Rittal’s new Top Console offers a large variety of internal installation and cable entry options and a high level of compatibility with existing accessories. The modular console system not only provides the user with the same degree of flexibility and safety as with conventional machine control systems, connections to other members of the Rittal System family at the human-machine interface can also easily be made, for example links to the Comfort Panel and industrial workstations. This access to just one system of accessories makes cost savings possible.
Just like its predecessor, the three-component AP console system, the Top Console also comprises three modules from which a console system can be created. Pedestals are combined with desk units and consoles. The division of labour is clear: the machine or unit is controlled from below, and monitored from the console, where all the components (CPUs, SPCs, bus modules, etc,) that would otherwise be installed in a separate enclosure are housed. The central part of the system is dedicated to operation. This is where switches, signal lamps, keyboards or touch pads are installed. The upper part of the unit has been primarily conceived for monitoring purposes, with display units such as TFT screens.
Machines dimensions can vary. As a result, Top Consoles are also available in a variety of sizes. "Besides widths of 800, 1200 and 1600 mm for the new modules, we are now offering a new 600 mm compact version, so that the compact XS solution can be made just as easily from series components as the XL Variants can," stressed Sascha Preuáner-Pfaff from Rittal Product Management.
New face
The new Top Consoles are much slimmer than their predecessors, yet they still offer the user a larger assembly area. Thus the new centre parts, with 10% extra space for installation in the lid, provide room for more components than the previous AP console systems.
Installation opportunities have also been optimised. One good example is the use of the lower part of the console. As before, it features a mounting plate that can be slotted deeply and easily into the enclosure in a 25 mm pitch pattern - even with 400 mm long variants. In addition, the sides are ready for system rails to be fitted for customised internal installation. Mounting flanges and accessories from the Rittal TS8 range can be quickly and easily fitted to these, and to the mounting strips in the doors.
System concept implemented in full
The mounting accessories of the popular TS8 series - the modular bayed enclosures - are used consistently in the desk units and consoles of the new Top Consoles. This provides simpler and more flexible mounting.
During mounting and assembly, the user can fall back on system accessories and - with the same enclosure dimensions - identical rails (eg punched sections with mounting flanges) in the pedestals, desk units and consoles.
Further important features of Top Console are its ease of installation and user friendliness. Where previously, depending on the width, two or three points had to be contacted in order to open the lid of the desk unit and console, the new console system manages with just one closure mechanism, integrated in the handle strip. In fact, one-man installation is a theme that runs through the whole concept. The spectrum ranges from the simple mounting of the individual modules, which are fixed securely via locking elements and then screwed tight with bolts, through to careful details such as a five-stage stay, with which the lid of the desk unit can be opened quickly and safely.
Only pay for what you use
Flexibility and cost control for the customer play a major role with Top Console. Thus, brand new partial mounting plates have been developed for the desk units and consoles, which satisfy individual requirements when installing the consoles and provide flexibility compared to a uniform mounting plate. If, for instance, a panel PC is installed in the console lid, there is simply no need for the partial mounting plate, so that the necessary installation depth is guaranteed. If a uniform mounting plate is necessary though, partial mounting plates can be added without any difficulty.
The new partial mounting plates are available as extras in widths of 200 and 500 mm, and can be bay-fitted with one another so that any number of size and installation requirements can be met. The principle of one-man assembly is adhered to with new attachment systems - suspension from above or plug-in from the bottom.
In terms of cable entry, the pedestals make use of the tried and tested Rittal CM compact system enclosure base plate concept. Customers individually select only those gland plates for cable entry that are really needed for their specific applications.
A new member of the family at the human-machine interface
In the design of the handle strips on the new Top Console, one can immediately see the relationship to the frames of the Rittal Comfort Panel command panel systems. New combinations such as Comfort Panel instead of consoles, or industrial workstations as console pedestals can thus be achieved. Another completely new feature is that the upper consoles of the Top Console systems can also be employed as standalone units in connection with wall mounting brackets, eg as display enclosures mounted on a wall.
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