New Ways Of Thinking About Common Industrial Objects: Polycarbonate Control Boxes With Lids

Industrial equipment is hardly the stuff you dream about. It is generally not interesting subject matter to most people. Even if you work in an industrial setting you probably do not think of these objects beyond your work station and job. However, you should reconsider various objects, what they are made of, what they do, and why they are valuable to the work you do everyday. For starters, here are some new ways of thinking about a polycarbonate box with lid, or more specifically, a polycarbonate control box with lid.

Polycarbonate as a Substance

Polycarbonate as both a word and a substance literally means, "many carbonates", or linked/chained atoms of carbon. That box in front of you every day or the one you walk by is made of carbon, a substance pulled from the earth and fashioned in a lab through a chemical process, which is then further developed into a plastic substance used to create the sides of this box and its lid.

The purpose for creating polycarbonate is to make a very hard, durable plastic that does not break easily. In an industrial setting, that is a definite necessity, since all of the pounding, banging, grinding, and vibrations can affect every machine and object in the plant. As a control box, nothing that accidentally jettisons through the air will affect the controls because the controls are housed in this tough-as-nails plastic housing.

Including Lids on Control Boxes

Okay, so you have this control panel encased in polycarbonate. Why on earth would the control box need a lid? Actually, it makes perfect sense.

The lid exists for all of the following reasons:

  1. To protect the controls when and if the plant is ever invaded by terrorists. This is especially important to nuclear power plants.
  2. To lock up the controls if you do not want just anybody in the plant messing with them. The locked control box only allows those with keys and clearance to open the box and use the controls as intended.
  3. When the plant is fully automated, and you only need the controls for manual overrides, the lockable lid keeps the manual controls safe, clean, and in good working order. (There is a lot of dust, sparks, chips, filings, etc., that can land on a control panel if it is not covered.)

Of course, if your plant does not need the lid, most polycarbonate control boxes have a way of removing the lids.

Share