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The Modern Street Cabinet

Evolution of Street Cabinets: Safeguarding Sensitive Equipment in Harsh Environments

In the past, equipment in the field was surrounded by a metal box. But as many types of businesses began to need to position sensitive equipment in and around dangerous situations at street level, the new modern street cabinet technology began to be engineered. Conditions that can cause damage come from various types, from rodents chewing into the box to find nesting spaces and materials, to electrical surges resulting from induced lightning strikes. The additional factors of vandalism and the damage resulting from exposure to moisture and heat also contribute to the need for companies to invest in more high-tech solutions than just simplistic metal cabinets.

Thus evolved the idea for the modern “street cabinet” or “street furniture,” network operators had a simple need to protect their equipment from a variety of damage. The damage and destruction of the equipment in the field is an issue due to repair and replacement costs and impacts whether active equipment will go offline. In the telecom space, the reception that a customer receives has a great deal to do with their proximity to an equipment installation. Take that installation offline, and customer satisfaction suffers as their reception gets weaker. Frustrated customers who feel they are not getting the best service for their money begin to look elsewhere, ultimately making the prospect of lost customers directly connected to the robustness of the street cabinets.

Fortifying Street Cabinets: Innovations for Enhanced Protection and Resilience

Street cabinets are now being built from materials that do not conduct electricity, as lighting strikes are an issue in areas where exposure to the elements happens. As climate change worsens, we see more powerful storms happening more frequently. This means that the propensity for damage as a result of direct or induced lightning strikes or moisture encroachment gets worse every year.

Modern street cabinets are being built to not only thwart the power surge by not being conductive, but they also have surge protection devices and systems built into the cabinet itself. The previous iterations of protection boxes just relied upon standard surge protection setups that were connected to power lines serving the equipment. With the integration of surge protection into various parts of the telecom network: tower tops, base stations, and street cabinets, the damage to the network caused by direct or induced lightning surge events can be mitigated.

Additionally, modern air exchangers and cooling systems can keep equipment operating at the necessary temperatures to prevent overheating. No data center would position its servers in regions where the ambient temperatures could go outside of a safe range, so why would a telecom company position vulnerable equipment that way? With the integration of active and passive cooling systems and appropriate thermal analysis, along with the ability to expand inside an existing enclosure, today’s well-engineered cabinets are not simple boxes that protect but critical parts of the puzzle that make the business work.

Street Cabinets to Prepare for Climate Change

Adapting Telecom Infrastructures for Enhanced Connectivity

Businesses want to continue to operate profitably, so they must not only react to the current situations that impact their business but also predict the future. They must assume certain things about the operational aspects of the business in the time that has not yet reached us, to not only prepare for these events but also to allocate budget toward the things necessary to deal with them effectively. For example, the telecom industry must place equipment in the field to allow customers to connect to the network they are paying to access. The only way for a cell phone to access that network is if it is within a specific range of an installation of equipment that can receive the signal and transmit it to that device.

The signals are then routed to the network via connectivity cables and wireless transmitting/receiving equipment that enables a connection to be made to someone on the other side of that call or data request. If the user is far away from that installation of equipment, then the signal might be poor, and the service could suffer in the form of dropped calls or poor-quality connections. As the speeds of networks increase, specific types of equipment need to be positioned in the field, and those installations need to be closer to the users themselves.

The advent of 5G technology allowed for data transfer speeds that were unheard of before but came with the necessity that the 5G installation be within closer proximity to the user. This has made necessary 5G installations at street level and in places where previous installations would never have been placed. In the past, telecom installations were within remote and unobstructed locations where users could be at significant distances from the equipment and still receive an adequate signal.

Safeguarding 5G Equipment in an Evolving Landscape

Today, the transmitting and receiving equipment must be all around the users to keep the 5G speeds to function. This new rollout of equipment puts far more computerized devices into the field and harm’s way. To plan for the future, telecom operators must further protect and conceal that equipment using street furniture and shrouding devices that act as a barrier between the sensitive equipment and outside forces that can harm it. Those outside forces can range from tampering to lightning strikes.

Street furniture or cabinets must protect against all types of hazards to keep the network online and functioning. These ground, pole, or building side-mounted shrouds are now critical pieces of the installation’s infrastructure and must be planned for the future growth and development of the industry. Carriers need to plan for space necessary and potential changes to their environment. If they are too small and do not allow for the integration of new equipment, they may become obsolete and need to be replaced sooner than they should. This would cost an unnecessary budget in the future that could be avoided through planning.

