The newly introduced readycable hybrid cable series from motion plastics and cable manufacturer igus serves a dual role for transmission of power as well as data. By doing so, this design saves on installation time as well as space and is suitable for drive technology available from several major OEMs.

Save installation space and weight with just one cable for power and data: it’s easy with harnessed igus readycable hybrid cables. New to the range are ready-to-connect cables suitable for SEW-EURODRIVE with MOVILINK DDI and Siemens SINAMICS S210 with OCC. In addition to PUR, the latter is also available with an outer jacket made of cost-effective PVC. Macros for the EPLAN Electric P8 software speed up cable planning by around 50%.

Reducing the complexity of automation solutions while saving money, time and installation space is a declared goal of engineers all over the world. This applies to cable planning as well. Here, so-called hybrid technology has become one of the major trends in recent years. While servo drive systems used to require several cables to transmit energy and data, hybrid cables simply combine the cores.

“Hybrid technology is a pioneering development that we, as a cable specialist, are one hundred percent convinced is the way to go,” says Ian Hewat, managing director of igus South Africa. “We are therefore continuously expanding our portfolio of ready-to-connect hybrid cables from the readycable series in order to offer our customers a fast, reliable, cost-effective solution for continuous use in energy chains.”

igus is expanding its product portfolio of harnessed hybrid cables, adding ready-to-connect cables suitable for SEW-EURODRIVE with MOVILINK DDI and Siemens SINAMICS S210 with OCC. Image credit: igus GmbH

igus is expanding its product portfolio of harnessed hybrid cables, adding ready-to-connect cables suitable for SEW-EURODRIVE with MOVILINK DDI and Siemens SINAMICS S210 with OCC. Image credit: igus GmbH

The latest addition to the readycable series includes two models: a hybrid cable for motors from SEW-EURODRIVE, a German manufacturer, with the MOVILINK DDI interface, and a hybrid cable for Siemens servo drives suitable for SINAMICS S210. In addition to PUR, the outer jacket can be made of the lower-cost polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

To save even more project planning time, igus also provides direct links to the macros for the EPLAN Electric P8 planning software on their website. This allows the cables to be dragged and dropped into the digital cable plan as building blocks, reducing cable planning time by up to 50%. Like all cables in the readycable series, the new hybrid cables have a strong outer jacket, a strain-relieved core, movement-optimised stranded wires, a stranded structure with a short pitch length and a gusset-filling extruded inner jacket.

“This design and these high-quality materials make our new hybrid cables fail-safe in continuous use in energy chains, even in compact applications,” says Ian. Materials with good electromagnetic compatibility prevent the energy and data transmission cores from having a negative influence on each other. All models have undergone several million test cycles in the 3 800 square meter igus test laboratory. igus therefore offers an above average chainflex cable guarantee of 36 months. They also provide an online tool, with which customers can calculate the expected service life of their specific application.