It isn’t exactly a “secret” that industrial environments place heavy demands on electrical infrastructure. This can drive up the risk of cable failure, which in turn brings about costly downtime, safety hazards, and a need for time-consuming repairs.
For any engineer with responsibility for an industrial installation, it should therefore be obvious enough that steps need to be taken to protect cables from mechanical damage, environmental hazards, abrasion, moisture, chemicals, and fire.
In fact, doing so isn’t merely best practice. It can also help demonstrate compliance with relevant regulations and standards wherever in the world such professionals may be working, such as the IET Wiring Regulations (the BS 7671 standard) in the case of UK-based workers.
5 Proven Forms of Industrial Cable Protection
Even high-quality industrial cables can fail prematurely in the absence of suitable protection and routing. So, it is fortunate that the industrial cable products at RS Online and other suppliers aren’t limited to the cables themselves.
Indeed, engineers can call upon a wide range of proven cable protection methods and specialist solutions that are designed to withstand punishing industrial conditions. However, it might not be immediately obvious to them what the best such products are.
Below, then, are five cable management and protection solutions that should be known by every engineer operating in an industrial setting.
Cable Conduit Systems
Cable conduit is one of the most widely used protection methods. It provides a physical barrier around cables, thereby shielding them from impact, abrasion, and environmental contaminants.
Various conduit materials are available. For general indoor use, an engineer might look to PVC conduit, whereas when it comes to applications that necessitate heavy-duty industrial protection, steel conduit may be their choice.
Conduit can be a particularly useful cable protection option in factories where cables pass near machinery, forklifts, or exposed floor areas.
Cable Trunking and Cable Tray Systems
Where the need exists to organise and protect multiple cable runs at the same time as simplifying maintenance access, cable trunking can be greatly helpful. This cable protection method tends to be used in control panels, commercial buildings, manufacturing plants, and data and communication installations.
For large-scale industrial routing that requires good airflow, accessibility, and scalability, an engineer may invest in cable trays.
Well-designed tray systems can also be useful for maintaining correct cable separation between power and data lines, so that interference issues can be kept to a minimum.
Braided Sleeving and Expandable Cable Sleeves
Industrial engineers often place their trust in braided sleeving for the purposes of abrasion resistance and cable bundling. This product can also be useful for improving cable organisation and airflow inside densely populated panels.
As their name indicates, expandable cable sleeves are designed to expand, often significantly beyond their resting diameter. This allows them to easily accommodate bulky groups of cables, before springing back to hold (and protect) the wires tightly.
Shielded And Screened Cables
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) continues to be a major concern for engineers with responsibility for industrial automation systems. Electrical noise can easily arise from motors, variable frequency drives (VFDs), transformers, and switching equipment. If this happens, signal integrity may be adversely impacted.
Shielded cables can be invaluable for driving down EMI, due to their use of foil or braided screening around conductors. This can be particularly crucial for such applications as Ethernet networks, sensor wiring, and instrumentation systems.
Reputable suppliers stock screened Ethernet cables, control cables, and multipair industrial cables that are an excellent match for industrial communication systems and automation infrastructure.
Heat Shrink Tubing
Heat shrink tubing is a specialised, shrinkable plastic sleeve that can contract tightly around cables when exposed to heat.
This relatively simple principle means heat shrink tubing can help protect cables against such risks as moisture ingress, corrosion, mechanical strain, and chemical exposure. It can be especially useful during maintenance and repair work, as it provides quick and dependable protection without extensive rework.
Different Industrial Cable Protection Products Suit Different Circumstances
There is, of course, no single protection method that fits every industrial application. So, when engineers are assessing their options, they will need to evaluate the environmental conditions, mechanical stress levels, electrical noise exposure, flexibility requirements, and other aspects of their project and site.
In many cases, the optimal solution will combine multiple approaches, such as screened cables inside PVC or metallic conduit. The latter conduit material, for instance, might be necessary in extremely harsh electromagnetic environments, even where screened or shielded cables are also used.
As a “takeaway” from this article, engineers should remember that industrial cable protection is crucial for reasons going well beyond mere tidiness. By putting the right protection strategy in place, such professionals can enhance reliability, minimise downtime, and extend the operational lifespan of their critical systems.