Street Cabinets Must Assume Future Environments

Safeguarding Vital Equipment Amid Growing Threats

Street cabinets are shrouds that protect active or passive equipment from damage. Equipment that is necessary to operate in the field is subject to many different types of dangers that can result in damage. As a result, it is essential to put up a barrier between that operating equipment and those destructive forces. In the past, street cabinets were simple metal boxes that protected the equipment from rodent infestation and vandalism. Still, as more potentially damaging influences have availed themselves at the same time as equipment becoming more expensive, the need for street cabinets to perform extra duties has arisen.

Today, they must protect equipment from moisture encroachment, operate as climate control elements, and provide surge protection. As businesses position more expensive equipment in the field to provide service to their customers, the need to keep the operational budgets within reason becomes critical. Millions in investments will be made to support companies like telecom providers relevant in a hyper-competitive landscape. For customers to be satisfied, companies must offer the latest 5G speeds and technology, but this service must be provided at a price that is not outside the customer’s ability to pay.

Balancing Maintenance Costs and Future Upgrades for Sustainable Operations

Initial investments into equipment must be protected at all costs to gain as much operational time from these devices as possible, thus reducing the repair and maintenance necessary over time. By keeping these repair budgets in check, the company can operate on a model that predicts the rollout of new equipment while protecting the equipment that has already been rolled out. This delicate balancing act is necessary to stay in business when each customer is always ready to switch to a better option of carrier, one that is cheaper or provides better service.

The best way for companies like this to achieve this goal is by predicting what will be necessary in the future as far as upgrades to the existing equipment and keeping the maintenance within a tight budget. Factor in unpredictable events like adverse weather such as lightning strikes, and we realize very quickly the importance of well-made equipment shrouds and street or pole-mounted cabinets.

Street cabinets are not just metal boxes that protect equipment; they also operate as an integral part of the system that keeps the equipment functioning. For example, many street cabinets now have heating and cooling built in to compensate for climate change and weather that is becoming increasingly more extreme. In addition, they need to have surge protection built in that will thwart the power surges that lightning strikes cause. Through these integrations and being built in a modular way that allows for future expansion, companies can protect their existing equipment and maintain the original housings when additional devices must be rolled out. The street cabinet is now a high-tech device.

Fighting Climate Change with Street Cabinets

Many businesses need equipment in the field to operate or provide a specific service to customers. The most obvious example of this is the telecom industry, which must put receivers and transmitters into places that can be dangerous to them. For an adequate signal to be received by the cell phone in the customer’s hand, they must be within short proximity of a cellular installation.

If you are accessing the network using the fastest speeds, like 5G, your proximity to the node must be even closer. Unfortunately, the farther your device is from that transmitter, the weaker the signal will be until there is no connection. If your device cannot connect to the network, it is irrelevant how many features your phone has, as almost all of them will not be functional. In a nutshell, your phone is only as powerful as the network to which it connects.

That network has invested millions of dollars into the rollout of equipment in the field designed to improve your signal no matter where you are. The advent of 5G technology has required the additional installation of thousands of sites nationwide, all of which are at risk for damage. The fallout from equipment damage in the telecom industry field is not only felt in repair costs but also in potential customer dissatisfaction.

Customer dissatisfaction can lead to a service cancellation or a switch to another carrier. If the equipment is damaged, the site is nearly always offline until repairs happen, negating the value of the investment in the first place. This is why the protection of this equipment is of such paramount importance. Active and passive telecommunications equipment must be shielded from damage to conserve the budget allocated to repairs, and, that site must stay online for happy customers. For this reason, telecom companies invest heavily in cabinets, enclosures, and other protections to prevent equipment damage. These enclosures go by various names but are commonly referred to as “street cabinets.”

A street cabinet is not just a metal box that will protect against rodents and vandals but an integral part of the system that provides climate control for the equipment inside and surge protection if a lightning strike happens. The climate control element is becoming more important as each year passes, and climate change impacts the surrounding temperatures around the cabinet.

Storms also increase in intensity, making adequate surge protection more critical than ever. As climate changes occur in a cabinet location, the ambient temperature inside the street cabinet must remain within operational ranges, or the simple operation of the equipment will overheat it. Keeping that equipment from overheating or freezing helps conserve the maintenance budget and keep the installations functioning even during adverse weather events. Climate change is making those adverse events more frequent and more extreme. As a result, cabinets at street level, on poles, and sides or tops of buildings must be engineered to withstand climates that may not be currently present.

