Driven by customer need, we have several testing and certification options for environmental-rated accessories for enclosures. Field installation includes enclosure-mounted components, such as window kits, filter fan kits or hole plugs, as well as components that are part of a product’s or enclosure’s construction, such as handles, hinges and latches.
Choosing these components can help streamline the evaluation of your environmentally rated enclosure or end product by prequalifying the handle, hinge or latch for mounting on the flat surface of a Type rated or IP Code rated enclosure or product.
Our Standards for Enclosures for Electrical Equipment, Non-Environmental and Environmental Considerations, UL 50 and UL 50E , evaluates components for their corrosion resistance, resistance to degradation caused by UV light, and their ability to maintain the environmental seal against the flat surface of a similarly rated enclosure on which they are installed.
In addition, internal components, such as gaskets, seals and the like, can be evaluated to the requirements of these Standards. This enables the end-product manufacturer to focus on their product without worrying whether they will need to find a new component source late in the product development cycle due to noncompliance of something beyond their control. And, because the handle, hinge or latch is already Recognized (certified), material traceability for the components during Follow-Up Services (FUS) inspections becomes a nonissue.
While the U.S./Canadian Type rating system is the basis for the ratings of products covered under our environmental-rated accessories categories, it is possible for IP Codes-using Degrees of Protection Provided by Enclosures (IP Code) IEC 60529 to be included, thus broadening global market access.