Protect Your Equipment In A Quarry: 4 Hazards

Electronic outdoor enclosures are designed (or at least, they should be) to operate in a range of harsh outdoor environments, all the while protecting the sensitive telecoms equipment within. At GTT Wireless, our enclosures have been installed in a variety of exposed outdoor locations including coastal installations and on construction sites. In place, these enclosures have to face a variety of natural and man-made hazards, and nowhere more so than in a quarry. In quarries, electronic enclosures confront all the main risks that are likely to cause damage to your equipment: water, dust, and extreme temperatures.

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Let’s look at how a good enclosure can safeguard your equipment in the face of these risks:

1) Water

Quarries are damp places, exposed to the rain, prone to flooding, and slow to evaporate surface moisture. Water is, therefore, a serious risk for any enclosure placed in a quarry. The risk comes from ingress into the enclosure box, where water plays havoc with delicate electronic components. Damage ranges from sudden short-circuits in the case of flooding, which can completely ruin valuable assets, to slow damage from corrosion and rust, which can shorten the life of motherboards and impede the efficiency of your equipment.

Solution: Choose an enclosure with the appropriate IP rating, coating and integrated vents and seals to protect your equipment inside from water ingress.

2) Dust

Dust, in this case, is a catch-all term for all the dirt and potential contaminants found in a quarry. This includes powdered concrete and stone, plant material, algae, bird waste, abrasive grit, and micro-plastics, as well as engine oil, fuel, grease, and chemical residues. All of these need to be kept outside of your enclosure, as small particles creeping in can damage electronic components and cause the equipment within your enclosure to fail or overheat.

Solution: To prevent contaminant damage, you need very good integrated seals and an efficient vent that excludes particles, with a good filter to stop the vent becoming clogged.

3) Vibrations

Vibrations from plant, vehicles and explosions in a quarry pose a real risk of damage to delicate communications equipment. Your enclosure and accessories must protect your kit from impact caused by shock or vibrations.

Solution: Choose a strong but lightweight enclosure that gives robust IP and IK protection while minimising bulk. We use die-cast aluminium with a thin but very protective SurTec650 coating for added protection (the same coating that is used on aircraft carrier decks at sea!)

4) Temperature Changes

Wreathed in shadow for much of the day, quarries are often cold places, but can get suddenly hot at certain times of the day, and during excavation work. Extremes of temperatures can pose a problem for electronic equipment. Any humidity ‘trapped’ inside an outdoor enclosure can build-up condensation … especially when the environment cools down which, if not dissipated, becomes another water hazard, leading to corrosion. Excess pressure inside an enclosure can also damage the enclosure seals, and if they fail, can expose your equipment to additional damage from dust and water.

Solution: You need to integrate a high-quality vent into the enclosure in order to maintain a balance of the temperature and pressure between the outside and inside of the enclosure.

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At GTT Wireless, we offer a variety of advanced enclosures that provide robust protection for 5G, IoT and wireless communication technologies. All our enclosure boxes are IP 67 rated, to give full protection from dust and water ingress, and have an operating temperature range of -40°C to 120°C. Each box is available in several standard sizes, and can also be customised to suit your application. Please get in touch with one of our team today to find out more.

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Image Source: Pixabay