Abstract:
A switching cabinet with a rack assembled from horizontal and vertical frame sections, in which a switching cabinet body enclosed by the rack is covered by a cabinet door and side walls, the cabinet door being hinged around one of the vertical frame sections and pivotal about the vertical pivot axis. To obtain improved access to the interior of the switching cabinet, at least one of the side walls is fixedly mounted on the rack or is hinged to pivot about a vertical axis.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a switching cabinet with a rack assembled from horizontal and vertical frame sections, in which the switching cabinet body enclosed by the rack can be covered with a cabinet door and side walls, the cabinet door being hinged to one of the vertical frame sections and is pivotal about a vertical pivot axis. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     This type of switching cabinet is known from German Patent Reference DE 41 03 785 C2. 
     An interior space of such switching cabinets is equipped with electrical switching units. During operating time the electrical switching units must be maintained and replaced when necessary. The switching cabinets are often tightly occupied so that the accessibility to individual units is highly limited. 
     It is one object of this invention to provide a switching cabinet of the type mentioned at the outset in which the accessibility to the switching cabinet interior is improved in simple fashion. 
     The object of this invention is achieved with at least one of the side walls fixedly mounted on the rack or hinged to pivot around a vertical axis. 
     When accessibility to the switching cabinet interior is improved, the conventional side wall can be connected to pivot on the rack instead of using a rigid connection. In this type of switching cabinet, the switching cabinet interior is then accessible both through the cabinet door and through the side wall. The other side walls could naturally also be hinged so that the interior of the switching cabinet is accessible on all sides. 
     If the side wall has fastening mounts to which the hinges or side wall supports are applied, which are connected to the corresponding vertical frame section, then no additional measures need be taken to mount the hinges on an existing side wall. 
     As one advantage, the side wall of the switching cabinet is hinged to the rack and has fastening mounts on the closure side opposite the hinge side, on which the side wall can be locked to ordinary side wall supports in the closed state. 
     The side wall can be easily locked by designing the fastening mounts as openings through which fastening screws can be passed and screwed into threaded mounts of the side wall supports. 
     According to one preferred embodiment of this invention the hinged side wall has a continuous seal on an inside facing the switching cabinet interior and the hinge is screwed to the side wall outside of the sealing area enclosed by the seal. Because the fact that the hinges are arranged outside of the sealing area, complicated measures to seal the hinge connection sites become unnecessary. 
     In a switching cabinet according to this invention the hinges of a side wall can keep the vertical pivot axis in front of the outward facing front side of the side wall in order to permit an opening angle of 180°. Good accessibility to the switching cabinet interior is thus possible. 
     However, it is also possible for the hinges of a side wall to be arranged and recessed relative to the front side formed by the side wall, to permit an opening angle of up to 90°. The recessed hinge is then visually inconspicuous. For facilitated installation of the hinge the vertical frame sections can have an external mount for hinges of the side wall running in the longitudinal direction of the section and directed toward the outside of the rack, which is bounded by two longitudinally directed side support sections on which the hinges are aligned with centering surfaces. The hinges can be aligned on the support sections. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     This invention is further explained below with reference to practical examples shown in the drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a rack of a switching cabinet with a cabinet door and a pivotal side wall; 
     FIG. 2 shows a perspective exploded view of a section of a vertical frame section of the rack shown in FIG. 1, with a hinge and the side wall in a partial view; 
     FIG. 3 shows a horizontal partial sectional view of the vertical frame section as shown in FIG. 2, with the hinged and opened side wall; 
     FIG. 4 shows a horizontal partial sectional view of the vertical frame section as shown in FIG. 3, with the closed cabinet door; and 
     FIG. 5 shows a perspective exploded view of a section of a vertical frame section of the rack shown in FIG. 1, with a hinge and with the side wall in a partial view. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A rack of a switching cabinet is shown in FIG.  1 . The rack comprises  12  frame sections; four vertical frame sections  10 . 1  and eight horizontal frame sections  10 . 2 . The vertical frame sections  10 . 1  all have the same cross-sectional geometry. The horizontal frame sections  10 . 2  are designed as depth and width struts and have the same cross section. The open front side of the rack can be closed by means of a cabinet door  40 . The cabinet door  40  is connected via hinges to one of the two vertical frame sections  10 . 1  on the front. The other vertical frame section  10 . 1  on the front is equipped with closure elements  11 . The cabinet door  40  can be locked to the closure elements in the closed state. The three open sides of the rack can be covered with side walls  20 . The side walls  20  can be fixedly screwed to the rack or designed as additional doors that are connected to pivot via hinges  21  on a vertical frame section  10 . 1 . The side wall supports  12  are used to fix the side wall  20  in the closed state. 
