Drag Chain

The cable drag chain is a special kind of special cable with abrasion resistance, oil resistance and strong flexibility. It is suitable for occasions where the equipment unit needs to move back and forth. Put the cable into the cable drag chain to protect the cable from damage when it moves backward with the drag chain. Buy a low-cost cable drag chain to protect your cable, and you can customize it to any length you like.

What is cable drag chain?

The cable drag chain is a special special cable with abrasion resistance, oil resistance and strong flexibility. It is suitable for occasions where the equipment unit needs to move back and forth. Put the cable in the cable drag chain to protect the cable from damage when it moves back with the drag chain.

Drag chain cables are suitable for equipment connection lines and drag chain occasions where equipment is frequently moved repeatedly. It can effectively prevent cables from entanglement, abrasion, pull-off and disorganization. They are mainly used in industrial electronic systems, automatic generation lines, storage equipment, robots, fire protection systems, cranes, CNC machine tools and metallurgical industries, etc.

How to use chain cable?

• The towline cable cannot be twisted, that is, the cable cannot be unwound from one end of the cable drum or cable reel. Instead, the cable reel or cable reel should be rotated to unwind the cable. If necessary, the cable can be unrolled or suspended. The cable for this occasion can only be obtained directly from the cable roll.
• Attention must be paid to the minimum bending radius of the cable.
• The cables must be laid loosely side by side in the drag chain, arranged separately as much as possible, separated by spacers or penetrated into the separation cavity of the bracket void, the gap between the cables in the drag chain should be at least 10% of the cable diameter.
• The cables in the drag chain must not touch each other or be bundled together.
• Both points of the cable must be fixed, or at least the moving end of the drag chain must be fixed. Generally, the distance between the moving point of the cable and the end of the drag chain should be 20-30 times the diameter of the cable.
• Ensure that the cable moves completely within the bending radius, that is, it cannot be forced to move. In this way, the cables can be moved relative to each other or the guiding device. After a period of operation, it is best to check the position of the cable. This inspection must be performed after the push-pull movement.

Type of cable drag chain

According to the drag chain material can be divided into steel drag chain, steel aluminum drag chain, plastic drag chain, stainless steel drag chain, nylon drag chain.
According to the form of cable drag chain can be divided into bridge towing chain, multi-linked bridge towing chain, closed towing chain, muffled towing chain, open towing chain, universal towing chain, tank chain, threading chain, etc.

Difference between drag chain and ordinary cable

In the industrial field, cable drag chain has been more and more widely used. However, many users do not understand the difference between drag chain and ordinary cable. Let's take ATO drag chain as an example to explain the difference between drag chain and ordinary cable from three aspects: conductor, insulation and sheath.

The conductor of drag chain uses finely stranded copper wires, while ordinary cables also use thin copper wires. For the core wires of the same cross-section, the diameter of the monofilament in the drag chain conductor is smaller than that of ordinary cables, in order to ensure the physical properties of the conductors. The performance and electrical performance are stable. Generally, a multi-threaded 4N conductor is used. The conductor is bright and bright, and has good toughness; the resistivity is low, and the wire does not heat up under the rated load for a long time.

The insulation requirements of drag chain are very high, with strong hardness, adhesion resistance, and good toughness. The insulation of ordinary cable is to use non-conductive materials to isolate or wrap the charged body.

The sheath of drag chian generally requires tensile strength, strong abrasion resistance, adhesion resistance, and high toughness, while ordinary wire and cable have lower requirements in this respect.

Cable drag chain installation tips

1. Do not untie the cable from one end of the cable drag chain. Instead, rotate the cable drag chain to unfold the cable. If necessary, unfold or hang the cable.  
2. Attention must be paid to the minimum bending radius of the cable.
3. The cables must be laid loosely side by side in the drag chain, separated as much as possible, separated by spacers or penetrated into the separation cavity of the bracket, the gap between the cables in the drag chain should be at least 10% of the cable diameter.
4. The cables in the drag chain must not touch each other or be bundled together.
5. Both points of the cable must be fixed, or at least the moving end of the drag chain must be fixed. Generally, the distance between the moving point of the cable and the end of the able drag chain should be 20-30 times the diameter of the cable.
6. Ensure that the cable moves completely within the bending radius, that is, it cannot be forced to move. This way the cables can be moved with each other. After a period of operation, it is best to check the position of the cable. The inspection must be carried out after the push and pull movement.
7. If the drag chain breaks, the cable also needs to be replaced, because damage caused by excessive stretching cannot be avoided.

What are the advantages of drag chain cables?

First of all, in terms of flexibility, drag chains are more flexible than ordinary cables. Although the monofilament diameter of the drag chain cable conductor is small, in order to protect the conductor, an insulating material with resistance to mechanical fatigue and a certain strength must be selected. The requirements of tensile resistance, bending resistance, strong wear resistance, anti-blocking, and high toughness also determine that the protective cover material should also have a certain degree of hardness. Therefore, the flexibility of the drag chain is high flexibility, not high flexibility.

Secondly, in the selection of materials, the towline is better than ordinary cables. The drag chain conductor adopts high-purity oxygen-free copper wire, which is bright in color and more regular in shape. The drag chain is made of virgin material, with high strength, good bending and tear resistance.

Finally, in terms of service life, the service life of towline is longer than that of ordinary cables. When the drag chain has a small bending radius and a very fast moving speed, ordinary wires and cables sometimes cannot be used at all. Even in the case of large-radius installation and wiring and low-speed and low-frequency, there is a big gap between the mechanical bending service life of drag chain and ordinary cable.

The difference between drag chain and ordinary cable is analyzed through three aspects of conductor, insulation and sheath. Compared with ordinary cable, the advantage of towline cable is an ideal choice for mobile use equipment.