A ribbon cable is a cable with many conducting wires running parallel to each other on the same flat plane.
In the ribbon cable-specific properties you can determine the ribbon cable's characteristics including its structure. The following properties are available:
Property |
Description |
---|---|
Width |
Mandatory property. Width of the ribbon cable. |
Height |
Mandatory property. Height of the ribbon cable determined by the diameter of its wires. Note: Click the AutoCompute link to have the width and height automatically calculated in accordance with the cable content defined in the Wire list section. |
Min. bending radius |
Minimally permitted radius of bending according to the data sheet of the cable used. Note: It is determined in multiples of the Outside diameter value. |
Max. voltage |
Maximally permitted voltage for safe operation. |
Color |
Color of the ribbon cable when placed in the EPLAN Harness proD workspace. |
Fixed lengths |
Available for ribbon cables which are supplied not in footage, but in fixed lengths. If you activate the Fixed lengths only check box, you can enter the supplied lengths in the list below. |
Wire list
This section serves to define the ribbon cable content. The following properties are available:
- Wire: A wire provides electrical connectivity between pins. Typically it has a core of drawn or rolled metal whose length exceeds its diameter.
- Strain relief: A stranded wire which does not provide electrical connectivity. It serves to increase the ribbon cable's mechanical resistance (especially the pulling force).
The available properties of the individual ribbon cable components are listed in the following table:
Available properties |
Wire |
Strain relief |
Name |
● |
● |
Color |
● |
|
Min. bending radius |
● |
- |
Color code |
● |
- |
Imprint |
● |
- |
Material |
● |
- |
Max. current |
● |
- |
Max. voltage |
● |
- |
Resistance |
● |
- |
Strands |
● |
- |
Cross-section |
● |
- |
Insulation |
● |
- |
Outside diameter |
● |
- |
Multi-color |
● |
- |
Stripe color |
● |
- |
Name - item name.
Color - color of the wire.
Min. bending radius - minimally permitted radius of bending according to the data sheet of the cable used. It is set in multiples of the Outside diameter value.
Color code - system of different colors or stripes used to identify components of cables such as the individual conductors or groups of conductors.
Imprint - printed number or a combination of characters and numbers which are printed on a wire for identification.
Material - material from which a wire is made.
Max. current - maximally permitted current for safe operation.
Max. voltage - maximally permitted voltage for safe operation.
Resistance - maximally permitted electrical resistance a wire can have.
Strands - number of strands of which a wire is composed.
Cross-section - "metal" cross-section of the wire, usually in [mm²] or [AWG].
Insulation - adds an insulation to the wire. If activated, the outside diameter can be entered manually; if not activated, the outside diameter is calculated automatically.
Outside diameter - outside diameter of the wire including its insulation.
Multi-color - makes the Stripe color option available.
Mapping
In the Connectable objects section you can assign (using the part navigator) connectors to both cable ends (but you can also assign just one connectable object to one end). Then you can determine a wiring in the Wire / pin mapping table. To do so select a pin from the drop-down list for each wire and connectable object. If you want to leave some wires un-connected, activate the corresponding check box.
Note:
It is only possible to use connectable objects containing a ribbon grouped pin in connection with ribbon cables. The connectable objects containing ribbon grouped pins with the Inline pin option check-marked cannot be used for ribbon cable mapping.