Changing Climates Necessitate High Tech Street Cabinets

Very few people out there are denying that changes to the climate are happening. Mostly, climate change deniers argue about the cause but not the changes themselves. We see hot summer weather getting progressively warmer and the winters getting colder. We are seeing storms that have far more intensity in the past, and as a result, we are seeing far more damage from wind, rain, and lightning due to these storms.

Keeping equipment that businesses need to place in the field safe is of paramount necessity because, in many cases, this is not a simple convenience. There are many industries, such as telecom, that become a lifeline when disaster strikes. Because of this, it is not only good business to protect the equipment in the field, but a necessity since it can help save lives in many cases.

Telecom operators need to place installations around people to allow their phones to connect to the network. In the previous generation, slower-speed networks allowed for more distance between the phone and the nodes and still supplied an adequate connection. The faster the network speed, the closer your phone needs to be to that installation to make it work appropriately. This proximity to the user means that network providers have had to invest millions of dollars into the rollout of 5G nationwide to provide faster speeds to nearly everyone subscribing to their network.

For this equipment to ultimately pay for itself, it must remain online and function for a specific period, even when the changing climate makes these predictions difficult. The shrouding that surrounds and protects this equipment is designed and built to withstand the majority of events currently impacting the environment around it. It must also be made to withstand future changes. The enclosure and internal cooling or heating are designed to operate in ambient temperatures of a specific amount.

Still, it will often need to perform should those temperatures increase by 30 degrees. Will the equipment inside fail due to the outside temperatures overwhelming the cooling systems? If lightning strikes near the enclosure, is adequate surge protection in place to divert the subsequent surging electricity away from the sensitive equipment so that it doesn’t impact and damage it? And, if that surge protection system is in place, will it remain functional if another strike happens before technicians can check or replace it?

These scenarios are critical to consider when installing telecom field equipment and the cabinets that keep it safe. The world is not going to stop changing, and we need to plan for the worst if we are to conserve the critical budgets that keep our businesses alive.

PV Surge Protection

PV (Photovoltaic) Surge Protection

Read More: https://www.raycap.com/photovoltaic-surge-protection/

Most in the solar power industry recognize PV surge protection systems as one of the most effective methods to increase profitability for solar power plant operators. This is accomplished in two forms, both associated with the same surge protective devices installed within the systems.

First, inclement weather and the environmental factors that impact exposed equipment in the field are a significant risk of loss, with lightning strikes to solar panels creating damage in the form of destroyed equipment that has been struck and damage to equipment directly connected to that panel.

That equipment is damaged as a result of the subsequent power surge. The surge of electricity created by the lightning strike moves through the interconnected components from the strike point to a termination point, usually at the earth. This overwhelming electricity will damage sensitive computerized equipment at the circuit level, creating damaged components that all need to be repaired or replaced for full functionality.

While the damage to equipment within PV systems may seem like the most significant loss of profitability, it is not. Instead, the more considerable losses come in the form of downtime when photovoltaic systems are not producing power even though the free energy source of the sun is available.

Improvement to the systems includes longer uptimes when the sun critical to maintaining profitability, as there is no ongoing fuel cost like in other systems. Instead, the PV system can produce power as long as the sun shines and the system is online. When these components are taken offline due to lightning strikes or the need for repairs, they are not producing power at their full capacity, ultimately impacting the company directly by producing less electricity to sell.

The solution to this issue is the installation of surge protective devices within inverter locations, string boxes, and along the pathways that a power surge can travel. These are the only effective means of avoiding the damage itself and keeping the systems producing during opportune times. Many manufacturers of inverters must be integrating surge protective devices directly into the builds, creating a superior inverter that will withstand the natural occurrences of lightning strikes far more than previous generations of the same equipment.

The maximum protection levels can be achieved when used in combination with surge protective devices at junction boxes within the facility. This ensures the continued functionality of the PV systems where they are installed to the most significant degree technologically possible at this time. Through these integrations, we find that solar power is quickly becoming more of a potential energy leader than ever before imagined, proving its ability to create cleaner power and less expensive and more reliable reserves that can serve the needs of large regions.

