V-Blox panel mounted lightning and surge protection products fights costly damage with an enclosure that stands strong against nature’s power
The Situation
Lightning is a capricious, random and unpredictable natural event. When lightning strikes a power line it can travel along the line and enter a building's wiring system, causing a power surge. Damage from electrical transients, or surges such as lightning, is one of the leading causes of electrical equipment failure.
Surges can also come from normal utility switching operations, or unintentional grounding of electrical conductors (such as when an overhead power line falls to the ground). Surges may even come from within a building or facility from fax machines, copiers, air conditioners, elevators, motors/ pumps, or arc welders, to name a few. In each case, the normal electric circuit is suddenly exposed to a large dose of energy that can adversely affect the equipment being supplied power.
Surge protection properly sized and installed is highly successful in preventing equipment damage, especially for sensitive electronic equipment found in most equipment today.
The Challenge
When V-Blox Corporation began researching the availability of enclosures to house their control systems, they knew a key requirement was the ability to pass UL fault current testing. A unit passes evaluation if it remains intact after being subjected to a catastrophic short circuit with the potential to cause a major breakdown of the electrical components.
The Solution
V-Blox needed to select an enclosure to restyle their product line. They ultimately chose the Stahlin DuraBoxx series. DuraBoxx enclosures are molded from a composite fiberglass thermoseting material, helping to ensure the broadest range of chemical resistance, strength, lightweight, flammability, safety, sound dampening and proper heat transfer.
DuraBoxx enclosures also offer great flexural strength, impact resistance, sunlight resistance and compression strength in a soft radius edged, cosmetically pleasing product. Plus, these enclosures are Type 4X and 6P NEMA rated, ensuring that they would pass the UL specific fault current test.
