Contributed by Frances Richards Electromagnetic interference, or EMI, is an unfortunate fact of life in industrial environments due to the wide variety of equipment and devices operating in close proximity. Every piece of electric or electronic equipment generates signals that can interfere with other nearby machinery, potentially causing suboptimal performance or even total failure. And […]
Basics
Why should one worry about voltage drop?
By Frances Richards, Contributor To put it simply, excess voltage drop can reduce the operating efficiency of motors, lights, appliances, and other electrical equipment. If too much voltage is lost while passing through wires, equipment may not function properly, or at all. For certain equipment such as pumps, large motors, or machines that use compressors, […]
Different ways to secure cable tracks (cable carriers) to machinery
Contributed by Jody Muelaner Cable carriers guide and protect electrical cables, as well as hydraulic or pneumatic hoses. They limit the minimum bend radius and therefore bending stresses, while often also constraining bending to a single plane. They shield and protect cables from wear, prevent entrapment in moving machinery and avoid entanglement. To do this […]
When should you use pre-harnessed (pre-engineered) cable carrier assemblies?
Contributed by Jody Muelaner Cable carriers are hollow chains which guide and protect cables and hoses during motion. They are typically installed on-site with the cables and hoses fitted through manifolds and junction boxes, and fixing plates, brackets and guide or support structures installed. Although it can make sense to carry out this work in-situ, […]
Is an open or closed cable carrier better for a given application?
Contributed by Jody Muelaner Open cable carriers have an open chain-link structure with cross bars that contain cables and hoses. Enclosed cable carriers form a complete tube; this can be achieved using a chain-link structure with sliding covers, or as a homogeneous fully sealed corrugated tube, such as a flexible conduit. All cable carriers prevent […]
All about multi-flex cable carriers used on robotic arms
Contributed by Jody Muelaner Good cable management is vital to the accurate and reliable operation of an industrial robot. Cables that catch and snag will affect the accuracy of a robot. Over time they will result in unplanned maintenance and excessive downtime. Robotic cell integrators have identified cable issues as the most significant cause of […]
Inside data centers: Cabling considerations for new FibreChannel links
A Fibre Channel (FC) storage area network (SAN) and Inter-Switch-Link (ISL) interfaces are an important part of modern data-center systems, including in hyperscale or enterprise ones. FC SAN is a high-speed network that connects servers and storage devices, and the Inter Switch-Link joins and maintains the traffic flow between switches and routers. A benefit to […]
How do you specify plastic cable carriers?
Contributed by Jody Muelaner Plastic cable carriers are fitted to machines to protect and guide cables and hoses. Cable carriers are constructed as a chain of rigid plastic sections. These form an articulated rectangular box section through which cables and hoses are inserted. Enclosing the cables and hoses prevents some forms of damage. The articulated […]
How cable technology is evolving to meet high-performance networking
Persistent memory has become one key technology for the cloud as speed, efficiency, and volume at data centers advance. In high-performance computing, the cloud often requires data to be moved between multiple physical systems. Data may also be replicated for redundancy and protection, or it can be split across physical systems for performance. High-performance networking […]
An update on VFD cables’ design requirements
VFD cables have had to adjust over the years to meet the changing needs of the motors they run. New changes in the Electrical Installation Code will facilitate more updates in the coming years. Contributed by Neal Allen, Vice President of Engineering, HELUKABEL USA The variable frequency drive (VFD) cable business has become an extremely […]
