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Cabinet Assembly

A number of companies specialise in the design and manufacture of metal cabinets (also known as racks and enclosures) for electronic packaging purposes. Sensitive electronics often need to be protected from heat, dirt, dust, water and other fluids as well as protecting those personnel who work in the vicinity of this type of equipment.

Cabinet assembly and cabinet wiring is a specialist discipline which some contract manufacturers offer their customers as part of their standard service.

For example, telecommunication servers usually contain a range of PCB assemblies, backplanes and mechanical/electrical components all of which need to be connected, safely housed in sub-rack systems, air conditioned and sometimes screened from their immediate environmental emissions or their own emissions.

The most recognisable format of cabinet is the 19" rack.

A 19-inch rack is a standardised system for mounting electronic modules vertically in a "stack" which as its name suggests, is 19 inches wide. As a result electronic equipment designed to be placed in a rack is typically described as rack-mountable.

U is the standard unit of measure for designating the vertical usable space, or height of racks and cabinets (enclosures with one or more doors), where 1U = 1.75 in = 44.45 mm in height. Most racks are sold in the 42U form: that is, a single rack capable of holding 42 1U electronic modules.

For example, a rack designated as 10U, has 10 rack spaces for equipment and has 17.5 (10 x 1.75.) inches of vertical usable space. Rack and cabinet spaces and the equipment which fit into them are all measured in U.

The protection of enclosures, racks or cabinets against the ingress of water and other particles is defined by the standard IEC529 and is most commonly represented by the letters "IP" followed by two numbers. The first number identifies the extent to which the equipment is protected against particles or a person is protected from hazards generated from the enclosed equipment (0-6) and the second number represents the extent of the equipments protection against water (0-8).

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Cabinet Assembly

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Guide Written by Paul Wilson

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