Global Collaboration Provides Security to the Island of Mauritius

Pentair's Technical Products teams in Bangalore, India and Anoka, Minnesota collaborated to solve the enclosure needs of the Brinks Security Company on the island of Mauritius, located off the southeastern coast of Africa.

Helping To Improve Security

Mauritius is known as a tourist destination with beautiful beaches and a diverse population of approximately 1.3 million. As part of its modernization efforts, the Mauritius government pledged to improve security on the island by installing pole-mounted security cameras on heavily traveled roadways. Brinks Security of Mauritius was hired to design, build and install the system, with a commitment that it would be operational by the end of February 2009. The Brinks team subsequently contacted Pentair's Technical Products sales team in India for application assistance to select the proper enclosure solution.

Developing The Solution

Based on the customer's requirement of a corrosion-resistant enclosure, due to the salt air environment, the team supplied a sample COMLINE® Aluminum Enclosure built by Pentair Technical Products Anoka. The aluminum construction, combined with the polyester powder paint finish, provided the most cost-effective solution.

After agreeing that this platform would meet Brinks' needs, the Technical Products teams in India and Anoka worked with Brinks to solve the thermal requirements of the application. Because of the island's high tropical temperatures, cooling inside the enclosure was critically important in order to prevent failure of the power supplies, routers and other electronics. Using thermal heat load calculation software developed by McLean Cooling, the team determined that a solution using fans would provide enough cooling for the application. The thermal solution included a fan and exhaust grille, rain shrouds to prevent rain from entering the cabinet, and a top solar shield to reflect as much direct sunlight as possible. The enclosure was also painted white to aid in solar reflection, thus minimizing heat build up.

Delivering On Time

The initial order for 45 units was received in early January and built by Pentair's Aluminum Products operation in Anoka. The order shipped on-time four weeks later. Brinks Security was able to assemble the electronics in the enclosure and install the equipment by their commitment date to the island's government. All 90 enclosures are now installed and operating on Mauritius.