     The detailed embodiment of two hinge variants is further explained below with reference to FIGS. 2 to  5 . A section of a vertical frame section  10 . 1  is shown in FIG.  2 . The vertical frame section  10 . 1  has two fastening flanges that are connected to each other via a connection section  17 . The fastening flanges have section sides  13 ,  14  that face the interior of the switching cabinet. The section sides  13 , 14  are perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the outsides of the rack. The connection section  17  is recessed relative to the virtual outer edge of the rack so that a mount directed toward the outside of the rack is produced. Two support sections  17 ′ are connected to the connection section  17  and are at a right angle to the facing sides of the rack. The support sections  17 ′ grade at a right angle into shoulders  19 . Beveled edges  16  are bent out at right angles from the shoulders  19  and grade into support connectors  15 . A hinge  21  can be fastened to the vertical frame section  10 . 1 . The hinge  21  comprises two hinge parts  21 . 1 ,  21 . 2 . The first hinge part  21 . 1  has a fastening section  24  having an overall plate-like shape. Two connectors  23  are arranged at a spacing on the fastening section  24 . The connectors  23  carry hinge bolt mounts  22 . The holes traversed by the hinge bolt mounts  22  are aligned with each other. For attachment of the first hinge part  21 . 1  to the vertical frame section  10 . 1  a screw mount  25  is made in the fastening section  24 . The fastening screw  30  can be introduced to the screw mount  25  and screwed into a hole  18  of the connection section  17  of vertical frame section  10 . 1 . For this purpose the fastening screw  30  is designed as a tapping screw. The first hinge part  21 . 1  in a screwed-in state is positioned against the connection section  17  with a vertical support surface  27 . Centering surfaces  26  are connected to the support surface  27  at an angle. The centering surfaces  26  align the first hinge part  21 . 1  on the support section  17 ′. The second hinge part  21 . 2  can be fastened to a side wall  20 . As is apparent in FIG. 2, the side wall  20  has a flat wall  20 . 1 , which has bevelings  20 . 2  on its edges. A seal  20 . 3  is formed onto the inside of the side wall  20  at a spacing from the bevelings  20 . 2 . In the region between beveling  20 . 2  and the seal  20 . 3  the wall  20 . 1  is perforated by fastening mounts  20 . 4 . A fastening screw  30  can be introduced on the back side through the fastening mounts  20 . 4  and screwed into the second hinge part  21 . 2 . The second hinge part  21 . 2  in the tightened state is positioned against the front side of the wall  20 . 1  with a fastening section  28 . The fastening section  28  carries a hinge bolt mount  29 , which is penetrated by a hole with a vertical hole axis. The hinge bolt mount  29  has a support surface  29 . 1 . The support surface  29 . 1  is aligned with the beveling  20 . 2 . To complete the hinge  21 , the hinge bolt mounts  22 ,  29  of the two hinge parts  21 . 1 ,  21 . 2  are aligned with each other. A hinge pin can then be introduced into the hinge bolt mounts  22 ,  29 . As is apparent in FIG. 2, the vertical hinge axis, which is formed by the hinges  21 , is arranged in front of the wall  20 . 1 . Thus the side wall can be pivoted out by 180°. 
     The rack according to FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 3 in a horizontal section and a partial view. The cross section of the vertical frame section  10 . 1  is readily apparent from this view. As already explained above, the side wall  20  can be pivoted out by 180° because the hinge axis is maintained in front of the wall  20 . 1 . The side wall  20  mounted on the back of the rack is also apparent from FIG.  3 . The side wall  20  is designed the same as the hinged side wall  20 . The side wall  20  has fastening mounts  20 . 5 , which are introduced in a region between the continuous seal  20 . 3  and the beveling  20 . 2  in the wall  20 . 1 . Fastening screws can be introduced through the fastening mounts  20 . 5  and screwed into the side wall supports  12 , as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     The side wall  20  is shown in the closed position in FIG.  4 . For reasons of clarity FIG. 4 does not show all reference numbers. FIG. 4 clarifies that the seal  20 . 3  of the side wall  20  is pressed onto the corresponding support connector  15  in the closed state. Thus, the interior of the switching cabinet is protected from the effects of moisture. 
     An embodiment of a hinge  21  is shown in FIG.  5 . The hinge  21  has two hinge parts  21 . 1 ,  21 . 2 . The hinge part  21 . 1  is designed in similar fashion to the hinge part  21 . 1  shown in FIGS. 2 to  4 . One difference is that the hinge bolt mounts  22  are maintained in the region behind the plane formed by the wall  20 . 1  and the side wall  20 . The vertical hinge axis is therefore recessed relative to the wall  20 . 1 . 
     The second hinge part  21 . 2  is arranged in the beveled region of side wall  20 . The second hinge part  21 . 1  is produced as a stamped-bent part from a steel sheet cutout and has a vertical fastening section  28  from which a support section  28 . 2  is beveled at a right angle. The fastening section  28  is positioned flat on the back of the side wall  20 . The second hinge part  21 . 2  can be aligned with support section  28 . 2  on the beveling  20 . 2  of the side wall  20 . 
     The support section  28 . 2  carries the hinge bolt mount  29 . Because of the arrangement of the hinge axis, an opening angle of 90° can be obtained with the hinge  21 .