Leading manufacturers of instrumentation cables
If you’re searching for high-quality instrumentation cables and custom instrumentation cable designs, you’ve come to the right place. At Custom Designed Cables, we’ve manufactured thousands of custom cables to meet unique customer requirements, including a wide variety of single-pair and multi-pair instrumentation cables for process control applications. With our fast turnaround times, years of experience and ISO 9001:2015, UL & CSA approvals, we have the expertise needed to deliver effective instrumentation cable solutions to meet tight deadlines and strict industry standards.
Contact us now to see how we can help with a custom instrumentation cable.
What is an instrumentation cable?
Instrumentation cables are multi-conductor cables that are vital for effective and reliable signal transmission and process control applications across a wide range of industries. An electrical instrumentation cable transmits signals between instruments and control systems, making them important for industrial process control. This can be in a variety of settings, such as plants and factories where processing operations need to be measured and controlled using electrical equipment.
In demanding sectors such as the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries, instrumentation cables must be reliable enough to ensure precise signal transmission for effective control and measurement operations. They must be resistant to electrical interference and environmental stressors, which can be achieved through the application of cable shielding and cable armouring during the manufacturing process.
Control and instrumentation cables are often confused with each other because they’re both industrial cables used for measurement and control applications. However, instrumentation cables are designed to transmit low-energy data or communication signals, and control cables are designed to carry power signals to control or operate machinery. Because instrumentation cables are designed for signal transmission rather than power transmission like control cables, they typically handle lower voltages and currents.
Learn more about control/instrumentation cables in our Complete Guide to Instrumentation Cables.
Types of instrumentation cables
There are many instrumentation cable types to suit various environments, industry standards and applications. These can include:
- Instrumentation process control cables (often used in plants and factories)
- Armoured control instrumentation cables (for harsh industrial environments and direct burial)
- Subsea instrumentation cables and marine instrumentation cables (designed specifically for offshore applications)
- Custom instrumentation cables (encompassing all instrumentation cables that have been modified to suit a specific function)
As you can see, many instrumentation cables fall into the ‘custom’ category. This is because instrumentation signal cables are often custom-built to suit a customer’s specific needs and applications, or an existing cable is modified to better suit a specific function. For example, if direct burial is needed to install an instrumentation cable, it should be modified through the application of cable armouring to ensure it can withstand its harsh environment.
Uses for instrumentation cables
Since instrumentation cables can be used for almost any application involving the transmission of voice and data, they can be used in a very broad range of equipment across many industries. These uses and environments include:
- Medical equipment
- Factories and production lines
- Electrical system monitoring
- Subsea cable networks
- Powering small transmission devices
- … and more
For example, large multi-core instrumentation cables are used for signal transmission in medical settings, such as in MRI scanners. At the same time, you can also find much smaller instrumentation cables used for handheld voice transmission devices like walkie-talkies. This versatility means that there are many potential applications and designs for instrumentation cables, which is why they are often custom-built to suit a specific purpose. While highly unique designs may be needed for some customers, most organisations typically utilise basic instrumentation cables with a few tweaks to suit their particular requirements.
Bespoke instrumentation cable construction
Because instrumentation cables are often custom-built to suit a customer’s specific needs and applications, there can be a lot of variation during construction. The final product will be affected by the size of the equipment, the conditions in which the cable will have to operate, the types of tasks the cable will have to power, the level of cable shielding and screening required to resist electromagnetic interference, and more. Therefore, while the base of the instrumentation cable will usually consist of a black cable jacket, all other elements (such as the number of cores) can vary.
The different elements involved in instrumentation cable construction and available for modification include:
- Conductors – Stranding, metal type
- Cable insulation material
- Cable shielding choices (aluminium foils or braid screens)
- Drain wire
- Inner sheath material
- Cable armour type (braid or SWA)
- Outer sheath material
Why choose Custom Designed Cables for instrumentation cables?
Whether you already have an instrumentation cable design in mind or don’t know exactly what you need, Custom Designed Cables is here to help. As experienced instrumentation cable manufacturers, we have the expertise needed to create bespoke cable solutions after researching your particular application, so no matter what your project is, we can design and manufacture high-quality instrumentation cables that suit your exact requirements. We’ll work with you at every stage to ensure that your instrumentation cables are suitable for your project and will be delivered to meet strict deadlines and industry standards.
Our excellent customer service and fast turnaround times are the cornerstone of the service that we offer. We maintain constant communication with our clients throughout each project to ensure that all products are delivered on time and to the highest quality standard, even for the most challenging deadlines.
In addition to exceptionally fast turnaround times and high-quality cable construction, we offer:
- Full adherence to cable industry standards
- Access to a comprehensive material and component library
- Free consultation and advice
Contact us today to get a quote for your instrumentation cable requirements.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between a control cable and an instrumentation cable?
Both types of cables are important in industrial settings to control and monitor equipment. However, control cables are designed for power distribution and ensuring that equipment is directly controlled, whereas instrumentation cables transmit data to monitor and measure equipment. Since they’re designed for data transmission rather than power transmission, instrumentation cables carry lower voltages and currents than control cables.
Are all instrumentation cables the same?
Definitely not! In fact, instrumentation cables are often custom-built for a specific environment and application, as they must be able to transmit highly accurate and precise signals no matter what environmental stressors they are exposed to. For example, in harsh industrial environments or scenarios where direct burial is needed, the instrumentation cable would need to be modified with cable armouring.
How can an instrumentation cable be customised?
Here at CDC, we can modify existing instrumentation cables or construct bespoke cables from scratch to ensure all components work together seamlessly for accurate signal transmission. We offer a wide range of cable enhancement services, including cable armouring, cable shielding, cable extrusion and cable printing, to customise as much or as little of the cable as you’d like.
