With the new SmartCore cable, Leuze electronic presents an interesting highlight at the Hannover Messe 2018 trade fair especially for applications with moving cables, e.g., in robots or with handling axes. The cable contains an additional, special sacrificial cable that fails at approximately 80% of the possible movement cycles. To evaluate, the sacrificial cable is bridged with the supply voltage and, if the core breaks, gives early warning of the impending end of the cable's service life. Unplanned system downtime caused by cable breakage can thus be effectively prevented, and the sensor cable at risk of breaking can be replaced during the next scheduled maintenance cycle.
SmartCore Technology
The SmartCore Technology thereby contributes to increased system availability and enables the recognition of errors in a cable such as core breaks or loose contacts still before it becomes susceptible to failure or fully fails. This avoids cost-intense system downtime.
Measurement function integrated in IO modules
Using a measurement function integrated in IO modules, the employee working in servicing is informed by predictive diagnosis message when the cable has reached some 85 percent of its maximum life expectancy. Depending on the measurement method, further sources of potential danger such as excess temperature, overexpansion, overrotation, kinking or crushing can also be recognized and notified. Therefore, the endangered cable can be replaced during the next regular maintenance cycle, thus avoiding the spontaneous failure of a system. Equally, premature exchange of a cable can be avoided by the maintenance technician. The sensor cable used for virtually all machine and system installations therefore becomes even more intelligent.
