Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B7/00—Insulated conductors or cables characterised by their form
  • H01B7/08—Flat or ribbon cables
  • H01B7/0838—Parallel wires, sandwiched between two insulating layers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B7/00—Insulated conductors or cables characterised by their form
  • H01B7/08—Flat or ribbon cables

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a flameproof flat cable, an apparatus for manufacturing the flameproof flat cable and a method of preparing the flameproof flat cable. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flameproof flat cable in which a plurality of conductors are laminated between two polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) films and which are used in VCRs, camcoders, computers, rockets, missiles, automobiles, ships, aircraft, and optical communication.
• PTFE polytetrafluoroethylene
• polyester films are used for lamination of conductors.
• the melting point of polyester is relatively low. Accordingly, the conventional flat cables can be easily damaged in event of fire, furthermore, this damage can cause a serious problem on the electrical or mechatronic apparatuses. Sometimes, the damaged apparatuses are not repaired or recovered. In particular, in case of fire of a communication system, a communication blackout can occur to cause a serious damage.
• PTFE polytetrafluoroethylene
• PTFP polytetrafluoropropylene
• the PTFE and PTFP are flame-resistant even at about 800 °F and are not melt at the high temperature. If a flat cable is laminated with PTFE or PTFP, the flat cable can be safely maintained without any damages, in case of fire.
• the PTFE and PTFP are sold by Dupont Company of U.S.A. under their registered trademarks (Teflon or Kapton). However, a technique of laminating a plurality of conductors with PTFE or PTFP films has not been developed.
• the present inventor has developed an apparatus for manufacturing a flameproof flat cable which laminates conductors with PTFE or PTFP films and a method of preparing the flameproof flat cable.
• a flameproof flat cable according to the present invention has a structure of laminating a plurality of conductors as needed with two films, a bottom film and a top film, of PTFE or PTFP.
• the conductors may be coated with a PTFE or PTFP resin material.
• the laminating surfaces of the bottom and top films are laminated with a fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) film in order to give a good contacting ability when the bottom and top films are laminated.
• FEP fluorinated ethylene propylene
• a method of preparing a flameproof flat cable comprises feeding a plurality of conductors from a rack to a laminator, preheating the conductors through a pair of core-heaters at a temperature of 500 to 1200 °F, feeding a bottom film below the conductors and a top film over the conductors between a lower infrared heater and an upper infrared heater and between a lower shoe heater and an upper shoe heater, laminating the conductors with the bottom film and the top film by a lower heating roll and an upper heating press roll to form a laminated flat cable, and cooling the laminated flat cable by a cooling system having a pair of cooling rolls.
• An apparatus for manufacturing a flameproof flat cable comprises a rack for supporting a plurality of spools for winding conductors; means for preheating the conductors at a temperature of 500 to 1200 °F; a feeding system of a bottom film and a top film, including a pair of infrared heaters and a pair of shoe heaters, a laminator for laminating the conductors with the bottom film and the top film, including a lower heating roll and an upper heating press roll; means for cooling the laminated flat cable; means for slitting the laminated flat cable having a predetermined number of conductors, means for drawing the slit flat cables, and means for winding the slit flat cables.
• FIG. 1 is a schematically perspective view of a rack for supporting a plurality of spools for winding conductors to feed to a laminator for manufacturing a flameproof flat cable;
• Fig. 2 is a schematic front view of a laminator for manufacturing a flameproof flat cable according to the present invention
• Fig. 3 is a schematically perspective view of a flameproof flat cable according to the present invention.
• Fig. 4A to 4F are cross- sectional views of flameproof flat cables according to preferred embodiments of the present invention.
• a flat cable of the present invention is schematically illustrated in Fig. 3.
• the illustrated flat cable in Fig. 3 is one of the embodiments according to the present invention, which has a laminated structure having PTFE films 11, 12 laminated with FEP in upper and lower parts individually on the plane- aligned conductors 1 which are coated with PTFE.
• PTFE film consists of a layer of PTFE and a layer of FEP.
• a layer of PTFE has a thickness of about 3 ⁇ m and a layer of FEP has a thickness of about 2 ⁇ m.
• the layers of PTFE and FEP are laminated by a heat adhesion.
• the reason of laminating FEP layer to PTFE layer is that the FEP layer shows a good adhesion by means of heating and pressing, that is, a plurality of conductors are aligned between PTFE films, and a FEP layer sticks to both of conductors and a PTFE layer.
• the number of conductors of a flat cable is a variable number such as 20, 40, 120, etc., it can be manufactured by the present invention in accordance with a use for a certain purpose.
• the plan views of flat cables are very various, and a couple of a model of the plan view of the embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 4.
• a method and an apparatus for preparing a flat cable are like as following.
• Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 illustrate the wire dispensing rack and the laminator individually, which are apparatuses operating continuously.
• Fig. 1 is a schematically perspective view of the wire dispensing rack to supply conductors to the laminator for manufacturing a flameproof flat cable.
• Spools which are wound with conductors 1 are installed in the wire dispensing rack to supply conductors 1.
