Like most people, I love to relax. There’s nothing quite like kicking up your feet after a long day. However, when it comes to designing an industrial automation system, there isn’t any time for relaxing. These days most engineers are faced with tighter deadlines, reduced resources and a multitude of different responsibilities. In short, time is precious. For this very reason, igus® does not recommend that cables be “relaxed” or “shaken out” prior to being installed into a cable carrier.
Most cable manufacturers offer installation guidelines, which are extremely useful. However, the guideline for cable preparation, which typically reads something like, “…before being installed into the track, it is important that the cable be laid out or hung for at least 24 hours…”, is not necessary. While it is very important to have a working knowledge about electrical wiring methods and techniques, igus® maintains that reasonable cable handling should not affect the mechanical performance of a cable.
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8 Guidelines for Cable Installation
1.1 Chainflex® continuous-flex cables do not have to be relaxed prior to being installed into a cable carrier.
Relaxing a cable is meant to release both the memory and stress it has retained while being stored on a spool or reel. While we agree that the cables will have memory from the spool drum, we recommend the cable is cut to the desired length and installed directly into the carrier. Extensive testing and more than 30 years of field experience has taught us that waiting for cables to relax is time consuming and impractical. Since we also assist customers with onsite installations and pre-harness cables into our cable carriers for customers on a daily basis, we are confident in saying: if a cable is designed and manufactured with continuous flexing in mind, it only needs to be removed from the spool and installed properly.
igus® provides the following eight guidelines for cable handling and installation, specifically for round electrical cables, from start to finish:
- Lay the cables straight inside the cable carrier and avoid twisting the cable when it is pulled into place.
- Do not uncoil cables from the top of the spool.
- igus®’ Chainflex® continuous-flex cables can be placed directly into the Energy Chain® cable carrier. They do not need to be disconnected, relaxed or shaken out before installation.
- Each individual cable should be able to move freely from side to side once installed.
- The cables should be able to move freely along the radius of the cable carrier. Make sure to confirm the cables can move freely, specifically when the upper run of the cable carrier operates at the cable’s maximum bending radius.
- If several cables and / or hoses with varying diameters are being installed, interior shelving and separators should be used. This will prevent the cables and hoses from becoming tangled.
- In some instances, cables and hoses with different jacket materials will stick together. This can be avoided by using interior separators, which also makes it safe to house Chainflex® continuous-flex cables and the cables from a different manufacturer inside the same cable carrier.
A continuous-flex cable can removed from the spool and immediately installed.
- Round electrical cables should be secured with strain relief at both ends. In some cases, the cables can be strain relieved at the moving end of the cable carrier. A gap of 10 to 30 times the cable diameter, between the end of the bending segment and the fixed point, is recommended for most cables. However, Chainflex® continuous-flex cables can be secured directly to the mounting bracket with strain relief, which has been confirmed in igus®’ test laboratory.
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