Performance improvement of an industrial control enclosure cooling system

Abstract

Following the trend of high-accuracy machining, thermal management of industrial control enclosures become a critical issue. Therefore, a well-designed enclosure cooling system is essential to manage the heat generation inside the enclosure. In this study, to improve the performance of cooling system and the air flow distribution inside the enclosure, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation has been used to evaluate the application of using the auxiliary circulation fan and air baffler. Furthermore, this study also investigates the layout design for both supply air vent and return air vent arrangement by two types of commercialized cooling systems through field measurements. The simulation results show the short circulation of airflow is improved when the air baffler is installed. It also shows that the auxiliary circulation fan is suggested. Besides, air baffler is used to enhance the temperature distribution. The experimental results reveal the upper supply vent arrangement will cause the short circulation of airflow slightly. And, the auxiliary circulation fans can improve the heat dissipation of cooling systems. There is no short circulation of airflow for the lower supply vent arrangement, but the supply air cannot be distributed smoothly by the auxiliary circulation fans because the shape of the air baffler is not properly designed.