US Navy Electronic Equipment Cabinets

CY-4516/S
CY-4517/S

cy4517-cabinet-01.jpg (75144 bytes)

Universal Shipboard Electronic Equipment Cabinets (April 1966 BuShips Journal)
By A. B. Groverman, Communications and Computer Systems Branch, Naval Ship Engineering Center 
    Universal electronic equipment cabinets are now being procured. They are the first of a series of standard cabinets that should have several cost saving advantages in installing electronic equipment while providing for improved ventilation and ease of maintenance. They use a standard foundation welded to the deck, eliminating design and fabrication of special foundations for each type of equipment. They enable the installing activity to fit equipment into the cabinet while in the shop, reducing the amount of work required aboard ship.
    Two types of cabinets are now under procurement. The single bay is CY-4516/S and the double bay is CY-4517 /S. Dimensions of the single bay cabinet are 72 inches high by 22 7/8 inches wide by 26 3/8 inches deep; dimensions of the double bay are 72 inches high by 45 3/ 4 inches wide by 26 3/8 inches deep. The foundations are 5 inches high as delivered, but they are intended for trimming to fit the deck down to a nominal 3 inches at time of installation. The foundations for both the single and double bay cabinets extend beyond the cabinet sidewalls approximately 1/2 inch. A double bay cabinet consists of two complete single bay cabinets mounted on a single wide foundation.
    Each cabinet has four blowers, each capable of producing 125 CFM at 1 inch of water; a blower control panel containing an air filter, switches, fuses and indicator lights; and four dividers to provide individual air compartments and RF shielding between pieces of equipment. These dividers can be located anywhere within the vertical height of the cabinet.
    One of the interesting features of the cabinet is the air distribution system. Air enters the cabinet through the filter in the front panel of the blower compartment. The blowers force the air through ducts in the right sidewall and then into the various equipment compartments through RF filtered openings. The air circulates around and, in some instances, through equipment and is exhausted through RF filtered openings to ducts in the left sidewall, and finally out the chimney at the top. If desirable to carry the warm exhaust air out of the compartment, a shroud or hood from the ship's exhaust system can be fitted to the chimney of the cabinet.
    If forced air ventilation is not required for the cabinet, the blower drawer can be removed and approximately 10 inches of additional height can be made available for equipment.
    Considerable effort has been made to keep the cabinets flexible from an application standpoint. For example, if an external source air is available it can be ducted into a plenum in the right top of the cabinet and hence into the ducts in the right sidewall; also, air could be ducted underneath the cabinet and fed into the bottom of the right sidewall and exhausted as described previously.
    The cabinet is as adaptable to the vertical type of chassis drawer as to the current type of horizontal drawer. The dividers can be removed and vertical partitions and slide mechanisms installed to accept vertical drawers. Cross air ventilation can continue continue to be provided or means can be easily worked out for air flow from bottom to top. The cabinet is fully adaptable to meet many different installation situations.
    The cabinet as delivered, under the current contract, and as shown in the sketch, is blank, with no provisions for mounting equipment. Installation kits are now being developed which will enable installing activities to mount equipment easily and simply. At present kits are being developed for approximately twenty types of communication equipment. Additional communication and other categories of equipment will be added as the need arises. Detail plans for local fabrication of installation kits will be distributed to all installing activities as soon as they become available. Installation kits will contain all necessary mounting hardware including brackets, slides, rear support pins, mounting blocks, flanges, cable retractors, etc. Kits will be procured as soon as development is complete.
   Additional sizes and shapes of the basic cabinet will be developed and procured to meet the rapidly changing requirements of shipboard electronic equipment. Several new models of electronic equipment are now being developed for direct installation in the CY-4516/S cabinet. The object is to reduce the overall cost of electronic equipment by eliminating the need for designing a unique case for each new type of equipment and then producing cases on a one for one basis.
    Cabinets are being procured for stock as Bureau controlled (F Cog) items. When their use is authorized for shipboard installation, they should be ordered using the following FSN's:
CY-4516/S 5985-908-9159
CY-4517/S 5985-908-9158
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