Cooling elements as front or rear panel

Paul Boughton
A cooling element protects components against high temperature. This can be ensured, as long as enough heat can be dissipated to the surrounding environment. This however is a problem with modern electronic components. Particularly if the cabinet has to be fully closed and does sufficient vents because of EMC and other safety aspects.

A reliable method is to implement metallic cooling elements which are mostly made from aluminium.

Today there are already a lot of cooling element types on the market, but most of them are not made for using within 19-in technology. The dimensions, for example, are not based on an inch pitch, which complicates manufacturing unless cooling elements are screwed onto flat panels. Consequently, the prices are increased unnecessarily.

Elma presents a solution which is based exactly on these needs. The cooling fin extrusion has a width of 42 HP and matches the height units (U). Furthermore, each and every fin is built upon a 1.5 HP pitch (7.62 mm) to guarantee enough space in between for the screw heads. Therefore, the fins do not have to be modified for mounting, it is sufficient to drill the holes from the flat side. Hence the cooling fin extrusions can be used directly as front and/or rear panels in cabinets and sub racks.

Depending upon the request, the cooling fin extrusions can be conductively finished and additional EMC brackets can be mounted onto the sides which guarantees safe contacting with the chassis. This provides simultaneously, active heat dissipation with EMC protection.

For more information, visit www.elma.com