Benefits of DIN Rail Systems and the Different Types of DIN Rails

DIN rail systems are designed for attaching industrial and electrical control products, such as power supplies, terminal blocks, circuit breakers, actuators, solenoids, etc inside a conventional equipment rack housing frame or cabinet. They're long metal strips that form the core part of the global industry standard component rail mounting system in cabinet racks. These rack-mounting systems were initially designed by the Germans in the 1920s, but they become developed into what they are today during the 50s. They exist for physical component support, rather than as any type of conductive or connective element within a wider electrical system. While they aren't busbars, they can perform a grounding busbar role in specific situations. 

DIN rail systems provide many advantages for mounting hardware components, such as:

• Saving time and work - you can simply slide or snap components into place on the rail instead of having to mount every component separately
• Saving space - they allow for tight configurations and provide a convenient site for bringing external and internal wiring circuits together, which is ideal in applications with limited space
• Cost-effective - DIN rails, even those from reputable companies like Mean Well power supplies are affordable, and they offer high-density adjacent mounting, which can reduce the overall amount of cabinet and wiring space needed significantly
• They promote a well-organised and neat component layout, which results in improved maintenance access and all-round safety
• They adhere to universal mounting and sizing protocols

One of the great things about DIN rail systems is that they were designed and have continually evolved to work with a series of universal standard shapes and widths of mounting hardware. The fact that these systems are recognised as a range of consistent and fixed standards means that they can guarantee dimensional uniformity across a suite of relevant products, no matter whichever company is handling the manufacturing or supplying of the different individual parts. This amount of cross-brand compatibility provides DIN rail system users the ability to mix and match different components without being forced to stick to a proprietary model range in order to get the job done. While proprietary systems do exist, they're less widely used for this exact reason.

However, worth noting is that the naming conventions for DIN rail sizes and types can be slightly different from country to country. Most DIN rails can be separated into a few categories, which are defined by the physical footprint of the rail. Namely, DIN rails are separated into top hat sections, miniature top hat sections, C type sections and G type sections. Some manufacturers, such as Mean Well power supplies offer every single type, and all of them conform to IEC and EN standards.

Top Hat or TS35 Sections

These DIN rails are considered the industry standard, and are the most readily available type. They're used for mounting a large variety of electrical industrial control components and products, from motor controllers and circuit breakers to transformers, remote I/O, drives and more. Their name, "top hat", refers to the fact that their cross-section resembles the cross-section of a deep hat, and the 35 in TS35 refers to their width from edge to edge, which is 35mm. These rails are available at channel depths of 15mm (deep hat) and 7.5mm (standard). 

Miniature Top Hat or TS15 Sections

As you can probably guess, these DIN rails are the same shape as top hat DIN rails, except they're smaller. They differ in their edge-to-edge width, with TS15 rails only being 15mm wide. However, their channel depths are sometimes different too, with miniature top hat types being shallower than their top hat counterparts. But these rails are meant to be used wherever space is limited, or to mount small components such as relays and junction boxes.

C-Type or TS32 Sections

These rails are 32mm wide and feature a C-shaped cross-section with a symmetrical curve. This is usually seen today as an older standard of DIN rail mounting systems, which was common initially but was replaced by the TS35 type. They're still used for larger and heavier items such as transformers and other power supplies, due to the excellent wall support they offer. For most modern components, however, an adapter will be required to allow for properly secure mounting on a TS32 system. Usually, these DIN rails are categorised by the vertical height of the rail when they're mounted on a panel.

G-Type Sections

Again, these DIN rails are named after the shape of their cross-section, and they feature a deeper recess at one channel than the other. The deeper of the two channels on this type of DIN rails is typically positioned at the lower edge when the rail is mounted, and that offers extra support for higher-powered or heavier components that you may wish to attach.

Besides all of the aforementioned shape types and rail sizes, another common variant you may want to consider is whether you want the DIN rail to be slotted with pre-cut mounting holes or not. Most types are available in both variants, which gives you versatility and potential for better component support or system organisation.