Developed for use in energy chains, igus has introduced its Chainflex CFBUS.PUR.042 SPE [Single Pair Ethernet] cable.
The manufacturer says the new cable is designed to fit perfectly with the T1 connector interface, which has been developed specially for SPE. As a result, durable shielding is retained, resulting in high electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). The combination of cable and connector is extremely robust: igus uses an abrasion-resistant, notch-proof PUR jacket, and the connector uses robust metal latches with a PCB jack.
The company contends the reduction in the size of cable and connector creates the opportunity to use its smallest e-chain series. igus notes that Single Pair Ethernet technology is also an alternative to standard field buses such as Profibus and CC-Link, as well as Ethernet derivatives such as Profinet and CC-Link IE. The new, oil resistant and flame-retardant SPE cable comes with a guaranteed service life of 10 million double strokes and 36 months.
As noted in an igus press release, "Every day, sensors generate vast amounts of data worldwide and this continues to rise. Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) technology offers completely new opportunities to transmit these data streams reliably even in the most confined areas of the machine...While a few years ago CAT5 was the standard and CAT5e was a quantum leap, CAT6a and CAT7 are increasingly in demand today. However, all developments so far have ended at the last ‘intelligent’ component of the machine; this is because the size of the cable and the connector were too big to implement connections to the smallest sensors."
“The SPE cable uses only one pair of wires instead of the usual four, reducing the outer diameter of the cable by 25%,” explains Justin Leonard, product line director at igus. “Although this reduces the data rate from 10MBit/s to 1GBit/s, it is fast enough for many sensor applications.”
For more information about the chainflex SPE cables, please visit: www.igus.co.uk/chainflex.