Important Properties and Applications of Industrial Cable Glands

The Industrial Cable Glands (in the U.S. more often known as a cable connector or fitting) is a device that is designed for attaching and securing the ends of a cable to an equipment. It mainly provides strain-relief and connects by a means suitable for a specific type and description of cable for which it was designed—which includes the provision for making electrical connections to the armor or the braid and lead or the aluminum sheath of the cable, if any such additions exist. The cable glands can also be used for sealing cables that pass through the bulkheads or gland plates.

These glands are mechanical cable entry devices and they can be constructed from metallic or non-metallic materials. They can be used throughout a number of industries side by side with cables and wiring used in electrical instrumentation and automation systems.

These cable glands can also be used on most of the types of electrical power, control, data, instrumentation, and telecommunications cables. They can also be used as a sealing and termination devices to ensure that, characteristics of the enclosure through which the cable enters can be maintained.

The four main materials from which cable glands are made:

• Plastic
• Brass
• Aluminium
• Stainless steel

Gland Selection

• Glands should be selected on following Points

1. The type of Cable
2. Size of the Gland
3. Thread Specification of application
4. The required Ingress Protection
5. The chosen material

There can be two more intrinsic types of cable glands

• Unarmoured Cable Gland: Unarmoured Cable will require an outer seal within Gland to provide ingress protection but also a degree of retention.
• Armoured: The gland that needs a clamping mechanism to terminate the armor both mechanically and electrically.
• The Gland will usually be used to provide ingress protection for the sealing outer sheath and retention by clamping armor

Cable Gland Standard

For industry-wide electrical installations, the need for compliance with standards is crucial in order to ensure things such as occupational health or safety,  in the workplace, safety and security of earthing systems, functional safety and longevity of performance and continuity of supply for the plant and equipment. Same criteria which are applied to the rest of the electrical equipment should also be considered applicable to industrial cable glands, in order for the systems to be installed and operated reliably.

During the latter years of the power generation industry which is expanding all over the world, the acute need for a standard reference document which could address cable gland requirements was recognized. Thus, GDCD 190 was created.

In the 1970’s BS 4121 was superseded by BS 6121 with the introduction of the metric system of measurement across the Europe. Major cable gland designs around are of the BS 6121 standard.

An IEC standard for “Cable Glands for Electrical Installations”, IEC 62444, was published in 2009-2010 and this will be adopted in several countries across the world. The new standard could have a huge impact on users and manufacturers, especially on those who discover for the first time that the products they had previously used have not been tested to current standards. IEC 62444, similar to EN 50262 in that it is a performance-based standard, which allows the manufacturers to produce cable glands of various degrees of robustness some of which can be more suited to light industrial applications such as factory automation.

Table A: Cable Gland Primary Code for Unarmoured and Armoured Cables

Code	Definition
A1	For unarmoured cable that has an elastomeric or plastic outer sheath, with sealing function between the cable the sheath and the sealing ring of the cable gland.
A2	As type A1, but with seal protection degree IP66 means 30 bar pressure
B	No Seal
C	Single Outer Seal
E	Double (Inner & Outer) Seal
	suffix ‘1’ = Normal suffix ‘2’ = Lead Sheathed

 

Table B: Cable Gland Secondary Code for Armoured Cables

Code	Designation of Cable Armouring
W	Single Wire Armour
Y	Strip Armour Used
X	Braid
T	Pliable Wire Armour
Z

 

Table C: Cable Gland Type Designations

Code	Definition
A2	Cable Gland for unarmoured cable with outer seal
BW	Cable Gland for SWA cable without seal Indoor use
CW	Single Seal Cable Gland for SWA cable outdoor use
E1W	Double Seal Cable Gland for SWA cable both indoor and outdoor
CX	Single Seal Cable Gland for braided cable

 

Industrial Cable Gland:

•  It is recommended for use in PVC shroud for additional ingress protection

The cable glands are suitable for a wide range of applications including

• Manufacturing essential machinery
• Measurement and control equipment
• Automation and all kind of robotics.
• These glands can connect Amphenol Industrial circular connectors, or they can be used on their own, which provides an environmentally sealed feed-through any style junction box or panel.
• Cable glands are also used in industrial, hazardous and commercial applications throughout the world, also in engineering safety and productivity in the most extreme environmental conditions.