Lapp has extended its range of UNITRONIC® ROBUST low-frequency data network cables with a cable featuring a special resistant sheath material for use in particularly harsh environments.
The material is resistant to a range of chemical media, as well as being ozone, UV and weather resistant in compliance with EN 50396 and HD 605 S2. This makes it ideal for use in machine tool manufacture, the chemical industry, medical engineering, laundries, car wash systems, composting and sewage plants and agricultural machinery.
Scientists in Iceland have been using these extra-robust cables for a network of seismometers to peer into the belly of Mt Heckla to warn of an impending eruption. The main argument in favour of the LAPP cable was its robustness as the conditions in the Icelandic highlands are anything but hospitable.
The hard volcanic stone makes it impossible to instal a cable underground, meaning it has to be rolled out over razor-sharp rocks. Here it has to withstand mechanical abrasion and sub-zero temperatures in the Icelandic winter, as well as highly corrosive gases from the rock and even snow in the middle of summer, or heat. Geophysicists have already measured temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius at a depth of just half a metre.