How can chain-compatible cables extend service intervals?

Markus Hueffel | 20. September 2019

At some point, you have certainly had to deal with a loose contact. Either yourself when your drill had to be serviced privately or perhaps when you were ironing clothes.

Fun fact:
A loose contact is a point that causes the transfer resistance within the circuit to fluctuate strongly or unintentionally interrupts the circuit from time to time. A loose contact can be due to loose plug-in connections or manufacturing defects (such as cold solder joints).

If the defective electrical connection occurs in an industrial process, a negative spiral can develop very quickly. The focus is on reducing machine downtime due to servicing, set-up or failure. In addition, the aim is on increasing production output. If a fault occurs in a production chain and planned steps in the production process cannot be completed, productivity is affected in a very short time.

Cable – flexible or suitable for drag chains?

Flexible cables are often used in modern machines, in accordance with a corresponding DIN standard, such as DIN VDE0298-4, DIN VDE0207, DIN VDE0281-1 or DIN VDE0281-2. However, the diverse standards say nothing about the purpose of use in an energy chain. Due to increase of manufacturing rates, acceleration of the speed of travel and constricted installation spaces, these cables quickly come up against their limits and are unable to meet the requirements. In these cases, special cables that have been designed to meet demanding requirements regarding bending, torsion, abrasion, chemical resistance or welding sparks offer a solution.

Many of these cables, such as torsion-friendly cables for robots, cables that are suitable for chains and linear movements, or cables for hanging applications where the dead weight of the cable also influences its structure are particularly suitable for special applications. No distinction is made between shielded and unshielded control, power or bus cables.

In the case of fibre optic cables (FOC), there are ways of optimally adapting the cable for use. Special cable design enables you to avoid typical faults such as cable breakage, corkscrews, wire breakage, EMC problems (shield wire breakages), and jacket abrasion, increasing your productivity.

«Special cables? That sounds complicated, expensive and undoubtedly means a long delivery time. »

No, no, no!

igus® helps you to make the right choice for your application

For the reasons stated, igus® originally focused on the creation of a specifically optimised range of cables and, over the years, has acquired extensive knowledge in this regard. All the cables are documented in detail on the igus® data sheets, which provide useful information to help make the right choice for your application.

All cables are tested in the in-house 3,800 m² test laboratory and therefore igus®  gives all customers a chainflex® guarantee of 36 months or 10 million double strokes.
In addition to cables sold by the metre, igus® offers a harnessing service for diverse readycable® cables, using plug-in connectors from market leaders to make the cables completely compatible with the components installed in and on machines.

All ready-to-connect cables have been fully and thoroughly tested and can be ordered in the required length (with centimetre accuracy), with no minimum order quantity. Visit our readycable® product finder and find the right cable for your application.

igus® can also supply ready-to-use harnessed assemblies (readychain®), on a pallet or on a transport and mounting frame, for easy installation (no minimum order quantity). A member of our team would be happy to talk to you.