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Why OEM Design Engineers Are Specifying OKW's EVOTEC Plastic Enclosures

EVOTEC plastic enclosures for modern electronics

Tough Plastic Enclosures For Medical, Laboratory, Environmental and IT Electronics

Hospitals and laboratories are almost always demanding working environments for electronics. Devices must be tough enough to withstand the daily hard knocks. But that’s not enough – they must also continue to look good in the process. Month after month, year after year.

Enclosures that start to look tired after a few years don’t inspire confidence in the electronics they house. Patients and clinicians will question their reliability; scientists and technicians will worry about their accuracy.

That’s why OKW launched EVOTEC: robust designer enclosures that look good – and stay looking good. Originally and primarily designer tabletop enclosures, they have now become so much more. This has led us to expand the range, enabling this popular and versatile model to reach its full potential…

Modern EVOTEC plastic enclosures

Understated Elegance, Ergonomic Soft Contours

EVOTEC underlines its aesthetic and ergonomic credentials with soft contours on every surface. Smooth and comfortable curves are nothing new for OKW…but there’s something about the contours that give these two-part enclosures an understated elegance all of their own. Perhaps it’s the sweeping rounded corners, or maybe it’s the generous bevels on the lid(s).

Either way, EVOTEC looks ultra-modern – as if it had emerged from the design studio just a few hours ago. It’s distinctive enough to set any product apart from its competitors. So distinctive that you could identify it just from its contours in a blindfold test. But it’s discreet enough to suit a wide variety of devices without ever being associated solely with one. This ensures that your customised enclosure will always be unique – never to be confused with another product.

EVOTEC plastic enclosures in three styles

One Vision, Three Versions

For all its design cachet as a desktop enclosure, EVOTEC was never going to be confined solely to the horizontal plane. Right from day one, it was intended to be a wall-mounted housing as well – opening up opportunities for applications such as security and access control.

So three versions of these two-part enclosures were available at launch:

  • (1) smooth flat top – for switches, push buttons and touchscreen displays
  • (2) smooth sloping top (12° inclination)
  • (3) sloping top (12° inclination) – with a 1 mm recess for a product label or membrane keypad.
Touch and versatile EVOTEC electronic enclosures

What Makes EVOTEC Tougher?

Aside from the design (those curves help EVOTEC to shrug off knocks), there is also the question of the plastic. Instead of using ABS, we mould EVOTEC from an ASA blend as standard: ASA+PC-FR combines the UV stability of ASA with the strength and resilience of polycarbonate…and imbues it with a superior flammability rating: UL 94 V-0. As good as ABS is as a dependable all-rounder, ASA and ASA+PC-FR are becoming very much our plastics of choice for new models.

Why is UV stability an issue? Never underestimate the power of the Sun’s rays. They can weaken lesser plastics surprisingly quickly – even if the enclosure is destined to spend its entire life indoors. And for outdoor enclosures, UV-stable plastics are a must.

Ingress protection is another important factor. EVOTEC offers the option of uprating the enclosure to IP 65. The ‘6’ indicates the highest level of protection against dust. The ‘5’ provides protection against a jet of water from all directions; this 15-minute test is based on 12.5 litres/minute at 30 kPa at distance of three metres. Find out more about IP ratings here.

And for added peace of mind, all the cases are assembled using Torx T8 screws. This makes them tamperproof – a key consideration for the medical sector which demands a higher degree of security from its enclosures.

Which EVOTEC Enclosure For My New Electronics Product?

When EVOTEC was first launched there was just one plan size (200 x 124 mm): now there are five flat-top sizes (80 x 50 x 22 mm to 250 x 155 x 54 mm) and three sloping-front sizes (150 x 93 x 36 mm to 250 x 155 x 54 mm). Between them, they offer a great choice of options.

EVOTEC wall-mount or DIN rail mounted enclosures

Mounting EVOTEC ON Walls And DIN Rails

Attaching EVOTEC to vertical surfaces is easy because the range includes a wall suspension element as an accessory. Its clever two-part design makes it simple to install. The wall part features four stadium-shaped screw holes so it can be quickly and easily adjusted for optimum positioning. The other part is attached to the enclosure – enabling it to be clipped in place on the wall (or unclipped at a later date for easy maintenance).

Two small screws allow the two parts of the wall suspension element to be secured together to prevent tampering. Both parts are moulded from tough and UV-stable ASA+PC-FR – even though they’ll be sandwiched between the wall and housing, unlikely ever to see much daylight.

Attaching EVOTEC to DIN rails is even easier. A fastening element with two 3 mm screw holes enables the 100- and 150-plan-size housings to be clipped to TH35 and G32 DIN rails. This element also fits TOPTEC enclosures for PCBs with protruding connectors – so you can mix housings in your cabinets more easily.

Custom colour EVOTEC plastic electronic enclosures

What Are The Colour Options?

EVOTEC is moulded in off-white (RAL 9002) as standard. Custom colours are also available (with three ways to specify them):

  • lacquering – available in different lustres, metallic colours, various textures (such as soft-touch faux leather), antibacterial paint and ESD conductive lacquer
  • decor foils – photo-quality graphics that offer the possibility of graduated tints, consecutive numbering, codes and technical specifications
  • specifying a pre-coloured plastic at the moulding stage.

Other customisation options include CNC machining, printing of logos and legends, laser marking, EMC shielding and installation/assembly of accessories.

Further Reading

View full EVOTEC range >>