Mounting Open-Frame Power Supplies

  • Thread starter Thread starter sweetbeats
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sweetbeats

sweetbeats

Reel deep thoughts...
Hey anybody have any nifty solutions for mounting open-frame power supplies like the Power One modules?

This kind of thing...

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With screws into the back/bottom of your chassis? Maybe I'm not understanding the question....
 
I was just wondering if folks procure some kind of a case to put them in or whatever...some way to rack-mount them. I've got 4 of them coming to make up 2 bipolar 24V supplies for my MCI JH-416 console.

In the meantime I was given the suggestion to just screw them to the backside of blank rack panels...instant rack-mounting for relatively cheap.
 
No real suggestions, just make sure you are not getting any interference from the power supply transformers before finalizing the mounting location.
 
So, you have what's in the picture, chassis and all, and you'd like to mount it in a rack unit?

Can't you just have rack ears made up and screw them onto the sides?

Does it have to be open? I'd thought about rack mounting one psu in a closed rack chassis from maplin, because at the minute i have three sets of racked preamps, each of which have the same psu housed in with them.

One would happily power all three sets.

Maybe remove the psu from that metal 'case' in the pic and just rehouse in a 2u case?
 
I think I'm just going to mount the open-frame supplies to blank rack panels.

I have 4 of the supplies and yes they are just like the one pictured.

Removing the guts from the existing supply chassis is not an option AFAIC because what you don't see in the pic is that on the back side is the transistor heatsink and all that...
 
One thing I don't like about leaving the PSU open is that you can't discount the potential for something metallic to fall into the electrics - a screw, connector or some-such. Also I think you would want to particularly ensure any exposed joins or connections involving mains voltages are covered in insulation. I second the 2RU case and make sure it is earthed. Shouldn't be that expensive.
 
It'd have to be a 3U case...the smallest dimension on these supplies is 4.88"...and they are 16" wide...and there are 4 of them. Not that expensive, eh?
 
OK, well the dimensions are not exactly self-evident from the photo! Do they need fan cooling?
 
I realize the dimensions aren't evident from the photo...that's why I specified them.

They only need fan cooling if operating near peak output current and mine will be nowhere near that so no they don't, which is a plus.
 
Sorry to be obtuse, but can somebody please explain what an "open frame power supply" is, and what it's used for? I really have been wondering this since the first time I viewed this thread. Thanks.
 
It just means that they have an open chassis. If you look at the pic I posted in the original post you can obviously see the guts of the supply and the I/O terminals are exposed, etc...Open-frame supplies are intended to mounted within some other enclosure or in an inaccessible area on a piece of equipment.
 
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