
Power Distribution Enclosures

Power distribution electrical enclosures are designed to supply power to electrical equipment, to start or stop the flow of power to electrical equipment and to monitor and detect the operation of electrical equipment. Power distribution cabinets protect the internal components from the surrounding environment and protects operators from electric shock. They come in many different shapes, sizes and materials. The power distribution enclosure will have holes made for pulling cables inside for incoming electric current and cables leaving for power distribution. Having the proper connectors are essential for maintaining the NEMA rating of the enclosure.
Hoffman RackPower Intelligent Power Distribution Units provide local and remote power monitoring of single outlets and circuits on cabinets, open frame racks and wall-mount enclosures. They show data for voltage, current, power, energy consumption and power factor for the entire PDU with a metering accuracy to within +/-1%. The units are available in horizontal 19 inch rack or vertical mounting capabilities.
Hoffman Smart PDU monitors and accessories provide diagnostic and feedback information via a web browser to a remote location. System administrators can set audible alarms, remote displays, SNMP traps and email notification options to monitor the system and generate alarm notifications.
Hoffman Rack and Panel Mount PDUs provide reliable power to equipment mounted in cabinets or on open frame racks. They can be configured to meet a wide range of design specifications.
Products
Power distribution basics
Identification. Identify the type of power coming into the industrial electrical panel (three phase, 120 single phase, solar power, etc), where the power is entering (usually on the top of the panel) and properly label the power.
Protection. Power greater than 120 volts entering a panel should have an external disconnect. Power distributed throughout the panel should include branch and supplementary protection. Circuit breakers and fuses must always be sized correctly. For example, a 2 amp fuse would blow if 20 amps flowed through it. A 15 amp circuit breaker would not be used to protect a PLC or a network switch because too much current would be allowed to run through those devices causing them to prematurely fail.
Grounding. It is critical for every industrial control panel to have proper grounding. All devices should be grounded to a grounding bus. The grounding bus should be tied to the main ground coming into the panel. If there is DC negative within the panel, that should be tied to a DC negative bus which in turn is tied to the grounding bus.