Porta-King recently completed an environmental enclosure for a company in California to house their new 3D printer. In order for the printer to work at optimal levels, an enclosure that provided excellent environmental control was needed.
What is a 3D Printer?
Simply put, a 3D printer acts much like a normal printer, but instead of printing on paper with ink, you are printing a 3D object with wax, plastic, or metal. Also called “additive manufacturing,” an object is first created in a digital design program before being sent to the printer to be built layer by layer.
This easy process helps businesses save thousands of dollars when producing prototypes or components. 3D printing could also be the future of modular construction by creating the components needed faster and cheaply.
3D printers are becoming more popular thanks to their ability to easily produce a wide range of components for:
- Medical research
- Manufacturing
- Entertainment
What Is an Environmental Enclosure?
An environmental enclosure, otherwise known as an equipment enclosure, is a modular building used to create a separate space for a process that requires a controlled environment, such as 3D printing. Typically, “environmental control” means controlling the temperature and humidity of the enclosure. More Applications for Modular Environmental Enclosures
Companies can benefit from modular environmental enclosures when they rely on any process that requires a controlled environment. Utilizing modular construction to create this type of enclosure offers many advantages when compared to conventional construction.
For smaller areas where control is required, companies prefer modular enclosures. It is cheaper to build modular than it is to add the equipment necessary for controlling the entire facility’s environment. Using conventional construction is more expensive, time-intensive, and disruptive. The enclosure would ensure that whatever process that takes place inside is running at its optimal capacity because it is occurring in a controlled environment.
