Besides PCB assembly, we also manufacture control cabinets, turnkey and in any quantity. We cover everything from the processing of standard enclosures to your individual special enclosure. We’re also happy to carry out the electrical function test, prepare your cabinets in the appropriate export packaging for worldwide transport and take care of other steps before and after the actual assembly. It doesn’t matter whether you need a single piece or a large series: We are here for you.
Control cabinet construction to exactly the extent you need: Consultation, pre-assembly, complete assembly
In principle, we follow the plans of our customers when building control cabinets. However, we would also be happy to design the assembly and mounting plan for you. They only give us the function per circuit diagram. By the way, this also applies if you already have finished – yet perhaps somewhat older – development data for a control cabinet. Then we take a look at whether we can modernise it, do an initial technical check, and talk to you again. Maybe it will turn out that we can even manage the control cabinet with smaller dimensions. Or that a little more leeway in the area for later retrofitting makes sense.
From start to finish, this is how the control cabinet construction works for us:
- Metalworking
- Assembly
- Wiring and colours according to VDE or special customer requirements
- Quality assurance and testing
- Packing in waterproof overseas crates
- Optional: further inspection and test procedures in addition to mandatory quality assurance
- Optional: We ship directly to your customers
Why we as assemblers also build control cabinets
PCBA is our core competence. At the same time, it creates good conditions for us to be able to offer our customers more than just the optimum control cabinet. We have the warehouse, we have the assemblies, we have the experience in just-in-time purchasing and logistics. For many customers, it is simply easier if we not only build the cabinet, but also assemble the required PCBs. Of course, we also offer control cabinet construction independent of SMT assembly or THT assembly.
Control cabinets have to perform more and more
Control cabinets are taking on more and more tasks and bundling more functions centrally in one place.
For our customers in the agricultural sector, the control cabinet in the barn used to take over the lighting control. Today, automated feeding and heat and air exchange also depend on it. Then, in the meantime, a touch display is installed in the door of the control cabinet, which is controlled via the assemblies in the control cabinet.
Industry 4.0 requires the corresponding control cabinets. Hygiene requirements, safety functions and special protection against environmental influences all play a role. Furthermore, fire protection, protection against dust, water, overheating, protection against electromagnetic interference (EMC) or explosion protection are elementary components in the construction of a control cabinet.
Miniaturisation? No way: Control cabinets are getting bigger and bigger
Space is one of the biggest challenges in control cabinet construction. The control cabinets are growing because they have to take on more and more complex tasks. At the same time, the rule of thumb is that enclosures need approx. 30 % free space inside to avoid accumulating too much heat even if the enclosure is extended. In addition, cable ducts are taking up more and more space in complex circuits. The single control cabinet is limited, but hundreds can also act together as one control cabinet.
“In the past, there were more relays and so-called 'rattle technology' in the control cabinets. Today it is more digital, control cabinets need more circuit boards. That’s where our customers benefit from our long experience in PCB assembly.”
Lasse Schmalz
Head of Control Cabinet Construction Department
Whether 1 or 100: with parallel assembly to the optimum control cabinet
Through the concept of parallel assembly, we achieve particularly low error rates. This means: We do not assemble the control cabinets individually in one piece from A to Z, but rather – depending on the size of the control cabinet – we assemble 10 to 50 objects of an order step by step in parallel.
So we typically install component A in 10 control cabinets, then component B in the same 10 control cabinets, then component C and so on until the 10 control cabinets are finished in parallel.
This means that processes are very consistent, errors are noticed immediately and standards are met for both large and small series. All control cabinets are really built exactly the same.
That’s how we deliver then: Once the first cabinets of an order are ready, they go out to you (or the end customer) while we stock the next batch.
Although a standard is not a law, many end users demand this standard. VdS experts also usually consult this standard as a measure.
DIN EN 61439 contains all the technical requirements for low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies in the control cabinet, including electrical power distribution in industry, domestic installations and on construction sites. You will also find all the information you need about the necessary certificates. The standard explains above all how this evidence is to be provided.
- TR 61439-0: Planning Guide for Low-Voltage Switchgear
- DIN EN 61439-1: General specifications for low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies
- DIN EN 61439-2: Power switchgear combinations (PSC)
- DIN EN 61439-3: Installation distributors
- DIN EN 61439-4: Site power distributors
- DIN EN 61439-5: Cable distribution cabinets
- DIN EN 61439-6: Busbar distributors
- DIN EN 61439-7: Distributors for marinas, market places, camping and charging points for electric vehicles
DIN EN 61439 applies to all internationally used mains systems, frequencies, voltages and for single-phase and three-phase mains. Specifically, this includes the following devices:
- Energy distributors
- Switchgear and control systems
- Meter cabinets
- Site power distributors
- (Cable) distribution cabinets, both domestic and commercial
Do you need a company that offers more than just assembly?
Then find out more about us here – or contact us directly without obligation. Then we talk about future projects and how we can grow together.
