Found water in the bottom of your electrical cabinet or traces of rust and corrosion on terminals and devices? Your first thought maybe to check for a water leak, but condensation may well be the cause. Even small amounts of water can reduce the performance life of equipment and cause extensive and expensive damage. Even without the presence of water, water vapour can cause rusting/oxidation on exposed surfaces leading to increased resistance of joints, local heating and even short circuits.
The air’s capacity to hold water vapour increases as air temperature increases. For example, air at a temperature of 30°C can hold more than three times as much water vapour as air at 10°C. In this situation a 1m3 cabinet at 30°C can hold <30g of water as vapour. As the air cools, om reaching the dew point some of the water vapour condenses to a liquid.
Water vapour held by air
There are several recognised methods of reducing problems caused by internal condensation. These include: desiccants, anti-condensation heaters and drainage system. The most innovative and effective solution is by using a ROSAHL ionic dehumidifying membrane. ROSAHL is compact and silent, requires low power, and is maintenance free throughout its long operational life.
Installation of the membranes us usually on the middle of the cabinet side wall and it requires a 3V DC power source. It uses electrolysis to decompose the water vapour and expel to to the outside keeping the inside moisture level low.