EuroWire March 2018

Technology News

Range of new products

AMONG the variety of new products from cable manufacturer Hew-Kabel, of Wipperfürth, Germany, are a modified PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) for ultra-thin yet highly resistant insulations, and the Hew-Silent technology, also based on PTFE, for minimising microphonic effects when transmitting low signals. The company also has other special cables and wires for a variety of industrial market segments – from automotive, aerospace, medical technology, robotics, instrumentation and control, and sensor technology to the oil and gas industries. The new modified PTFE from Hew-Kabel combines 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 PTFE is suitable for the production of insulations that can be made much thinner than previously possible, but without making compromises on application properties. 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 0.16mm to 0.1mm, which permitted the specified 10 per cent reduction in the cable diameter. Furthermore, the new cable offers almost double the flexural fatigue strength of the previous design – without any change in cross-section, dielectric strength,

▲ ▲ Modified PTFE for ultra-thin insulations

production line that enables the stringent quality requirements to be continuously met. In-house production allows a large amount of versatility with regard to the design and dimensions for a variety of different products, with which, because of the good plasticity, even complex geometries like the surface of a cable shield can be replicated. Thanks to this development, Hew-Kabel can also apply very thin conductive layers with a high level of uniformity. The effectiveness of the Hew-Silent technology is shown, for example, in its use for a twisted-pair wire in which the microphonic effect was lowered from a critical 1.4 per cent – with the same wire design – to 0.2 per cent (approximate figures). Hew-Kabel – Germany Website : www.hew-kabel.com

chemical resistance or tensile strength. The Hew-Silent technology makes a considerable contribution to avoiding microphonic effects in signal cables and to an optimised 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 troublesome if they overlay the equally small useful signals. The Hew-Silent technology minimises 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 is 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

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March 2018