• the supplied conductors 1 from the spools are decided by sensors 2 whether cut or not. That is, if any one of conductors 1 is cut during a work, an operation of machine is stopped by sensors 2.
• Conductors 1 passing through sensors 2 are aligned as passing through guide rolls 3 and comb type rolls 4, 5. After conductors 1 passing through the comb type roll 5 pass through the motorized feed roller 6, they are supplied to the laminator showed in Fig. 2.
• the wire dispensing rack of Fig. 1 shows only forty spools 1. Installing more than that value is available.
• Fig. 2 is a schematic front view of the laminator for manufacturing a flameproof flat cable according to the present invention
• a plurality of plane- aligned conductors 1 pass through comb/guide roller 10, and feed to between the core heaters 13.
• a pair of core heaters 13 are heated in the range of 500 ⁇ 1200°F, and preheat conductors 1.
• a purpose of preheating is to laminate a PTFE film in the next step and to prevent bubbles creation between films when laminating PTFE film on the conductors.
• a top film 11 which is laminated on the top surface of plane-aligned wires passes through an apparatus of heating and pressing after passing IR heater 14 and shoe heater 16 through the guide roll 10.
• a bottom film 12 which is laminated on the top surface of plane-aligned wires passes through an apparatus of heating and pressing after passing IR heater 14 and shoe heater 16 through the guide roll 10.
• IR heaters 14, 15 and shoe heaters 16, 17 play a role to be able to laminate smoothly by preheating the top and bottom films 11, 12.
• the top and bottom films comprise layers of PTFE and FEP, and a thickness of a layer of PTFE is about 3 ⁇ m and a thickness of a layer of FEP is about 2 ⁇ m.
• a layer which adhere to the plane- aligned wires 1 is a layer of FEP, and the outer surface is a layer of PTFE. The reason why a layer of FEP shall be an adherent layer is to keep a strong adhesion.
• the top and the bottom heating rolls 18, 19 laminate the films on the conductors as heated at a temperature in a specific use of the flat cable.
• the bottom heating roll 19 is fixed, and the top heating roll 18 presses the flat cable by means of a laminator roll pressure system 20.
• the cross section of the flat cable is various as showed in Fig. 4A to 4F.
• the portions of containing conductors 1 among the cross sections have a thick thickness as much as a height, and the portions without conductors, in which the top and the bottom films 11, 12 adhere directly, have a thin thickness.
• slip sheet which has a form of cross section is used.
• the slip sheet 35 from the pay-out roll 31 winds along the top heating roll 18 to the take-up roll 32 to press the top film 11.
• the slip sheet 35 from the pay-out roll 33 winds through the bottom heating roll 19 to the take-up roll 34.
• the plane- aligned conductors 1 are completed the lamination by the top and the bottom films 11, 12, and go to the cooling system 60.
• There are two cases in a cooling system that one case cools down through the cooling rolls 21, 22, and another case cools down through the cooling roll 22 after cooling down through the cooling roll 30 of the chilled water tank 70 after passing through the cooling roll 22.
• both edges of films which is called “scrap” hereafter, is wound up by a scrap cable spool 24, and individual flat cables are cut, and pass through puller rolls 25, and takes up to a cable wind-up arbor 26.
• the scraps is slit into strips by a rotary slitter 23 of a cutting system, and individual flat cables is slit into strips. That is, in case that a flat cable comprises twenty conductors, it can be slit to form twenty conductors of a flat cable by a rotary slitter 23 after laminating 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 wires in accordance with the apparatus of the present invention.
• Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 illustrate about supporting forty conductors 1 and making a flat cable contained twenty conductors in which two flat cables, slit by a rotary slitter 23, are wound to the cable wind-up arbor 26.
• Fig. 4 A to 4F are schematic views of cross -sections of flat cables according to the present invention.
• Fig. 4 A is a cross -sectional view of a flat cable, laminating a plurality of uncoated wires with PTFE film to the top and the bottom.
• Fig. 4B is a cross- sectional view of a flat cable, laminating a plurality of coated wires 1 with PTFE film to the top and the bottom.
• Fig. 4 A is a cross -sectional view of a flat cable, laminating a plurality of coated wires 1 with PTFE film to the top and the bottom.
• FIG. 4C is a cross- sectional view of a flat cable, laminating with PTFE film to the portion of the top and the bottom to be one unit in each two wires 1 which is coated with PTFE.
• Fig. 4D is a cross -sectional view of a flat cable, laminating with PTFE film to the portion of the top and the bottom to be one unit in each two wires 1, coated with PTFE, and a grounding conductor.
• Fig. 4E is a cross- sectional view of a flat cable, laminating with PTFE film to the portion of the top and the bottom to be one unit in each three wires 1, coated with PTFE.
• Fig. 4F is a cross- sectional view of a flat cable, laminating with PTFE film to the portion of the top and the bottom to be one unit in aligned four bare wires 1.
• the present invention shows the effect to manufacture a flameproof flat cable having a high flame-resistance, laminating a plurality of conductors with PTFE film for a use of state-of-the-art electrical or mechatronic equipments, etc.

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• Insulated Conductors (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=19461510

Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (7)

Families Citing this family (7)

Citations (2)

• 1996
  • 1996-06-12 KR KR1019960020890A patent/KR100198020B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1997
  • 1997-06-05 WO PCT/KR1997/000105 patent/WO1997048108A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1997-06-05 JP JP10501472A patent/JPH10511502A/ja active Pending
  • 1997-06-05 EP EP97925321A patent/EP0843879A1/en not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (2)

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