Factory floors have always been relatively hostile spaces for all types of electrical equipment including the PLCs and drives responsible for keeping the lines moving. Their components don’t react well to high levels of moisture, dust, and heat in the atmosphere.

It’s an uncomfortable fact that as we get closer to summer, our Service teams start seeing a sharp increase in calls about equipment failures and system malfunctions.

As temperatures go up, many production teams try to protect their drives by adjusting the system’s climate control units (i.e. increasing the level of cooling) and ironically, this can be the trigger for operations to slow or even stop. If the cooling units are poorly maintained, for example, then the increase in demand can cause them to trip or fail completely, leaving panel temperatures to rise unchecked. Alternatively, if units haven’t been correctly specified, or the company has installed new electrical drives without upgrading its cooling system, then lowering the setpoint is not only a risk, it can also be in vain as units are simply not able to deliver the required amount of cooling.

So, the cooling equipment fails at precisely the time when the company most needs it. If your cooling system crashes, your critical automation equipment will shut down to prevent further damage to its components, and without functioning electrical controls, your production lines will grind to a halt. Not only will this have an immediate impact on productivity, but there will also be further substantive costs to get the plant up and running again. However, this type of production line breakdown is almost always entirely preventable.

Why does electrical equipment need cooling?

All electrical equipment generates heat as a by-product of its activities, and this heat needs to be removed. For every increase of 10oC in your panel temperature, it’s estimated that the life of your expensive equipment, including PLCs, and variable speed drives, is halved.

The cost of replacing equipment that has failed due to overheating can be substantial. Large drives can cost more than £10,000, meaning the annual bill across even a small site can be many times this figure – although, arguably, the availability of replacement parts is of more concern currently than their cost 

With shortages in global supply chains causing the lead-times for some electronic equipment to be more than a year, businesses are having to find alternative solutions to get their lines back up and running, but not without delay.

Any lost output caused by a hiatus in the processes that the equipment controls, will continue for as long as it takes to repair the fault, and this may have huge, wide-reaching, and expensive consequences for a business.

Moreover, maintaining a stable temperature within an enclosure through effective climate control has another benefit. It ensures that your electrical drives will work to their full speed and potential, so that the production equipment that they control continues to operate at a high tempo.

Again, this can have a major impact on productivity and turnover; the faster a pallet-wrapping machine works, for example, the more goods can be shipped.

How to check if cooling equipment is failing?

Of course, any system can fail without warning, however, it’s more likely that you will experience certain warning signs beforehand, which indicate that your cooling equipment is starting to struggle. As a guide, if you’ve encountered one or more of the following, then something may be amiss and should be investigated before bigger problems surface.

Potential signs your cooling equipment is struggling:

Is your electrical equipment (PLCs and drives) starting to trip or fail?

Do electrical equipment trips or failures cause production to slow or stop?

Are your enclosures hot to touch?

Are your enclosure doors regularly left open?

Do you have fans standing by those open doors in the summer months?

Does inadequate chilling of process fluids result in production downtime?

Have you upgraded your PLCs and drives and not reviewed your existing cooling equipment?

It’s also worth checking the date of the last scheduled service and maintenance visit, and if this in line with manufacturer’s recommendations. If not - or you can’t remember the last time it was serviced - then we would advise scheduling a service before temperatures rise any further.

Benefits of maintaining cooling equipment

As we’ve indicated, however tough the trading conditions, not servicing your vital electrical cooling units is almost always a false economy.

Some of the most common benefits regular servicing should confer:

Satisfying warranties: cooling equipment manufacturers typically require equipment to have been maintained according to their guidelines for the period they are under warranty. Plus, it’s almost always a requirement for extended cover

Financial savings: as we’ve indicated, electrical equipment is extremely sensitive to heat. Maintaining your cooling units will help ensure your PLCs and drives work within their optimum temperature range, which will improve their efficiency and extend their lifespan

Finding replacement parts: it may not be easy to quickly get hold of replacement parts, especially for older electrical equipment.

Customer service expectation & order fulfilment: thanks in part to the efficiency of ecommerce deliveries, we’re seeing a higher number of customers demanding shorter order turnaround. Recurrent operational hold-ups caused by production line failures can quickly escalate into cancelled contracts and impact on repeat business.

Avoiding the sheer hassle of sorting out failing equipment (i.e. the timeis-money argument): hours spent by managers and operators to sort out equipment failures will be a frustrating headache in an already busy working day.

Avoiding ‘emergency’ call-out expenses: it’s rare that you won’t have to pay more for emergency or out-of-hours service calls where no service contract exists.

Falling foul of short-term fixes: some well-intentioned attempts to alleviate overheating, such as opening the door of the enclosure, can cause more problems by allowing contaminants such as moisture, dust and dirt to into your drives. These can cause as many issues as excess heat. Not only that, but open panel doors can present a very real risk to health and safety.

For more information please visit: www.rittal.co.uk

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Maintaining your cooling units: Next steps

We recommend that you arrange for a health check of your cooling before temperatures start rising so that any necessary remedial measures can be taken before problems arise.

During one of our free RiAssure Service & Efficiency Checks, a member of our experienced Rittal team will inspect up to 10 cooling units. They will offer practical advice on ways in which the units’ effectiveness and energy efficiency may be improved.

For large installations, or where a more technical inspection is necessary, we can arrange for a more comprehensive RiAssure Advanced Service & Efficiency Check, conducted by one of our trained service engineers. They will perform a series of detailed checks on your climate control units and enclosures, gathering the necessary data to resolve more complex issues. We will provide you with written feedback, including advice around adding value to your business and future best practise guidance

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