Robotics - Triumph of Artificial Intelligence

Robotics is the supreme discipline for cables
 
As demanding as the tasks performed by robots are, the requirements for the cabling are
equally stringent. That is why the issue of robotics is a major focus in the Lapp Group. Building
on a wealth of manufacturing expertise within the company, while the French subsidiary Lapp
Muller in Grimaud has specialists with more than 25 years' experience in robot and drag chain
applications.

This know-how creates competence. Ultimately, competence is exactly what it takes to be
successful in robotics, with its countless range of applications and individual designs. It is an
area where practically no two applications are the same. This means that every cable solution
also has to be unique, whether it is to provide a specific power supply for robots or high-performance
data transmission, for example when building robots with high resolution camera
systems.


However, for many robot applications the outer material of a cable is just as crucial as what
is inside. The cable may need to be able to withstand mechanical abrasion and chemicals,
or requirements might include resistance to harsh working environments, or extreme tensile
strength. Whatever people demand from a robot as an indefatigable worker, they demand
exactly the same from the cables.




Download the latest issue of CableWorld for the full story

Tips for Designing Cable Carriers

Of all the machine design details to worry about, cable carriers probably don’t top your list. Yet if you care about the reliability and uptime of moving machines, it pays to devote extra engineering attention to the carriers and the components within them.

A well-designed cable carrier will dramatically extend the life of cables and fluid power supply lines by protecting them from damaging bends, crimping, abrasive wear and crushing.

Unfortunately, some cable carriers are poorly-designed and can trigger the very same cable and supply line failures they were supposed to prevent, causing expensive machine downtime. The potential for failures can largely be avoided by following a collection of simple carrier design guidelines developed by our Systems Group.

Over the years, our engineers have designed, built and delivered thousands of populated cable carriers that have been implemented in a wide variety of servo and VFD applications on packaging, automotive and other industrial machines.

Here are some basic tips for designing populated carriers:

•         Calculate. Determine the minimum bend radius and clearances of all the components that will fill the carrier. Define the optimal carrier length and location of the fixed mounting points.

•         Weigh. Distribute the weight of the fill components within the carrier. Take the time to calculate the weights of individual components, and place the heaviest components on the outside of the carrier.

•         Influence. Consider the operating environment. Chemical exposures and thermal conditions can influence the design of cable carriers.

•         Divide. Split the carrier into separate cavities so the cables and hose can all move independently of one another.

•         Get Help. Involve your cable and carrier vendors in the design process. They work with carriers every day and can offer additional engineering expertise that will help you design a carrier that will go the distance.

For detailed engineering guidelines, download our technical paper on cable carrier design.

CAT.6A Cables For Continuous Flex and Torsion Applications

CAT.6A Cables For Continuous Flex and Torsion Applications

 

CAT.6A cables already provide fast data transmission rates in industrial Ethernet systems. Yet these cables could not withstand the continuous flex or torsion requirements associated with moving machine applications. Our new ETHERLINE® CAT.6A cables remove this limitation.

In an industry first, the new ETHERLINE cables combine CAT.6A’s 10 Gbit/sec data transfer rates withcontinuous flex and torsion performance suitable for robotics, machine vision systems, wind turbines and other industrial machines with motion systems. 

 

Previous continuous flex industrial Ethernet cables offered a maximum data transfer rate of 1 Gbit/sec.To raise the bar on CAT6.A continuous flex performance, our engineers had to solve a tricky shielding challenge. CAT6.A cables operate at frequencies as high as 500 MHz, which predisposes them to electromagnetic noise and interference (EMI). A conventional shielding system capable of warding off EMI at these high frequencies would have made the cables too stiff for continuous flex or torsion applications. 

 

So our engineers created an entirely new shielding system that strikes a balance between EMI

protection, flexibility and the mechanical strength to withstand the high strains associated with continuous flex or torsion. This new shielding employs a proprietary wrapping process that wraps aluminum compound foil around individual twisted pairs at an angle optimized for shielding performance. 

 

In addition, the cable has a copper braid reinforced with a foil-laminated fleece.This high-quality screening, the first of its kind,ensures extremely reliable data transfer. 

 

ETHERLINE CAT.6A comes in two different versions, one optimized for continuous flex and the other for torsion. The continuous flex version is suitable for use in cable tracks and has been tested for morethan one million bending cycles.Available with either PVC or PUR jackets, both versions of the ETHERLINE CAT.6A offer: 

 

• Compliance to the PROFINET standard.
• Resistance to UV and flame.
• Performance in damp or dry operating environments.

 

New RJ45 and M12 x-coded connectors designed specially for ETHERLINE CAT6.A cables are also

available. 

 

 

 

For more information on ETHERLINE CAT.6A FD and torsion cables, visit www.lappusa.com/ethernetCAT