IEC 61969-1:2023

Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment - Outdoor enclosures - Part 1: Design guidelines

IEC 61969-1:2023 contains design guidelines for outdoor enclosures for electrical and electronic equipment and is applicable over a wide field of mechanical, electromechanical and electronic equipment and its installation where a modular design is used. The objectives of this document are:
- to provide an overview of specifications for enclosures focused on requirements for outdoor applications for stationary use at non-weatherprotected locations, and
- to achieve product integrity under outdoor conditions and to ease product selection for the sourcing of outdoor enclosures from different vendors.

Structures mécaniques pour équipement électrique et électronique - Enveloppes de plein air - Partie 1: Lignes directrices pour la conception

L'IEC 61969-1:2023 contient des lignes directrices de conception pour les enceintes extérieures pour équipements électriques et électroniques et est applicable à un large domaine d’équipements mécaniques, électromécaniques et électroniques et à leur installation lorsqu’une conception modulaire est utilisée. Les objectifs de ce document sont les suivants:
- fournir un aperçu des spécifications des enceintes axées sur les exigences relatives aux applications extérieures pour une utilisation stationnaire dans des endroits non protégés contre les intempéries;
- pour atteindre l’intégrité du produit dans des conditions extérieures et faciliter la sélection des produits pour l’approvisionnement en boîtiers extérieurs auprès de différents fournisseurs.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 09-Feb-2023
• ICS: 31.240 - Mechanical structures for electronic equipment
• Technical Committee: SC 48D - Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment
• Drafting Committee: MT 1 - TC 48/SC 48D/MT 1
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 10-Jan-2023
• Completion Date: 10-Feb-2023

Relations

• Revises: IEC 61969-1:2020 - Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment - Outdoor enclosures - Part 1: Design guidelines
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC 61969-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2023-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment – Outdoor
enclosures –
Part 1: Design guidelines
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

IEC Secretariat Tel.: [phone]
3, rue de Varembé [e-mail]
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.

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further assistance, please contact the Customer Service
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IEC 61969-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2023-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment – Outdoor
enclosures –
Part 1: Design guidelines
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 31.240 ISBN 978-2-8322-6491-1

– 2 – IEC 61969-1:2023 RLV © IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 2
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Coordination dimensions . 9
5 Environmental requirements, tests and safety aspects . 9
5.1 Classification of environmental conditions . 9
5.2 Static load.
5.2 Transportation and installation related mechanical loads . 11
5.3 Operational related mechanical loads . 11
5.3 Dynamic stress .
5.4 Static load capacity . 12
5.5 Seismic performance . 12
6 Electromagnetic shielding . 12
7 Thermal management and acoustic noise suppression emission . 12
Bibliography . 14

Figure 1 – Typical outdoor enclosure . 6
Figure 2 – Locations of outdoor enclosures . 9

Table 1 – Environmental Operating and transportation conditions . 10
Table 2 – Safety aspects . 11

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES FOR ELECTRICAL AND
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT – OUTDOOR ENCLOSURES –

Part 1: Design guidelines
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between
any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of patent
rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes
made to the previous edition IEC 61969-1:2020. A vertical bar appears in the margin
wherever a change has been made. Additions are in green text, deletions are in
strikethrough red text.
– 4 – IEC 61969-1:2023 RLV © IEC 2023
IEC 61969-1 has been prepared by subcommittee 48D: Mechanical structures for electrical and
electronic equipment, of IEC technical committee 48: Electrical connectors and mechanical
structures for electrical and electronic equipment. It is an International Standard.
This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition published in 2020. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) added references to the environmental conditions defined by ETSI EN 300 019-1 and
IEC 60721-2 series;
b) reference made to the correct test specifications;
c) addition of laser hazard warning in case opto-electronic equipment is used.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
48D/752/CDV 48D/758/RVC
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
A list of all parts in the IEC 61969 series, published under the general title Mechanical structures
for electrical and electronic equipment – Outdoor enclosures, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates that it
contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding of its
contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

INTRODUCTION
This part of IEC 61969 is intended as a generic guide for the development of further parts within
this series of standards, and it provides design guidelines for outdoor enclosures.
The products covered by the IEC 61969 series are empty enclosures for outdoor locations, to
be equipped with application-specific combinations of electrical and electronic equipment, and
to be used at non-weatherprotected locations above ground.
The IEC 61969 series consists of:
– a design guidelines general part: IEC 61969-1;
– a coordination dimensions standard: IEC 61969-2;
– an environmental requirements and tests, safety aspects standard: IEC 61969-3.
IEC 61969-2 and IEC 61969-3 should be read in conjunction with this document.

