Navigating Global Enclosure Standards

Enclosures protect both devices and people on a daily basis. For example, computer enclosures not only protect computers from outside contaminants like water but also protect people from dangers like electrocution. In more complex applications failure to protect devices or systems with proper enclosures could result in the loss of thousands of dollars or worse yet, worker injury.  In efforts to ensure worker safety and device protection several standards have been developed. The three primary international standards for electrical enclosures are:

• International Electrotechnical Commision (IEC) Standards
• National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association (NEMA) Standards
• Underwriter Laboratories (UL) Standards

Although helpful, these standards tend to be complex and at times downright confusing. To further complicate matters many applications do not even require enclosures to meet a particular industry standard. For those applications the temptation is to find cheaper alternatives without truly understanding the application requirements or considering IEC, NEMA, or UL rated enclosures. However, as a recent whitepaper from Hoffman Enclosures explained, “Focusing solely on low price without fully understanding or requiring industry standards can yield a low initial product cost, but could ultimately lead to high maintenance expenses, component failure and in the worst case, worker safety issues”.

Is your team working on an application that utilizes enclosures?

Gain a better understanding of how to navigate global enclosure standards by reading the entire whitepaper from Hoffman Enclosures here. Hoffman (a division of Pentair) is a leading manufacturer of electrical enclosures including junction boxes, networking cabinets, wall-mount enclosures, and modular enclosure systems. To search a complete catalog of Hoffman enclosures visit authorized Hoffman distributor, bisco industries.