The key advantage of a cable carrier is that bus and motor cables, pneumatics, electrics and hydraulics can all be guided safely in one system. However, correctly arranging each cable and hose within your chosen cable carrier according to the recommended spacing requirements is vital if you want to prolong the service life of your system.

Although we would welcome the opportunity to recommend the optimal separation layout for your cables or hoses (call us anytime at 1 800-521-2747 or e-mail techupdates@igus.com), as the customer it's still you who makes the final decision.

For this reason, I wanted to explain in more detail the essential distribution rules to consider when organizing your cable and hose packages.

You can also find these on page 1.28-1.29 of the energy chain catalog.

Why use interior separation in the first place?

Interior separation is crucial in order to extend the service life of cables and hoses in your application.

Cables and hoses with different diameters and outer jacket materials need to be laid out separately using modular separators. A minimum clearance between cables, hoses and the cable carrier should also be maintained. (The maximum outside diameter we give for each cable series corresponds directly to this - ask us if you're unsure.)

Moreover, the faster and more frequently a cable carrier moves back and forth, the more important the exact positioning of the cables and hoses inside is.

Cramming in as many cables as possible into a cable carrier simply won't work. Cables can become permanently deformed - 'corkscrew' - or become tangled up with one another. If cables with different outer jacket materials - for example PVC and PUR - are placed side by side, then these can wear against each other and become 'stuck' together. All these scenarios can lead to premature failure.

Two essential rules

There are two key rules of distribution that should always be followed, so that cables and hoses can move freely at all times with no tensile force exerted at the radius of the cable carrier:

Rule 1: D1 + D2 > 1.2 x hi
If D1 + D2 > 1.2 x chain inner height, no separation between the two cables/hoses is necessary. Two cables or hoses should never be left unguided on top of one another or be allowed to become tangled.

Rule 2: d1 + d2 ≤ 1.2 x hi
If d1 + d2 ≤ 1.2 x chain inner height, a vertical separator or a horizontal shelf must be used to reduce the inner height, thereby preventing the entanglement of d1 and d2.

Further guidelines for distribution:
1. The cumulative weight of the cables and hoses should be evenly distributed across the width of the chain.

2. No more than two cables or hoses should be installed on top of one another.

3. Cables and hoses should always be strain relieved at the moving end and, whenever possible, at both ends. The exception is that hydraulic hoses should only be strain relieved at the moving end.

4. For high-speed applications and high cycles, cables or hoses must not be laid on top of each other without horizontal separation.

Note: The standard values for this are: travel speed over 1.64 ft/s and cycles over 10,000 p.a. igus® interior separation offers a safe solution for this situation. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, which is when our technical specialists come in. They can help you ensure your system will operate properly, with the maximum service life for your application.