminates condensation while preventing water intrusion during periodic washdowns.

Ask About Dust Free PC’s Enclosure Audit

When keeping your sensitive electronic equipment cool, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Fans, air conditioners, and air filters have their place and are commonly used in many applications. However, a small amount of planning can keep your plant production operating at the level needed to meet your company’s goals.

If protecting sensitive equipment is essential to maintaining work schedules, vortex tube cooling may be the answer. Overheated electronics can disrupt workflow during the hotter months, but you can avoid this issue year-round. A sealed enclosure that is properly sized, combined with a vortex tube chilling system (including thermostat controls), will optimize compressed air usage.

At Dust Free PC, we offer an Enclosure Audit to ensure you have the right strategy to prevent equipment failure during hot, humid conditions. Our ABS-constructed PC enclosures and various cooling options can effectively dissipate heat from your electronics and other sensitive equipment in industrial, commercial, and manufacturing environments.

Contact Us

To learn more about any custom ABS enclosure and all of our heating and cooling options, contact Dust Free PC using our convenient contact form or dial 904-739-7201 to speak directly with the pros.