The application and development of flat cables and their structural advantages

▍ Origin and Advantages

Flat cables were initially widely used in electronic devices due to their flexibility and compact wiring, and gradually entered the field of household appliances. Flat cables, a model of multi-core cables, initially shone brightly in the fields of electronic computers and electronic instruments. With its excellent flexibility and compact wiring space, it quickly gained a foothold in numerous household appliances such as telephones and tape recorders.

▍ Technological Innovation and Challenges

With the continuous changes in market demand, the development of new flat cables has become a hot topic in the industry. Insulating shift connectors simplify termination, but they also impose higher requirements on the geometric dimensions of cables, increasing manufacturing complexity. The emergence of insulated shift connectors has made the termination of flat cables simpler and more reliable. However, this also poses more stringent challenges to the geometric dimensions of flat cables, such as the tolerance of the center distance between lines, the cumulative error of the center distance, and the insulation thickness, thereby increasing the complexity of their manufacturing.

Application scenarios and comparative advantages

▍ Application in special places

Flat cables perform exceptionally well in scenarios such as lifting equipment, elevators, and cranes, and are suitable for power, control, and communication transmission. Flat cables perform exceptionally well in special applications such as lifting equipment, cable tracks, trolleys, and transmission machinery. They can also be used as power transmission lines for mobile electrical appliances like elevators, cranes, tower cranes, and telescopic machinery, as well as for control, lighting, and communication circuits. In addition, it is also suitable for the connection and installation of moving mechanical parts in a closed indoor environment.

▍ Installation space and cost advantages

Compared with round cables, flat cables take up less space with the same number of cores, are easy to install and have a lower cost. It has significant advantages in saving installation space and costs, especially when the number of core wires is the same, its bending radius is smaller, making wiring more convenient.

Structural and material characteristics

▍ Conductive core and insulating layer

The core wire is soft and has enhanced anti-corrosion and cold resistance. The insulation color separation design makes it convenient for laying, and reinforcing components can be customized. The conductive core of the flat cable adopts a soft structure, ensuring the excellent flexibility of the cable. Its insulation and protective layer materials are made of styrene-butadiene polymer, which not only enhances the flexibility of the cable but also endows it with excellent anti-corrosion and cold resistance performance. In addition, the color separation design of insulated wire cores has brought great convenience to the laying and installation of cables. According to customer requirements, we can also add steel wire ropes or other load-bearing components on both sides of the cable core. Meanwhile, coaxial cables can also be customized as elevator flat cables dedicated to communication.

▍ Flexible flat cable

Made of multiple strands of copper wire and insulating materials, it features the characteristic of being bendable and foldable, with a flexible design that helps save product volume and cost. Flexible flat cable is a flat type of cable composed of multiple strands of copper wire twisted conductors wrapped in insulating materials. After being finely processed by high-tech automated equipment production lines and pressed with sheath materials, it ultimately presents the characteristics of being soft and capable of being bent and folded at will. It is relatively thin in thickness, small in size, simple to connect and easy to disassemble, providing an ideal solution for data transmission or power transmission in electrical equipment. In addition, according to actual needs, the number and spacing of wires can be flexibly selected, making the connection more convenient, effectively reducing the product volume, lowering production costs, and simultaneously enhancing production efficiency.