Control Panel: From Concept to Design (Part 1)

Control_Panels_From_Concept_to_Design_(Part_1).pdf

Transcript:

[0m:4s] Hi I'm Josh Bloom, welcome to another video in the RSP Supply education series. If you find that these videos are helpful to you, it certainly helps us out if you could give us a big thumbs up and subscribe to our channel. In today's video, we are going to be talking about industrial control panels.
[0m:19s] But in this video, we are going to be looking at how one of these panels goes from an idea or concept to the actual design phase of the control panel’s creation.
[0m:31s] This video is not intended to be a tutorial on how to build a panel or even to design one, but it's more about trying to figure out what questions should be asked when deciding if a panel is needed and what challenges you might encounter along the way.
[0m:46s] We hope to paint a picture for you of the process that begins in the engineering phase of a project that raises questions such as what needs you might have for a specific project? What information is critical? And what information would just be nice to have?
[1m:3s] What are some of the location challenges and power requirements you might encounter, as well as trying to get an idea of some of the hardware requirements, and what those might be.
[1m:14s] All of these questions need to be answered in order to design one of these panels let alone build one.
[1m:21s] So let's get started before you even think about a panel or asking any design questions or anything else you might think of,
[1m:29s] there has to be a need.
[1m:31s] I suppose you could install one of these panels for pure convenience, but that would be a very expensive convenience. However, in almost all cases, some sort of need is established. These needs can vary greatly depending on the application.
[1m:47s] In many cases, this need relates to wanting some kind of control or needing information.
[1m:54s] An example of this might be a city water system where they might be adding a new water tank. With this installation, there is a strong need to know how much water is in the tank and if the water is clean or not, and when to let the water get pumped out of the tank.

[2m:10s] This need translate to the beginnings of a control panel that will be able to provide control and the information needed with the help of some instrumentation.

[2m:20s] This is just one example, but there are literally hundreds of examples that this same type of application would apply to.
[2m:28s] Once the need is established, you can start to determine the next steps. Well, a very common thing to look at would be what type of control and information is actually needed.

[2m:39s] If we go back to the example we used before with the new water tank,
[2m:43s] it is important to ask what is needed to make the tank function the way we would want it to. As I mentioned before a few things are very obvious such as the water tank level and how clean the water is.
[2m:55s] But, there are other pieces of information that might be helpful such as knowing if someone is trying to access the tank,
[3m:2s] or if there is water that's actually being pumped into the tank itself. Also you need to ask questions that are related to control.
[3m:10s] What control do you need for this specific scenario?

[3m:13s] Do you want to be able to pump water out of the tank?
[3m:17s] Do you need to have the ability to open or close valves?
[3m:21s] All of these questions are important and need to be answered in order to begin to understand what is needed in regards to control panel hardware.
[3m:32s] This is a critical time in the planning stage because if something is missed here, it may be difficult to retrofit your system some place down the road. So, taking time to determine what information is needed and what control is required can help in designing a system and control panel that will work well for its desired application.

[3m:53s] In part two of this brief series, we will look at some other key factors when understanding how a control panel goes from a concept to a design, such as any location challenges that may need to be addressed,
[4m:7s] as well as any power requirements and challenges that might be encountered. We will also talk about some of the hardware decisions that need to be made that will ultimately lead to the start of the panel design.
[4m:19s] For a full line of industrial control panel hardware and thousands of other products, please go to our website. For more information or other educational videos, go to RSPSupply.com, the Internet's top source for industrial hardware. Also, don't forget: like and subscribe.