Rotating And Turning

Robots are getting more compact and agile. Cable manufacturers have to design cables that meet the growing requirements.

- Frank Rothermund

It’s a time of revolution in industry - automation, digitalisation, Industry 4.0 are just some of the current buzzwords. Robotics is an area that is developing rapidly. Worldwide, growth in the installation of industrial robots has been 16 percent per year on average since 2010, with annual growth forecast to be 13 percent by 2019. The automotive industry continues to dominate, but other sectors are definitely catching up, with use in consumer electronics increasing particularly sharply. As part of this trend, small and medium-sized producers are increasingly investing.

Manufacturers of robots are responding with new models that are more compact, more versatile and last longer. In the past, robots would be replaced when a product generation was phased out, but today they are taking on new tasks - and these change more frequently than before. The variety of movements means that the loads on certain components are increasing, particularly the cables. They perform torsion and kinking movements, frequently a mixture of the two, and with different bending radii and torsion angles as well.

Standard cables often unsuitable

Lapp has numerous robust cable types in its standard range, which have performed for years without failing on many robots. However, these standard cables are not necessarily suitable for special applications such as those outlined above - and these applications are on the increase. This is where cables uncompromisingly tailored for the specific use come into play. For cable manufacturers, robotics can be seen as the supreme discipline.

The most important difference between robot cables and conventional moving cables is that the former have to withstand both bending and torsion over their entire service life, and in development they are designed fundamentally differently to a power chain cable, for example. There are three key parameters:

Relocated to class 6