Heat management is a major challenge for electrical designers, especially in complex control cabinet designs with closely packed modules and cables. To ensure safe operation, designers need to calculate any potential temperature rises and ensure the cabinet environment is regulated, which has traditionally been a time-consuming task. However, access to ProClima via WSCAD’s electrical CAD software is intended to serve as a timesaving solution.
Calculating the exact thermal load in a control cabinet is difficult, and electrical designers have to account for numerous factors.
Alin Dragan, product manager at WSCAD, said: ”This is a complex topic and it’s difficult to calculate as each component may have different temperature operating capabilities. That’s why a generalised procedure according to BS EN IEC 61439 supplementary sheet 2 has been created.”
BS EN IEC 61439 is a thermal specification that describes the calculation method for low-voltage systems. The main parameters of this are the power dissipation values of the electrical switchgear components, the material properties of the devices used as well as details regarding the ambient temperature at the installation site, humidity, and dew point.
Traditionally, this process relies on the time-consuming manual collection and collation of thermal data from manufacturer material databases before it is entered by hand into the relevant design software. This task becomes longer and more complicated if the control cabinet design features multiple components from different manufacturers.
However, those using WSCAD’s electrical CAD software are expected to be able to overcome the hurdles to efficient heat calculation more quickly. ProClima calculates the optimal heat architecture from temperature data in accordance with IEC specifications and suggests appropriate temperature control measures.
Designers can therefore quickly access the necessary data records required, as well as the control cabinet dimensions via the WSCAD part database or wscaduniverse.com, WSCAD’s free online database.