Mr. Brandt, what are the particular challenges for modern cable glands?

Raphael Brandt: Consistent EMC design is playing an increasingly important role in almost all industrial sectors - especially in automated processes. That is why we are presenting our EMC solutions for cable routing here in Nuremberg - after all, we have been one of the first suppliers to be successful in this field for over 20 years.

The special challenges? Customers want to connect the cable shield to the contact element of the cable gland easily, quickly and reliably and at the same time seal the cable with protection ratings up to IP68 - so they want maximum ease of installation. In addition, permanently high shielding attenuation requires a large-area 360° contact to the cable shield, which is not interrupted even by vibrations, ageing or out-of-round cables. Our 'blueglobe TRI', for example, meets all these criteria.

What current developments characterize the topic of EMC?

Raphael Brandt: Electronic systems are becoming increasingly 'smarter' and networking is becoming more extensive. Whether it's a packaging machine in the food industry or a charging station for electric cars - more and more components are networked with each other and sometimes communicate with low signal levels. It is therefore important to protect the necessary data lines from electromagnetic interference. Otherwise, this can lead to malfunctions and even costly machine downtimes and production losses. Based on our market experience, we saw this development coming and already offer solutions for applications up to Cat. 7A. Our EMC solutions offer customers the best attenuation properties and current-carrying capacity combined with ease of installation. We are also seeing a trend in many industries to contact a growing number of shielded cables in the smallest possible space and to insert them into housings in an EMC-safe manner.

How is Pflitsch responding to this?

Raphael Brandt: We offer practical solutions, such as the 'UNI Dicht multiple TRI'. In this product, we combine the principle of 'UNI Dicht' for sealing to the cable with contacting to the cable shield via several 'blueglobe' triangle springs. These are integrated in a brass washer and can be adapted to the customer-specific cable cross-sections and quantities. In this way, we have managed to securely seal several cables in a very small space in just one cable gland and at the same time contact their cable shields over a large area in an EMC-safe manner.