CamdenBoss’ technical marketing adviser, Lewis Letchford, explains how new UK manufactured DIN rail enclosures are helping buyers beat supply chain issues.
DIN rail enclosures often house crucial equipment in electrical and electronic assemblies, often comprising circuit breakers, switches and power management devices. The rail itself is a basic design, available in industry standard options with 35mm top hat being the most common and 15mm top hat being relatively rare and for small footprint applications. Other types are G and C rails.
Different enclosure designs saturate the market. With this in mind, it is important manufacturers offer customers products that provide adequate housings that meet industry standards (such as flame retardancy) and features that aid assembly and maintenance.
CamdenBoss has been busy breathing new life into an old-time favourite: the CMEB, extendable DIN rail terminal enclosure. The enclosure is built up of the main housing body, eight pre-fitted saddle washer connectors with adjoining solder tags and two removable side panels. Customers can select from a variety of kits such as open top (with either a solid grey or clear lid) or solid top that provides a slight recess for keypad membranes or displays.
One of the main issues that the CMEB challenges is the separation of the internal space, allowing the enclosure to deal with different levels of supply voltage, in application. Various PCB positions available to an extended enclosure provide a way of separating mains or low/high voltage sides. Input wires can be fed through one side of the enclosure, with output wires fed out of the bottom. A single housing uses a planer PCB, following the side profile of the internal face. An extended housing gains horizontal PCBs due to slots on the extension arms.
Historically, CMEBs operated using only one attachable side panel. The downside was difficulty accessing the internal space. This was improved by two detachable side panels (opening the enclosure fully) allowing for greater ease of assembly when placing and connecting up the PCB. The end panels are attached using a simple snap-fit, requiring no screws. This speeds up assembly time and eases maintenance.
DIN rail enclosures often connect many wires due to the nature of their applications. DIN rail electronics can be found in homes, offices and factories operating as power supply equipment, switches, safety devices, relays and more, making them an integral part of industry and commerce. With this in mind, CamdenBoss looked to improve the CMEB’s wiring capability, upsizing compatible wire size to a M3 screw with 7mm saddle washer. This improvement to the pre-fit connectors provides an electrical rating of 8A/250V.
Proudly manufactured in the UK, the CMEB joins CamdenBoss’ list of UK made products, tackling the current global supply chain issues that many electronics manufacturers are facing. This lets CamdenBoss offer competitive pricing and lead times to trusted distributors, and for bulk orders, direct from its warehouse to the customers.