– 6 – IEC 61969-1:2023 RLV © IEC 2023
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES FOR ELECTRICAL AND
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT – OUTDOOR ENCLOSURES –

Part 1: Design guidelines
1 Scope
This part of IEC 61969 contains design guidelines for outdoor enclosures for electrical and
electronic equipment and is applicable over a wide field of mechanical, electromechanical and
electronic equipment and its installation where a modular design is used.
The objectives of this document are:
– to provide an overview of specifications for enclosures focused on requirements for outdoor
applications for stationary use at non-weatherprotected locations, and
– to achieve product integrity under outdoor conditions and to ease product selection for the
sourcing of outdoor enclosures from different vendors.
These enclosures are considered to contain any equipment and provide protection for the
outdoor installed facilities against unwanted environmental impacts. The installed equipment
can be, but is not limited to, subracks or chassis in accordance with the IEC 60917 series or
IEC 60297 series. A typical outdoor enclosure is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Typical outdoor enclosure

2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 60068-2-75, Environmental testing – Part 2-75: Tests – Test Eh: Hammer tests
IEC 60417, Graphical symbols for use on equipment (available at http://www.graphical-
symbols.info/equipment)
IEC 60529, Degrees of protection provided by enclosures (IP Code)
IEC 60695-11-10, Fire hazard testing – Part 11-10: Test flames – 50 W horizontal and vertical
flame test methods
IEC 60721-3-2, Classification of environmental conditions – Part 3-2: Classification of groups
of environmental parameters and their severities – Transportation a
...

IEC 61969-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2023-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment – Outdoor
enclosures –
Part 1: Design guidelines
Structures mécaniques pour équipement électrique et électronique –
Enveloppes de plein air –
Partie 1: Lignes directrices pour la conception

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

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questions sur le copyright de l'IEC ou si vous désirez obtenir des droits supplémentaires sur cette publication, utilisez
les coordonnées ci-après ou contactez le Comité national de l'IEC de votre pays de résidence.

IEC Secretariat Tel.: [phone]
3, rue de Varembé [e-mail]
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.

IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform IEC Products & Services Portal - products.iec.ch
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a Discover our powerful search engine and read freely all the
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical publications previews. With a subscription you will always have
committee, …). It also gives information on projects, replaced access to up to date content tailored to your needs.
and withdrawn publications.
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IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
The world's leading online dictionary on electrotechnology,
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published
containing more than 22 300 terminological entries in English
details all new publications released. Available online and once
and French, with equivalent terms in 19 additional languages.
a month by email.
Also known as the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary

(IEV) online.
IEC Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc
If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or need
further assistance, please contact the Customer Service
Centre: [e-mail].
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IEC 61969-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2023-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Mechanical structures for electrical and electronic equipment – Outdoor

enclosures –
Part 1: Design guidelines
Structures mécaniques pour équipement électrique et électronique –

Enveloppes de plein air –
Partie 1: Lignes directrices pour la conception

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 31.240 ISBN 978-2-8322-6209-2

– 2 – IEC 61969-1:2023 © IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 Coordination dimensions . 9
5 Environmental requirements, tests and safety aspects . 9
5.1 Classification of environmental conditions . 9
5.2 Transportation and installation related mechanical loads . 11
5.3 Operational related mechanical loads . 11
5.4 Static load capacity . 11
5.5 Seismic performance . 12
6 Electromagnetic shielding . 12
7 Thermal management and acoustic noise emission . 12
Bibliography . 13

Figure 1 – Typical outdoor enclosure . 6
Figure 2 – Locations of outdoor enclosures . 9

Table 1 – Operating and transportation conditions . 10
Table 2 – Safety aspects . 11

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES FOR ELECTRICAL AND
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT – OUTDOOR ENCLOSURES –

Part 1: Design guidelines
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between
any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of patent
rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC 61969-1 has been prepared by subcommittee 48D: Mechanical structures for electrical and
electronic equipment, of IEC technical committee 48: Electrical connectors and mechanical
structures for electrical and electronic equipment. It is an International Standard.
This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition published in 2020. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) added references to the environmental conditions defined by ETSI EN 300 019-1 and
IEC 60721-2 series;
b) reference made to the correct test specifications;
c) addition of laser hazard warning in case opto-electronic equipment is used.

– 4 – IEC 61969-1:2023 © IEC 2023
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
48D/752/CDV 48D/758/RVC
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
A list of all parts in the IEC 61969 series, published under the general title Mechanical structures
for electrical and electronic equipment – Outdoor enclosures, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
INTRODUCTION
This part of IEC 61969 is intended as a generic guide for the development of further parts within
this series of standards, and it provides design guidelines for outdoor enclosures.
The products covered by the IEC 61969 series are empty enclosures for outdoor locations, to
be equipped with application-specific combinations of electrical and electronic equipment, and
to be used at non-weatherprotected locations above ground.
The IEC 61969 series consists of:
– a design guidelines general part: IEC 61969-1;
– a coordination dimensions standard: IEC 61969-2;
– an environmental requirements and tests, safety aspects standard: IEC 61969-3.
IEC 61969-2 and IEC 61969-3 should be read in conjunction with this document.

– 6 – IEC 61969
...