Control panel & cabinet design serves as the fundamental that allows the users to efficiently interact with all the industrial processes at one single platform. Most electrical control panels comprise high-quality power circuits and/or intricately designed control circuits that provide signals to help your equipment or machinery’s direct performance. 

The electrical control panels do not include any main power. Not just that, they do not include any controlled equipment as well. Rather, its panel is actually mounted on its subpanel or back panel or even an enclosure with regards to its application. 

In general, the OEM or Electrical Control Panels are industrial enclosures that are fabricated from hardy sheet metal that can either be completely open, semi-enclosed or even totally enclosed. These panels direct as well as control the electric power from and to the appliances and equipment in any company or industry. 

These control panels are often flat and vertical, where the monitoring or control instruments are generally displayed. It can also be defined as an enclosed body that is a faction of the system that the users can access at any time.

The OEMs are an essential component in the industrial electrification process. These panels help regulate the overall functionality of your electrical equipment. These electrical panels are fitted with critical relays and are used for the protection of the electrical equipment to ensure there is no damage due to overloading or short circuit.

Additionally, the OEMs are enclosures that are fabricated from sheet metals. They indicate the critical parameters such as current, voltage, PF, or frequency on the panel face. Moreover, these panels can also help regulate the overall power supply through the aid of circuit breakers and switches. 

Switchgears & control panels tend to form a section of the power distribution machinery & are popularly used in electricity distribution and power grid distribution system. Medium and low-voltage switchgear has been used in several industries like oil-gas, paper-pulp, and so on. Additionally, the high-voltage electrical switchgear tends to be mainly used in the power substations. These electrical circuits make use of capacitors in several electrical devices & also in the power distribution faction.

The increasing demand for power capacity add-on is surely boosting the requirement for different kinds of distribution machinery like control gears and switch gears. Today, there is a massive demand for efficient switchgear plce panel applications and control panels across end-users such as the construction industry, power generation, T&D, and so much more. Exceptional growth in the sectors like petrochemicals, oil-gas, cement, steel, as well as telecom has led to the demand for the switchgear and control panel industry. 

Additional factors that led to the demand for automotive and electrical control panels stem from stringent safety standards & increased equipment electrification—also, the increase in overall purchasing power aided in the growth of electrical control panels.

Control panels make up for an important section of any manufacturing process that is automated. Basically, the control panels are known to house a range of electronic devices known to provide signals for directing the machine and equipment operations. While the electrical control systems function as a fundamental section of the electrical engineering faction, most individuals aren’t aware of any of the control panel segments required to reliably and safely function in an industrial environment.

If the electrical control panels seem a new thing to you, one must learn about the first important thing associated with such panels. You need to understand the terms that are used for describing them. So, what are its major descriptions & how are they defined? Here is the best example of the right way to describe the critical attributes of control panels.

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Most control panels comprise controllers. These controllers can be DCS, PLC, relay, as well as similar variants. The controllers are responsible for transmitting digital input signals to MCC panels to turn on the motor. The working of the control panels is centred on the DCS/PLC program. Usually, all instruments are connected to the control panels. Also, indications are provided for interlocks in the control panel. Currently, separate panels are used for MCC and control panels. 

What made the PLC Automation Control Panels better than conventional systems is the ease of modification in logic, medium of remote communications, reduced size, along advances in technology. Control System Engineers are now providing complex as well as small I/O applications. For effective remote communication in several protocols, the engineers have invented better communication software.

This process requires time to produce the electrical control panel accurately to order. For the manufacturer to be successful in control panel manufacturing, it requires a flexible process that makes the production accurate and quick. Apart from that, the manufacturing should also be equipped with great software, automated equipment for production, and experienced people.

When a quote is converted to an order of control panel manufacturing, various things happen automatically, such as:

A snapshot of all sold data in the database is stored

Creation of a Job order in the database

Creation of a new Job Directory on the File Server

Move the sold Quote into the Job Directory

Shooting email containing Order Acknowledgement to certain customer contacts.

This step usually occurs before an order comes in. 

During the design preparation, the estimated components of the panel are reviewed and revised appropriately. In the next step, a blank panel drawing is automatically created in the panel design software. After that, panel components are automatically loaded into the panel design software. In short, automatically drawings are created and filled with components. 

While drawing the design, all the panel components are located on the Layout drawings, and then they’re interconnected with the Control, Power, & Field drawings. The panel design software keeps track of all components and also adds cross-reference data. 

After getting done with the design, and engineering submission is created by clicking on Produce Submittal. The last step is to send the engineering submission via mail for approval and review.

After the approval, the panel design is reviewed by the Quality Control for the last time to make sure it’s ready for production. Before any part is ordered, this lowers the production delay by eliminating all issues. 

