When you need to save space or improve the ease of installation, the use of composite cables or hybrid cables is a must. These are types of multicore cables that contain multiple conductors within the same cable jacket, allowing you to improve the performance of your cables or reduce the overall number of cables you need to handle different applications.
Keep reading to learn more about the benefits and uses of composite cable.
What are composite cables?
Composite cables are a type of multicore cable that contains multiple types of the same transmission medium. For example, this could be a copper power cable with multiple copper conductors – even in different sizes or with some pairs and single strands – or this could be a fibre optic cable containing multiple plastic or glass optic fibres for data transmission.
Benefits of composite cable
So, what’s the benefit of having multiple conductors within the same cable? Multicore or composite cables benefit from increased durability and flexibility due to the greater cable shielding and insulation surrounding the conductors. This shielding is also essential for reducing electromagnetic interference, and as a result, composite cables boast much greater signal integrity.
In addition, one of the most obvious benefits of composite cables is that they help you save space, which is especially important in setups with limited room for installation. As the name suggests, single-core cables only contain one conductor surrounded by insulation and a cable sheath. This means that they’re quite an ineffective use of space compared to composite cables, which contain multiple conductors within a similar-sized sheath. Often, multicore cables contain thinner and lighter conductors to make them even more flexible, easy to handle, and space-efficient.
However, the advantage that single-core cables have over composite cables is that they can carry higher voltages. This is because they can handle more current without overheating. Composite cables are better suited to low-voltage applications.
Uses of composite cable
Since composite cables are used to carry low voltages, they’re frequently used in the communications industry. Low-voltage cables are safer because they carry a lower risk of electrical shocks and fires, which means they can be used safely and reliably in communications networks (e.g., for mobile data and Wi-Fi). Plus, since composite cables have better signal integrity, this heightens their reliability. For national power and data networks, highly reliable cables are needed to ensure there are no outages.
Thanks to their safety and reliability, low-voltage composite cables are often used in buildings to reduce the risk of fires. Plus, as explained above, these cables are more flexible and easier to install, which helps to explain their ubiquity.
Within residential and commercial buildings, composite cables can be used for a huge variety of applications, including:
- Lighting cables
- Security systems
- Audio/visual cables and systems, including television and intercoms
- Telephones
- Smart devices
What are hybrid cables?
The terms ‘composite cable’ and ‘hybrid cable’ are often used interchangeably, but they actually refer to different types of multicore cable. While composite cables contain multiple conductors of the same type, hybrid cables contain different transmission/conductor media, allowing them to fulfil multiple functions at the same time. For example, a hybrid cable could contain both metallic conductors (such as copper conductors) and fibre optic conductors, allowing them to transmit power and data simultaneously.
Within a hybrid cable, the plastic or glass optic fibres enable faster transmission of data than copper wires because they transmit data in the form of pulses of light, which aren’t vulnerable to electromagnetic interference or the same level of signal latency. The addition of copper conductors alongside these fibre optic conductors enables the efficient transmission of power as well as data, allowing you to use just one cable to fulfil two functions.
Benefits of hybrid cable
Again, the main benefit of this type of cable is that it can fulfil more than one function, allowing you to use fewer cables in your setup to achieve the same effect. This makes installation much quicker and easier, especially if you’re working with quite limited space.
Hybrid cables are often a combination of copper power cables and fibre optic data cables, but you can also combine different applications like control, instrumentation, communications and more. In fact, if you design custom multicore cables with an experienced cable manufacturer like Custom Designed Cables, you can choose the components and materials you need to create the perfect hybrid cable for your project, with the exact dimensions, specifications, applications, and lengths you need.
While a custom multicore cable might initially be more expensive, the amount of time and money you save when installing fewer cables can make this a worthwhile investment. Plus, you need to consider that a custom cable is designed and tested specifically for your environment and application, making it much more durable. Therefore, in the long term, you won’t have to spend as much money on cable repairs and replacements.
Uses of hybrid cable
Hybrid cables can be used in pretty much any environment that requires cables to perform multiple functions. By replacing your single-core cables with multicore varieties, you can make your overall cable setup much simpler, neater, and easier to keep track of.
Hybrid cables are most frequently found in applications where a connection is needed between points that receive multiple types of signals. These can include:
- 5G networks
- Towing cables and marine cables for marine sonar systems
- Military cables in military communications systems
- Industrial cables for industrial automation and process control systems (i.e., controlling production lines)
- Medical cables for machinery like MRI scanners (requires precise data transmission and a reliable power supply)
- Audio/visual systems
- Connecting computer networks and devices
Composite video cable
Composite cables can also refer to a type of video cable that’s used for older technologies. Composite video is an analogue video signal that combines all visual information (e.g., chrominance and luminance) into one single signal. The video information is also encoded on one channel, unlike component video which splits it into multiple channels. Therefore, composite video is lower quality than modern technologies, and is typically only used by older devices like VHS players and early digital cameras. This type of video also can’t carry high-definition signals.
Composite video cables are used for audio and video transmission with these older technologies. They use three different colour-coded connectors: yellow for video, white for the left audio channel, and red for the right audio channel. HDMI cables are used instead for modern technologies, including high-definition devices, but you may have use for composite video cables if you want to connect to an old system. Plus, if you want to display footage from old equipment on a modern screen, you can use a composite to HDMI converter to convert the analogue composite signal into a digital HDMI signal.
One type of technology that still sometimes uses composite video (except for newer models) is CCTV. Replacing all of these older systems would be very costly, which is why many businesses have stuck with composite CCTV and security systems.
Recently, there has been an increase in demand for composite security cables. These cables combine power and multiple signal and video elements, making installation much easier and more efficient.
Is your business in need of a composite cable solution? No matter what your requirements are, we can either supply the correct cables for you or help you design your perfect composite cable. Contact us today to arrange a consultation.