Electric Vehicles and Power Surges

Read More: https://www.raycap.com/the-future-of-electric-vehicles/

For many years, there was a stigma surrounding electric vehicles. They were viewed as underpowered and without style. For the most part, they were marketed to the portion of the population who cared about conservation and reducing the footprint that they had on the planet. For these reasons, the car manufacturers did not prioritize the things that car buyers typically search for in a car, power, luxury and style. Instead, cars were made to prioritize the economy and lower costs. Tesla changed all this with the introduction of a luxurious and powerful car and created a cult following as a result.

For this reason, the entire electric car market was lifted as other manufacturers put their own versions into production. The growing popularity of electric vehicles as a result of this wave of consumer interest is that Teslas also came with their own network of chargers that were able to deliver higher capacities. One issue that still remains problematic with electric vehicles is that they do not have the capabilities of range that equal gas-powered cars, and it takes a long time to charge them.

A typical charge from a charging station is more than a two hour wait, Teslas being more like 30 minutes. Compare this with ten minutes at a gas station and you can see why there are less than 2% electric vehicles being sold in the United States every year. This small number hinders the interest that gas station owners would have in investing the money that is necessary to convert a portion of their space to electric vehicle charging. As a result, the electric car market stagnates to small growth numbers, overshadowed by Tesla that has a larger interest but not enough to make a dent in the gas-powered car market.

The charging issue is being tackled by a cooperative effort between the US government and the independent owners of gas and charging stations to expand the universal chargers network. These must be the upgraded “level 3” types capable of handling the higher loads necessary to charge vehicles within the 30 minutes that Tesla has benchmarked. A station owner’s investment to include this kind of technology is more than a quarter-million dollars in many cases, so the government is encouraging this investment with rebates and tax incentives.

It is assumed that if a wider availability of rapid chargers is available, more people will buy all brands of electric cars, and therefore decrease the country’s reliance upon oil. One way this is being encouraged through the private sector is to create more technologically advanced surge protection for EV charging stations, which will help reduce the ongoing maintenance necessary. The risks associated with the operation of these types of stations come from many sources, including power surges and lightning strikes, which can damage vehicles and internal equipment. Through EV surge protection, these risks can be reduced enough to encourage investment.

EV Surge Protection For The Future

Read More: https://www.raycap.com/surge-protection-of-ev-charging-stations/

The electric vehicle market in the United States has exploded throughout the last few years, primarily due to the increasing price of gasoline. While many different factors are causing the prices to spike, it is widely understood that there is a time limit on the amount of time gasoline-powered vehicles will still be operational.

It is estimated that the world supply of oil will run out sometime in the next few hundred years if current usage levels remain at their current levels. Because of this information, it is assumed that the oil-producing nations will be anxious to make as much money from the remaining supply as possible.

Combined with the fact that the world’s population dramatically reduced travel over the past two years of the pandemic, they ultimately resulted in far less oil consumption than expected. These nations are trying to make up for their reductions in revenue by inflating prices, and many are predicting that gasoline prices will not come back down from current levels.

This puts extreme pressure on electric vehicle manufacturers to move the technology of their products forward, solving some of the issues that have dissuaded electric vehicle purchases in the past.

One of the primary concerns with the electric vehicle market is the amount of time that it takes to recharge your vehicle. The comparable time spent on “refueling” at a gas station is less than 10 minutes, putting your car back on the road quickly and efficiently to travel another 200-400 miles before the need to stop. Electric vehicles will generally get around 200 miles before they need to be recharged.

This process can take anywhere between 20 minutes to several hours, depending on the type of charging station you can locate. There is a nationwide push in the United States to develop a network of charging stations that can deliver a charge of 80% or more within 30 minutes to any electric vehicle, based on the “supercharger” technology that Tesla is currently employing for their cars exclusively.

This technology enables a far larger electrical current to be delivered, and with that larger capacity comes the issues of electrical protection. There is a far larger footprint of interconnected equipment within these charging sites, making them a larger target for lightning strikes that will damage that equipment. Because of the exposed nature of these stations, a lightning strike is one of the major concerns that must be dealt with, ultimately for the protection of the public who tend to spend charging time inside their cars and for the conservation of funds needed keep that station profitable.

By integrating EV surge protection devices at critical flow paths within these systems, we will be able to more reliably deliver these mega-charges that will bring down the time spent “refueling.” This development will assist the world in transitioning from gas to electric without significantly compromising the current refueling times.

