What Operating Voltage is needed for an Enclosure Air Conditioner?
Enclosure air conditioners are necessary to remove the heat produced by your electrical equipment and to keep it running at an optimum temperature range for maximum efficiency and performance. Your decision on a specific model should factor in its operating voltage so that it is compatible with the supply voltage at your facility. Enclosure air conditioners are available for use with all common supply voltages and frequencies.
There are some inherent properties of supply voltages that you need to understand to make a more informed decision about the enclosure air conditioner model that would fit your requirements.
Type of supply voltage
Enclosure air conditioners can be designed to run on AC and DC voltages. The AC variants operate at 120, 230, 380, 400, 480, 575 and 600 V at frequencies of 60 and/or 50 Hz. DC enclosure air conditioners are less common than their AC variants. They typically operate at 24 or 48 V. DC air conditioners may require supply voltage stabilization, filtering and conditioning for optimum performance.
Phase
Most enclosure air conditioners are designed to operate with a single-phase power source. However, three-phase power is commonly available for heavy industrial applications. Although some larger air conditioners may be available for three phase power, there are many advantages for using a single-phase system compared to a three-phase system. Single-phase systems require fewer terminations to be connected and require less expensive transformers and compressors.
Single-phase air conditioners are easily connected to a three-phase source by connecting to two out of the three phases. Prior to installation a certified electrician will perform three-phase load balancing to correct imbalances caused by the unconnected phase, per National Electrical Code (NEC) standards.
Atypical supply voltages
Some facilities have atypical supply voltages stemming from their requirements for heavy equipment. In such cases, a transformer that converts the supply voltage to a compatible voltage may be required.
Enclosure air conditioners are generally available with nominal cooling capacities from 1000 BTU to 20,000 BTU. The operating voltage of an enclosure air conditioner does not have to be a limiting factor to your choice of air conditioners. If you look at the complete product list from a manufacturer, you will notice that the product codes are based on the cooling capacity of the air conditioner and the type of voltage and frequency the device requires for operation. You can rest assured that the manufacturer will have a variant of the air conditioner that fits your requirement both in its cooling capacity and operating voltage.
If you want to get an air conditioner that is compatible with the supply voltage available at your facility, contact Thermal Edge to get a free quote.
