Environmental-Rated Accessories for Enclosures

Environmental-rated accessories for enclosures offers a UL category recognition for access hardware solution products, such as quarter turns, compression latches, handles and hinges, and UL Certification for panel mounted components, such as window kits, filter fan kits and hole plugs.

Previously, the access hardware industry did not have a UL Certification category. Enclosure manufacturers or manufacturers of products that utilize enclosures, such as power distribution, telecommunications and hazardous locations, were responsible for gathering samples and information on the access hardware construction, i.e., corrosion protection, plastics and gaskets information, from the access hardware manufacturers. The recognition certification offers you many benefits, including the ability to work directly with an independent third party. This gives you the advantage to provide your customers with UL Certified components that have been evaluated for concerns, such as:

• Corrosion protection
• Plastic concerns including ultraviolet (UV), water exposure and immersion
• Gasket materials

This provides the enclosure manufacturing industry and any other industry impacted by the enclosure Type or IP rating systems with a solution to their access hardware needs. It only requires the enclosure under evaluation to undergo the applicable ingress test while using the selected UL Recognized access hardware.

The UL Certification allows panel mountable component manufacturers of products, such as window kits, filter fan kits, rain hoods and hole plugs, to evaluate their products ability to maintain the Type or IP rating while mounted to an ultimate Type or IP rated enclosure. The environmental-rated accessories for enclosures Certification assists enclosure manufacturers or manufacturers of products that utilize enclosures, such as power distribution, telecommunications and hazardous locations, to select these Certified components for use on their products without further investigation by an independent third party.

Services

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.

We provide testing and certification services for environmentally rated accessories for enclosures that include, but are not limited to:

• Type and/or IP rated panel mounted accessories:
  • Window kits
  • Hole plugs
  • Filter fan kits
  • Air conditioners
  • Heat exchangers
  • Infrared viewports
  • Rain hoods
  • Cable and pipe sealing devices/fittings
• Type and/or IP Rated access hardware solutions:
  • Quarter turns
  • Handles
  • Compression latches
  • Hinges