Ventilation control cabinet: functionality, classification,

What is the cabinet for controlling the ventilation system? What are the signs classified cabinets? What are they like? We will get acquainted with their basic elements and with a pair of specific products present in the modern Russian market.

What it is

Definition

In industrial conditions and, more rarely, in residential and office buildings, compulsory is used instead of the natural ventilation that we are used to in the homes of Soviet-built natural ventilation.

Its functions are often not limited to air exchange with the street:

• The intake air is filtered, free from dust, odors and potentially harmful substances.
• Its temperature rises or, on the contrary, decreases depending on the season.
• Dry winter air can be humidified, and excessively humid summer, on the contrary, can dry out.

Important: modern ventilation systems often include heat recuperators, allowing significant savings on heating and air conditioning.

It is clear that such a complex system needs to be managed and controlled. It is logical to concentrate all control devices in one point. Which, in fact, brings us to the idea of ​​a control cabinet.

Functionality

Modern cabinet automation ventilation can perform the following functions:

• Control of actuators (fans, air conditioning systems, valves, etc.) using an arbitrary algorithm.
• Supply air temperature control.
• Controlling the temperature of the air in the room with the limitation of the temperature range of the supply air This prevents the occurrence of cold drafts or zones with superheated air.
• Indication of the operation mode of each system node.
• Indication of the state of the main mechanisms (hardware and software failures, degree of wear).
• Indication of temperatures at an arbitrary number of built-in and remote temperature sensors.
• Indication of dustiness of air filters.
• Protection against freezing of heat exchangers (first of all - using water as a heat carrier).
• Protection against freezing of ice, reducing cooling efficiency.
• Protection against overheating of the windings of electric motors.

• Protection against overheating of air heaters when air circulation is measured.

The main unit of the cabinet - the controller - does not just allow automating the processes of controlling the ventilation within its own program. Using the ROM instead of a write-once chip and the availability of standard ports for connecting to a computer allow you to adjust the controller's firmware, reprogram it, creating non-standard configurations and setting arbitrary reactions to changes in sensor readings.

Classification

What are the signs of control cabinets differ?

1. In the direction of air movement.

They can manage:

• Exhaust ventilation.
• Ventilation.
• Finally, the control cabinet supply and exhaust ventilation is able to fully control the entire air exchange in the building.

1. To destination. The general exchange, fire-fighting ventilation system, both systems or their separate elements can be controlled.
2. According to the case material. It can be plastic or metal. In the first case, as a rule, the controls are hidden under the cabinet lid, in the second case they are placed on it.

Installation

It is unlikely that the reader will be able to install such complex equipment with his own hands, therefore we restrict ourselves to a minimum of installation recommendations.

• The installer needs permission to work with electrical equipment and familiarity with instrumentation and automation equipment (instrumentation and automation).
• The cabinet is mounted on a vertical wall of fireproof material with a height of at least one meter. The instruction, as it is easy to guess, is connected with fire safety. The currents in the power supply circuits can reach impressive values, which under certain conditions can lead to strong heating of the wires and terminals.

Let's clarify: provided that for every square millimeter of the copper conductor cross section there is no more than 10 amperes, and the terminals are provided with reliable contact and the absence of electroplating pairs (such as copper and aluminum), this situation will not arise.

Samples

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Before us is a product produced by the Moscow company Electrotest.

What are the features of the device?

• Support for electric air heaters, water and freon heat exchangers.
• Support all kinds of recuperators.
• Protection of motors of fans against overheating and overload.
• Remote control.
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules that allow you to control ventilation from your smartphone.
• Compact dimensions. The size of the cabinet is only 325x335x170 mm.

Fan control cabinet

The product with the laconic name ShUV is produced by a number of Russian companies (for example, OAO Rubezh, which has representative offices in several cities of Russia and the near abroad). The functionality of the device is the complete opposite of the previous one: it is limited to the control of the supply or exhaust fan of fire ventilation.

In addition to directly starting and stopping the electric motor, the device controls:

1. The presence of all three phases at the entrance.
2. Serviceability of own power supply and control circuits.
3. Contact with sensors and their health.

We present the main characteristics of devices capable of controlling a fan with a capacity of up to 45 kW.

The price of ShUV depends on the maximum power of the fan controlled by it:

• 5.5 kW - 15,400 rubles.
• 11 kW - 19,300 rubles.
• 18.5 KW - 21080 rubles.

Conclusion

We assume that our acquaintance with the new type of ventilation equipment took place (see also the article Smoke ventilation: the main characteristics and features of the device).

As always, a certain amount of additional thematic information will be offered by the video in this article. Successes!