IPC-HDBK-630

Description / Abstract: This document has been written to assist the designers, manufacturers and end users of electronic enclosures of electrical and electronic equipment to understand the best practices to meet requirements, ensuring the reliability and function of the end item assembly for its intended design life.

An electronic enclosure, for the purpose of this document, is defined as a chassis, box, top level assembly, high level assembly (HLA), functional unit, drawer, cabinet, or other designation forming a top level system assembly. An enclosure typically consists of a combination of printed board assemblies (PBAs), cable and wire harness assemblies and other electronics and/or mechanical components, and is typically tested as a functional unit. The enclosure includes the necessary mechanical and structural elements to protect and integrate the assembly into a finished system. Enclosures are often modular components or sub-systems of larger systems, designed for replacement in the end-use environment.

Purpose This handbook provides guidelines for the design, manufacture, inspection and test for electronic enclosures. It is not enough to understand the properties of the various components, materials and processes; the user should understand what is to be achieved by the set of selected components, materials and processes within the end use environment and how to verify that the desired results have been realized.

This document is intended to be used as a reference only. It is the responsibility of the user to determine the suitability, via appropriate testing, of the selected electronic enclosure and application method for a particular end use application. An electronic enclosure may have several functions depending on the type of application. The most common are:

a. To protect the electronic assembly from the end use environment, such as vibration, shock and other movements detrimental to electronic assemblies

b. To incorporate into the end use environment.