Ultra-flexible Miniature Cables Offer Good Flexibility to Satisfy Space-constrained Designs

Ultra-flexible Miniature Cables Offer Good Flexibility to Satisfy Space-constrained Designs
Published: Monday, 20 April 2020 4:30 PM

When it comes to flexible cable, the first thought that comes to mind may be large cable carriers or large robots in an automated manufacturing environment. However, an increasing need for repetitive motion in smaller devices is challenging designers across industries as diverse as military, consumer, computers and IT, telecom, biomedical and medical. Not only must cables in small devices provide good flexibility over many cycles, they also have to provide an ultra-tight bending radius. Recently ultra-flexible cables have become an attractive option, allowing engineers designing devices as small as a wristwatch to realize the benefits of flexible cables. Here’s what to look for when selecting flexible cables for your space-constrained design:

Miniature size. Smaller AWG sizes and diameters than conventional flexible cables.
Flexible conductor. Fine wire copper conductors that tolerate flex cycles in the millions.
High strand count. When more fine wire strands absorb bending stress, the entire conductor is subject to less strain.
Flexible insulation. Silicone rubber offers the most desirable flexibility among insulation materials, followed by flexible formulations of PVC, and thinly insulated FEP and PTFE.
Durability. Cables should withstand harsh conditions such as chemicals, abrasion, moisture and flames to operate over a long lifetime.
High temperature resistance. Various flexible cable applications, such as medical, may require resistance to high temperatures.

Daburn Electronics’ DAFLEX ultra-flexible miniature cables combine small AWG sizes and wire diameters with high strand-count copper conductors that stand up to the stress of repetitive flexing. With sizes down to 42 AWG and several cable options within the family, reliable, long-lasting cable can be designed into miniature-size devices. Available conductors include bare, tinned, and silver plated copper, and DaflexAlloy14 — a high-strength copper alloy. The series also offers various insulation and jacketing choices to address environmental challenges like flexibility in low temperatures and resistance to chemicals, abrasion, moisture and flames. Among the insulators, silicone rubber is popular thanks to its high flexibility and lower cost, while FEP’s non-toxicity makes it appropriate for biomedical applications. FEP’s lubricity also helps designers route the cables into tight spaces. There’s a DAFLEX ultra-flexible miniature cable type that can satisfy your application needs:

Data processing, mercury thermostats, magnetic memory drums, rotational servo platforms and robotics: Extra-flexible miniature and subminiature cables.
Various military and commercial applications, and medical instruments requiring high temperature resistance: Ultra-flexible silicone rubber cables.
Low voltage applications such as computers, biomedical instruments, missiles, robotics, recorders and servers. Also, medical applications requiring small diameters, non-toxic insulators or high temperature resistance: Ultra-flexible silicone rubber cables, DaflexAlloy 14 high-strength FEP subminiature cables and miniature/subminiature shielded cables.
Mobile phones, computers, tablets, watches and other applications where miniaturization is required: Ultra-flexible microminiature shielded cables.

RoHS-compliant DAFLEX ultra-miniature flexible cables are available in a variety of AWG sizes and thin wire diameters with voltages from 70 to 600V. Special custom designs can be quoted, mixing AWGs within a cable or twisted pair configurations.

When selecting flexible cables for your space-constrained design, be sure to choose from a lineup of miniature cables that offers a wide array of options to satisfy the unique requirements of a broad range of applications. Daburn Electronics’ DAFLEX ultra-flexible miniature cables come in small diameters, exhibit tight bending radii, stand up to high flexing cycles and resist harsh conditions to satisfy the needs of most any application.

For more information about Daburn Electronics’ DAFLEX ultra-flexible miniature cables, visit the product page: DAFLEX Ultra-Flexible Miniature Cables

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