Rittal

Automation is a hot topic currently in panel building and switchgear manufacturing. Ripploh Elektrotechnik und Engineering is one example of a German company whose experience with automation epitomises just what is possible, notably with wiring and robot-assisted wiring.

£480,000 is a lot of money. But that is what I was told it costs one of the UK’s largest automotive manufacturers per hour when they experience downtime on their paint plant. Your overheads may not be as substantial as the above example, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the old adage you hear in every corner of business and production is true. By Karl Lycett, Rittal’s Product Manager for Climate Control

Global provider of solutions for enclosures, power distribution, climate control and IT infrastructure, Rittal, is creating a smart factory which will become an advanced production plant for compact and small enclosures. The new factory halls cover 24,000 square metres of floor space and will soon house more than 100 high-tech machines.

Cooling units are playing an increasingly important role in Industry 4.0. Smooth communication between cooling units and associated cloud-based systems is opening up opportunities for new applications. Essential to these applications are IoT-capable devices such as the cooling units and chillers in the Rittal Blue e+ range. By Karl Lycett, Rittal’s Product Manager for Climate Control

Working closely with industrial companies, Rittal’s teams create IT infrastructures for use with Industry 4.0 technology, including edge computing platforms. Here, the company has put together tips to help companies implement fast-deploying and secure IT for production environments.  By Paresh Kansara, Rittal’s Product Manager for Industrial and Outdoor Enclosures

Twenty and 35kW output classes have been added by Rittal to its portfolio of refrigerant-based IT cooling solutions, meaning it can now offer a cooling solution from three to 55kW. The portfolio also includes a world first: a 35kW hybrid version that will utilise indirect free cooling where conditions are suitable, making it highly energy-efficient.

A centre for manufacturing large enclosures is currently under construction at Rittal’s Rittershausen plant, based on Industry 4.0 principles. While work there is ongoing, Rittal is also installing high-tech production lines for its VX25 large enclosure, at a total cost of €120m. The company is gearing up its production to Industry 4.0 through consistent digitisation of processes and fully automated profiling, welding and panel manufacturing units, making the new centre a model for all Rittal production plants worldwide.

If you are attending the Drives and Controls show next week you will be able to see Rittal’s renowned infrastructure solution – claimed to be the No.1 choice for protecting critical equipment - plus some exciting new product innovations. ‘Rittal - The System’ has five, wholly compatible components: enclosure, power, cooling, security, and monitoring with remote management, all of which will be on show.  

  Despite the advances in automation, manufacturing switchgear can be very labour intensive. There is still a huge amount of manual work involved in cutting and machining busbars, support rails and cable ducts.

Real time capabilities are required for companies that employ machine-to-machine communication to streamline manufacturing. IT resources deployed in close geographical proximity ensure that latency is low, and data readily available. The Rittal Edge Data Centre provides an effective answer to this need. It is a turn-key, pre-configured solution based on standardised infrastructure. It can be implemented rapidly and cost-efficiently - paving the way for Industry 4.0 applications.

Typically, small drives for machines and equipment are powered up to 9.0A and are protected by conventional motor circuit breakers. However, when space in the enclosure is limited, it is very difficult to find room for significant numbers of protective components. Rittal’s new motor controllers for its RiLine Compact power distribution system offer a solution. To help engineers, Rittal has also produced a 3D configurator that reduces the time required to generate Compact RiLine busbar systems.

It is clear that CNC machining centres, such as Perforex from Rittal Automation Systems are completely ahead of the alternative, manual approach when it comes to productivity and efficiency in processing panels. In fact, machining centres speed up processing by as much as 66% compared to the traditional hand-tooled method.

One of the leading events for modern data centres in Europe is Datacloud Europe. Rittal is involved as a sponsor, is participating in the accompanying exhibition and is will be providing presentations on technologies related to 'Modular to Hyperscale Datacenter Cooling and Energy Efficiency'. Solutions being presented include the Lefdal Mine Datacenter project, a highly efficient data centre that uses regenerative energies. Energy efficiency, scalability and safety are among the central requirements for modern data centres.

In our world maintaining corporate flexibility, increasing agility and reducing operational costs are all critical to business success, especially where innovation continues to speed up. These are just some of the key themes that Rittal will be tackling at Data Centre World 2017, on stand J20.

  Busbars systems, or busbar supports are heavy conductors, made of copper, which carry and distribute powerful electric currents to components that consume electrical power throughout an assembly.

Exhibiting its TS IT rack at Data Centre World 2017 (ExCel, London, 15th-16th March), Rittal will be on stand J10. The TS IT rack provides a safe environment for servers and other equipment.

Having significant implications for the design and performance of the copper busbar system, the introduction of the IEC 61439 switchgear and control standards, is an area which design engineers need to appreciate, not least because the new testing regime and the requirement for compliance has changed the way we think about the selection of the busbar system. 

Panel builders face the challenge of designing a switchgear system which can be used in earthquake-prone zones, especially as this kind of project is typically not regular business. A new white paper from Rittal entitled: 'Earthquake protection for switchgear systems', now offers switchgear manufacturers guidance on system design as well as a basic overview. 

  Thankfully, assembling and positioning components in IT racks is now a thing of the past. Components can be quickly and easily installed on, or removed from, the 482.6mm (19") mounting level of racks with Rittal’s new fastener.

Rittal fan-and-filter units with EC motors should be the preferred choice for energy efficiency in enclosure climate control, as their operating ratio is significantly higher than standard AC fan-and-filter units.