HEW-KABEL at the SPS IPC
Drives Exhibition
Ultra-thin core insulation and minimized
microphonic effects
Among the variety of new products to be exhibited
by specialty cable manufacturer HEW-KABEL of
Wipperfürth, Germany, at the SPS IPC Drives
(November 28-30 in Nuremberg) are a modified
PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) for ultra-thin yet
highly resistant insulations and the HEW-SILENT
technology, also based on PTFE, for minimizing
microphonic effects when transmitting low signals.
Furthermore, the company will also show – on Stand
2-339 in Hall 2 – other special cables and wires
for a variety of industrial market segments – from
automotive, aerospace, medical technology, robotics,
instrumentation & control, and sensor technology to
the oil and gas industries.
For multi-core cables with the smallest of
diameters
The new modified PTFE from HEW-KABEL combines
for the first time outstanding performance
properties with reliable processability even in the
case of extremely small dimensions. Its mechanical
strength and electrical insulating strength exceed
those of conventional PTFE with the same wide
service temperature range (+260 °C to –190 °C), the
same high temperature and chemical resistance,
and unchanged good high-frequency properties
(permittivity and dielectric loss factor). This means
that the new specialty PTFE is suitable for the
production of insulations that can be made very much
thinner than was previously possible, but without
making any compromises on application properties.
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WIRE NEWS EVENTS October 2017
The potential is shown by a pilot application in the
form of a multi-core cable for the harsh oil production
environment. By switching to the new modified PTFE,
HEW-KABEL was able to reduce the thickness of the
insulations from their original 0.16 mm to 0.10 mm,
which thus permitted the specified 10% reduction in
the cable diameter. Furthermore, the new cable offers
almost double the flexural fatigue strength than the
previous design – without any change in cross-section,
dielectric strength, chemical resistance or tensile
strength.
Optimized low signal integrity
The HEW-SILENT technology developed by HEW-
KABEL makes a considerable contribution to avoiding
microphonic effects in signal cables and thus to an
optimized signal integrity, for example in medical
and measurement technology. Such effects can
occur with cables under mechanical load when a
conductor or screen rub against a non-conductor. The
resultant electrical charges can, despite their small
size, be so troublesome that they overlay the equally
small useful signals. The HEW-SILENT technology
minimizes the occurrence of such electrical charges
and is suitable for both coaxial cables and for paired
and multi-core cable constructions.
The basis of this technology are conductive tapes
based on PTFE with a particularly homogeneous
surface resistance in the low Ohm range. To
manufacture them, the company has developed a
special production line that enables the stringent
quality requirements to be continuously met. Apart
from that, the in-house production allows a large