UK-based Intertec, a supplier of unique systems designed to provide reliable protection of sensitive field-mounted instruments, has launched a large cube-shaped sunshade for process instrumentation.

It will provide plant engineers with a highly cost-effective means of shielding equipment such as electronic monitoring systems, explosion-proof junction boxes or analyser installations from solar radiation.

Dubbed ‘CubeShade,’ the protective cover measures 600 x 550 x 500 mm (HxWxD) and will provide a 165-litre capacity shaded environment that will make it easy to accommodate and protect large or multiple instruments, as well as simplifying maintenance access.

The new sunshade design is manufactured using an automated moulding process and offers a particularly economic solution for this common application.

Intertec's new CubeShade is constructed entirely from glass fibre reinforced sheet moulding compound (SMC).

It combines chopped glass fibres, fillers, polyester resin and a catalyst in the form of a ready-to-mould composite that is ideal for low cost, high volume manufacturing.

The material has similar advantages to GRP for this type of application, including a high resistance to UV and corrosion from salt and common petrochemicals, and a low thermal conductivity, which helps to prevent heat generated by solar radiation being transferred to the shaded area.

It also combines excellent rigidity and mechanical strength - for protection against impact - with a very low weight.

CubeShade's single-part design and SMC-based construction facilitates production using automated moulding techniques.

As standard, the body of the sunshade is five-mm thick but incorporates eight-mm thick reinforcing ribs around the rim and down the back of the unit. These ribs also help to channel rain and melt-water run-off.

Unlike many instrument sunshades on the market which essentially consist of a single top shade that only protects against overhead sun, Intertec's design incorporates structural side walls that also shade low-angle sun, as well as providing partial protection against rain, snow, wind-chill, blown dust or sand and accidental impact.

The CubeShade’s design is also suitable for use with equipment such as explosio-proof junction boxes or distribution units and is likely to prove especially popular for new-build processing plant projects.

It can be mounted on a standard two-inch pipe stand, or attached directly to walls or steel structures and is also available in an electrically-conductive antistatic version. - TradeArabia News Service