Protective enclosures in harsh agricultural environment

Agrilink is an Adelaide-based provider of integrated water management solutions, focused on a variety of sectors that include agricultural, commercial, government, residential and environmental applications. Its products and services include soil moisture probes, weather stations, remote telemetry systems and internet-based decision support tools that enable growers, agronomists, business managers and researchers to make more informed decisions on the management of irrigation schedules that reduce their business risk and improve economic and environmental sustainability.

In view of the mounting concern in Australia over water scarcity, the importance of proactive water management programs has never been greater, from both domestic and, to a greater extent, agribusiness perspectives.

The in-field cellular telemetry units that Agrilink supply into these industry sectors need to operate under some of the harshest environmental conditions in the world — exposed to rain, wind, UV radiation and hot and cold temperature extremes. As part of its product development, the company needed to find a suitable enclosure to house its new range of telemetry equipment. The enclosure had to be large enough to house the telemetry equipment and enable simple and speedy installation in varied remote environments but not too large so as to introduce mounting and wind loading problems to the installation, as it would be left unattended in potentially harsh environments with minimal maintenance for long periods of time. It also needed to be sufficiently robust and lightweight to be transported to many remote locations and mounted in rural environments.

Rick Jones, Agrilink's chief technology officer, outlined the decision process Agrilink embarked on to find the most suitable enclosure for their newly developed product: "We ultimately narrowed our choice to fibreglass enclosures because of their better thermal properties and their lighter weight than the alternatives.

"Following a search on the web, we found Stahlin's DiamondShield enclosures and decided on the 250 x 200 x 150 mm boxes, which appeared to meet our dimensional needs. We undertook field trials of the enclosure in winter and it successfully met our test requirements. Stahlin now provides us with the DiamondShield enclosure manufactured in Agrilink's corporate blue colour. On our instructions, Stahlin also machines a series of holes in the base of the enclosures where we insert connectors for sensor and power interconnections. That way the enclosure doesn't need to be opened to connect the telemetry unit up, once it's in place and commissioned. Additionally, they screen printed our logo and device details on the lid and base of the enclosures.

The DiamondShield enclosure houses the Agrilink remote telemetry unit which is comprised of a single-board computer, a cellular modem and multiple data collection devices.

According to Jeff McIlroy, international business manager for Stahlin Enclosures, "The modified enclosure requirements of Agrilink were an ideal fit to Stahlin's core competency of manufacturing high-quality non-metallic electrical enclosures. Stahlin's ability to provide the design expertise and control the manufacturing process from start to finish enabled us to provide Agrilink with a custom enclosure to house and protect its new technology."

DiamondShield is a family of fibreglass enclosures based on a design concept where every cubic millimetre of interior volume is available and completely protected. The product enables any panel of any size to be mounted at any height or depth and hinged in any direction, even on the door. The range is available in ten different sizes ranging from 150 x 150 x 100 mm to 500 x 400 x 250 mm and encompasses more than 150 configuration opportunities. The enclosures are designed and tested to exceed IP 66 environment protection rating.

All DiamondShield enclosures are manufactured from a proprietary, non-halogenated sheet moulding compound called 'SolarGuard', which was developed specifically for outdoor applications where it would be exposed to harsh and continuous UV radiation and temperature extremes, yet retains the colour and gloss of the enclosure, even after repeated UV exposure. It is also resistant to attacks from chemical compounds and fire.

Stahlin offers its customers access to its in-house resources for cost-effective enclosure modifications. The program, called 'ModRight', provides diverse choices for factory customising of enclosures including cut outs, holes, windows, vents, countersinking, latches, locks, and non-standard sizing.