With the help of custom cable design, businesses across a wide variety of industries can make use of custom cables that are specifically designed for unique applications, dimensions and industry requirements, enabling them to achieve their aims more effectively and efficiently. However, a business’s needs or industry standards aren’t usually static, so a custom cable that was previously fit for purpose may no longer be sufficient.
This is where cable enhancements or cable conversions come into play. With an experienced custom cable manufacturer like Custom Designed Cables, you can have your cables modified to meet changing requirements – eliminating the need for you to invest in an entirely new cable solution. You can even modify mass-produced cables as a more cost-effective alternative if your ideal custom cable only requires a few tweaks.
Knowing whether to invest in new cables or modify your existing cable equipment is a key skill that businesses should learn if they want to optimise costs and efficiency. Below, we’ll discuss what exactly can be achieved with cable enhancements to help you make a decision.
What are cable enhancements or cable conversions?
Simply put, a cable enhancement or cable conversion is the process of modifying your current cables to ensure they meet new industry standards or are optimised for new company procedures and objectives. For example, the main regulatory body in your industry may have introduced more stringent health and safety requirements for company equipment, forcing you to make some changes to outdated cables. Alternatively, due to changing business objectives, you may want your cables to fulfil slightly different functions or simply keep up with increasing performance demands as your business grows. Or maybe you’ve just changed your company branding and want all of your equipment to reflect this.
Whatever your reason is, choosing cable conversion is a more cost-effective way to ensure your current cable equipment meets your needs and industry standards. Buying completely new custom cables may be an unnecessary investment, especially if you only need minor adjustments. Plus, by reusing and modifying existing equipment, you will reduce the amount of waste your business produces, helping you achieve important environmental goals for your company and the wider industry.
5 types of cable enhancements
So what exactly can you get with cable enhancement services? Here are five of the main types of cable conversions you can invest in:
1. Cosmetic cable conversions
The first option – cosmetic cable enhancements – is probably the simplest one you can go for. Cosmetic changes are important for businesses that have recently changed company branding, such as their logo, company colours or company name. Instead of purchasing new custom cables stamped with their new branding, companies can modify their existing cables to save time, money and resources.
Cable conversion is typically focused on the cable jacket, which is the outermost layer of a cable used to protect the cable insulation, wiring and core from external elements, such as heat, moisture, chemicals and debris. For cosmetic cable conversions, the cable jacket could be removed and replaced with a new jacket featuring a new colour and printing (e.g. for the company name, logo or cable identification numbers). Sometimes, the old cable jacket is not removed and is instead over-sheathed with another cable jacket.
Not only are these minor modifications useful for company branding and aesthetic choices, but they’re also very important for ensuring all cables are properly identified and categorised. For example, you may have updated your equipment identification system and need all of your cables to have different numbers printed on them.
2. Cable shielding
Another common type of cable enhancement is cable shielding, also known as cable braiding or a cable screen. Cable shielding involves the application of a fine wire mesh or weaves over the cable’s twisted conductors. By shielding the conductors, this wire mesh (typically made from multiple plain or tinned Copper wire strands) reduces electromagnetic interference from external sources. Plus, it can improve the cable’s mechanical strength, which is vital if the cable is being used in harsh industrial environments.
Cable shielding services may be required if your current cables have been rendered obsolete by changing business or industry requirements. For example, if your cables now need to be deployed in an area with a greater potential for electromagnetic interference, you would need cable shielding to protect your cables and ensure all signals are transmitted quickly and correctly. Or, even if your requirements haven’t changed, adding cable shielding can improve the performance of your cables by reducing interference, making it a worthwhile investment to improve the efficiency of your equipment.
Cable armouring
Since cable shielding protects against both electromagnetic interference and general wear and tear, heavier-duty cable armouring is a great choice for businesses that need cable shielding to enable use in harsh industrial environments. Instead of using Copper wiring, a Galvanised Steel wire braid can be applied to the cable to provide enhanced protection – ideal for use in factories and heavy machinery. There is also the option of applying Galvanised Steel wire Armour if direct burial is required. Whilst this option offers much less flexibility than that of a braid, it provides even more heavy-duty protection to the cable.
3. Cable extrusion
Next, we have cable extrusion. This is also known as cable jacketing or cable sheathing and involves the application of cable jacketing to protect the cable’s internal cores from mechanical, environmental and chemical damage.
Cable extrusion is already a key part of the cable construction process, but can also be a cable enhancement service if you want to change your current cable jacketing for any reason. Need to apply a stronger, more flexible, waterproof or flame retardant cable jacket due to changing business requirements or a change in setting? Make sure you look for a reputable cable extrusion service so you don’t have to invest in totally new cables.
Cable extrusion can also involve cable over-sheathing as opposed to removing the original jacket as a much more cost-effective and timely solution. This option strengthens the cable further and increases its diameter, which may be useful for certain applications.
Cable insulation
One way this can be useful is for conductor insulation. Insulating a cable’s conductors is vital for improving performance, as this ensures the electrical current cannot move from its intended route. The thickness and material of the cable’s insulation will determine its maximum operating voltage, with thicker insulation being necessary for higher voltages. During the cable extrusion process, the right insulating and jacketing materials can be used to meet your new cable specifications.
Here at CDC, our insulating materials include various grades of:
- Polypropylene – PP
- Polyethylene – PE
- Polyvinyl Chloride – PVC
- Polyurethane – PUR/TPU
- Thermoplastic Elastomers – TPEs
- Thermoplastic Vulcanizate – TPV
- Low Smoke Zero Halogen LSOH/LSZH
- Polyamides – Nylon PA12, PA/11
- Cross-linked Polyethylenes – XLPE
- Cross-linked Polyolefins – XLPO
Bedding layers
Another way that a cable’s diameter can be increased is through the use of bedding layers, also known as cable fillers. These can be materials such as polyester, polypropylene or cotton.
Bedding layers or filler materials can not only increase cable diameter, but they can also improve roundness and overall shape – this is useful for custom cable designs with very specific size and shape requirements. Bedding layers will be added before the final cable jacketing, but if cable armouring is added as well, the filler materials will be applied before the armouring.
4. Strength members
A strength member is a cable component that supports cable integrity and is commonly made from solid or stranded steel wire, aramid fibres or fibreglass rods. Naturally, the addition of these strong materials is necessary when a cable is used in a harsh environment and/or must handle extreme tensile strength.
While these strength members can certainly be included during the initial custom cable design and manufacture, you may need cable enhancements with these materials if the requirements of your cables change, or if you find that your cables aren’t currently performing up to standard.
5. Water blocking
If the application of a waterproof cable jacket during cable extrusion still isn’t enough for you to meet requirements and standards, water blocking will make sure your cables are as protected as possible against the intrusion of liquids and moisture. A water-blocked cable is a type of cable that’s specifically designed to resist water damage, making it highly useful for more extreme applications where standard cable jacket waterproofing doesn’t cut it (e.g. in marine and offshore applications such as use on ships, submarines and oil rigs).
During the water-blocking process, tape or gel is added to the interstitial areas of a cable to protect against water ingress. The use of tape, also called dry water blocking, involves the application of this special tape to the internal components of the cable underneath the cable jacket. The tape’s absorbent side expands if the jacket is punctured, filling up the opening and preventing the entry of water. Similarly, gel water blocking involves the application of hydrophobic gel to the cable shielding, which will also block water from entering the cable.
Want to learn more about our cable enhancement, custom cable design and cable construction services? Contact us today for advice or a quote, or check out our blog for more informative guides.