EV Surge Protection Moving To The Future

Read More: https://www.raycap.com/the-future-of-electric-vehicles/

Moving to the future… since just after its inception several years ago, Tesla has been the global leader in the electric vehicle market. This is because the Tesla company began to solve the issues hindering sales of electric vehicles through both technology and styling. One of the primary reasons that electric vehicles did not sell well in the past was the amount of power they produced and the style they presented. They did not appeal to a broad market that wanted the look of a sports car or a luxury car. Tesla changed all that by styling the car in a way that would appeal to this demographic and create a more powerful vehicle that appealed to those looking for speed and performance.

This made the vehicles that Tesla produced come onto the radar of a group of buyers who typically avoided electric vehicles as underpowered and without style. Tesla also tackled the problem of recharging, which is still an issue in America, though not so much in Europe and other countries. Charging your vehicle meant plugging it in overnight at your home, or finding a charging station somewhere on the road.

Tesla created a nationwide network of charging stations that were almost exclusive to Tesla owners and allowed for an easy method for finding them when driving. They also created a more high-powered fast charging station called a “supercharging station,” which could deliver more than an 80% charge in less than 30 minutes. This made the vehicle less problematic compared to the typical gas station visit of 10 minutes or less.

Although it is not yet ideal, it is far more palatable for owners to wait a half hour over the more than an hour timeframe for other electric vehicle brands. Because of this success, the electric vehicle market grew, drawing the interest of those to whom conservation is important and style. This new market is moving closer to full adoption as the United States plans to develop a more widespread network of universal charging stations. This new generation of stations aims to deliver full charges in less than 30 minutes, equaling Tesla’s benchmark. If this can be achieved, it will open the electric vehicle market as a whole to most consumers.

One of the biggest challenges facing a more widespread rollout of supercharging stations is the larger footprint and more expensive equipment. In addition, the exposed nature of the stations makes them prone to lightning strikes, which pose a threat to both consumers in their cars while charging and the bottom line of the station themselves. To solve both issues, high-tech EV surge protection devices are being installed throughout these setups, reducing the risk to life and equipment at the same time. This makes the ownership of EV charging stations more appealing to the standard gas station owners and will help further the development of the EV market.

The Problem Facing EV Cars

The Problem Facing EV Cars (electric cars) is manufacturers in 2022 aren’t convincing people that electric vehicle (EV) cars are viable forms of transportation. In the past, EV cars were viewed as a novelty. They were owned primarily by conservationists willing to forsake the power, comfort, and luxury that gas-powered cars provided.

Tesla as a brand changed the general opinion that the public had towards EV cars, producing a product that was both luxurious and powerful and therefore appealing to a market that was less concerned with conservation. Tesla, as an alternative to gas-powered cars, was viewed as an upgrade, instead of an underpowered vehicle only able to be driven short distances. It eventually became a superior experience, solidifying the brand and EV cars in general as being more than a novelty.

The EV car market still faces challenges. As more manufacturers make either a fully electric or hybrid model of their cars, we find an increasing demand for one of the issues that Tesla already solved, but only for their customers. Tesla also developed a network of charging stations capable of fully charging a Tesla in less than 30 minutes.

The nationwide network of universal chargers still takes several hours and needs to be upgraded to a “level 3” charger to deliver the same experience Tesla owners have. Without the ability of each manufacturer to independently create a network of their chargers, this rollout depends on gas station operators to install chargers into their footprints, and these upgrades can cost upwards of 250,000 dollars. Without a more significant percentage of the population driving and buying electric cars, there is a hesitation on their part to make this investment.

The US government is attempting to speed up the rollout of this universal network by offering tax incentives to operators who invest. In addition to this benefit, the private sector is developing new ways to make the stations more profitable and more attractive. This is taking place through the integration of high tech surge protection devices. Through these integrations, the risks associated with operation are reduced, in the form of reduced damage resulting from power surges and lightning strikes.

By allowing the equipment to operate more efficiently and for more extended periods without repair or maintenance, the independent owners can more safely make the investments needed to make money from this growing market. Furthermore, they can do so in a way that The world needs to move over to electric vehicles eventually as fossil fuels reduce, but the growing interest in EV cars in general is helping to speed this process up. We can finally see the transition happening before our eyes through the government’s cooperation, gas station owners, and the private sector developing better technologies like EV surge protection.