When the review process is completed, the earliest production date is determined. The date which was fixed as the production date is sent to all the vendors considering it as the delivery date. Each vendor is allowed to confirm whether the pricing of parts is appropriate or advise on how to improve it further. 

Once all the vendors’ responses come in, the production is scheduled, and all purchase orders are sent to vendors with the desired date of delivery and confirmed pricing one week before the production begins. 

Selected customers receive an automated order delivery schedule via mail. 

Now that all the required date for control panel manufacturing has been prepared, the important step begins before parts’ arrival. This enables the manufacturer to shift when they come across some control panel manufacturing aspects to facilitate a delivery schedule. 

Equipment from industrial wire processing is used to manufacture all wires. The wiring calculation program is run into the panel designing software to estimate the required lengths of wire by types such as gauge and color. After the estimation, the wiring data is imported into the wire machine, which then produces all the required cables according to the sequence.

Equipment of industrial color graphic printing is used along with industrial label material to manufacture all the labels. 

In order to accommodate all DIN Rail, components, and wire duct according to the design drawings, drill and punch are the major factors.

Quality control testing comes once the production is completed. As said above, quality control reviews all the designs before production. So, now the job of quality control is to focus on ensuring every control pane is assembled according to the design drawing. 

Every physical aspect of the panel is inspected. The location of every physical device is compared with the design drawing. It’s ensured that everything is mounted according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. The Device ID, Panel ID, Operator Device, and Terminal Block labels are checked to make sure they’re oriented and mounted properly.

All the electrical aspects are also inspected. As wire connection data is pre-printed and each end is again pre-stripped according to the manufacturer’s recommended strip length, it’s checked whether the wire has landed properly or not. 

Once the OC testing is over, an automated release to the shipping email is sent. This is how the customer is notified that their control panel has been prepared for shipment. In this way, the customer also gets a chance to alter the address for shipping. Photos are taken for all the panels that are ready for shipment. 

Photos verify how all the panels looked before shipment and helps deliver better assistance for troubleshooting if some problem arises. According to the shipment type, the panel is packed and is weighed. To help the customers determine if any damage has occurred to the package, a Drop N Tell indicator is applied. In case the shipment is very tall, it’s transferred on one truck, without any tamper seal to make sure there’s no opportunity to mishandle the product during shipment. 

People are sometimes very curious about what electrical control panels are, what equipment and devices are used, how all the devices are wired, the normal temperature of the cabinet, how to maintain the panel, etc. So, let’s get into the basics and understand in-depth everything about the electrical control panel.

Did you know that control panels are named after the number of doors they have? Yes, you read that right. Here we’ll be discussing 2-door control panels. Control panels come in one-door, two-door, and three-door enclosures. The more devices and equipment you have, the bigger the control cabinet you’ll require.

You’ll notice some switches that connect directly to the PLC outputs and inputs on the very front.

The very first switch you’ll come across on the control panel door is the Mute Buzzer. Whenever there’s an active alarm, this button should be pressed. When an active alarm flashes on the panel, the engineer, technician, or responsible authority on the factory should press this button to mute the buzzer and acknowledge the alarm. 

Now you might be wondering why do you need to stop the alarm? Well, it’s very simple. You obviously don’t need that loud annoying sound around you while you’re trying your best to solve the issue. 

Also known as E-Stop, the big red button is used to shut down the entire system if any emergency arises. Not only this button saves the system from any damage, but it also saves lives. Also, the big red button is covered with a guarding, known as a shroud. This prevents people from using it unintentionally. 

 Now how do you restart the system again? All you need to do is press the ESD reset switch or set off the alarm and run the system. 

For instance, let’s imagine that this is a normally open switch. This signifies that in a normal state, the button will be open until it’s pressed. Let’s say that you’re not aware that a wire is connected with the lower part is disconnected. If an emergency arises at this point and you press the E-Stop switch, it doesn’t work. 

Why? This is because you were not aware, but the wire was disconnected. A situation like this is too dangerous for everyone, and no one wants to get into it. So, the solution here is to place a normally closed switch. In this case, there will be a 24-volt signal that connects to the PLC input, providing an E-Stop healthy signal to safety systems or the PLC. 

Once the switch is pushed, all healthy signals will shut, and the PLC gets to know that the whole system should be shut down.

The E-Stop switch that’s installed over the system gets into the lock mode when someone presses it. In order to get it back to normal mode, one can twist the switch, and it’ll get back again to normal mode. 

You’ll notice that a switch is wired up to the PLX input at the backside of the door. There will be dual-colored wires. For instance, the blue wires are output signals and digital input, while the white cables are output signals and analog inputs. All these wires are coming out of the actuators and sensors and are connected with the PLC. 

Obviously, only the switches over the panel door are connected with the PLC. The rest of the actuators and sensors will get connected once it’s installed in the field. The E-Stop switch over the door connects to PLC’s digital input card, and it only senses off and on signals to the PLC input.