An Ethernet cable provides reliable data transmission when connecting devices in Ethernet networks. Depending on the application area, this involves several kilometres of cable length, which are exposed to the most adverse conditions in some locations. In the LAPP portfolio, you will find various Ethernet cable variants that cover almost all application areas in the industrial environment.
A special variant of stranding is the star quad, also known as a twisted quad. Here four cores are twisted together in a cross-shaped way so that the opposite cores each form a pair of wires. The symmetrical position of the cores to one another remains the same across the entire length of the cable.
The biggest advantage of the star quad compared to twisted pair stranding is the lower cable diameter. Furthermore, attenuation is better thanks to the lower mutual capacitance.
An Ethernet cable should primarily be able to transmit data quickly and reliably. Particularly in industrial environments, it should simultaneously remain resistant to disturbances and external interference and provide the data in real time.
The requirements differ between Ethernet cables for home or office wiring and those you need for a reliable Industrial Ethernet network.
| Home and office Ethernet | industrial Ethernet | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fixed building Installation | Individual, plant-dependent networking |
| 2 | Flexible connection options | Robust design of the Ethernet cable |
| 3 | Cable assemblies | Field-mountable connections |
| 4 | Mostly constructed as star topology | Mostly redundant ring topologies |
In home and office networks, pre-assembled Ethernet cables are usually better suited to the flexible connection options and the frequent "switching" of a network cable. In the industrial Ethernet network, however, harsh environments, lack of space and individual cable length requirements require Ethernet cables to be individually assembled directly on site. This enables them to be optimally adapted to the environmental conditions.
The quality and reliability of your data transmission in the network largely depend on the selection of the right Ethernet cable. You should therefore select the right Ethernet cable well before starting the wiring of all components in your network. The following should be kept in mind when selecting:
Special protocols such as PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT or CC-Link IE are used in the industrial sector. These protocols extend the classic Ethernet to cover the high requirements in factories or production facilities in particular. Important advantages include:
Depending on the sector or application, LAPP offers the right solution with its ETHERLINE® Industrial Ethernet portfolio for goods sold by the metre. Different protocols such as PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT or CC-Link IE are supported by our ETHERLINE® Ethernet cables.
To ensure that you have the perfect Ethernet cable for your application, we offer you the following standards, among other things:
Depending on the transmission rate, copper-based Ethernet cables use 2 or 4 pairs of wires. They are divided into categories (CAT), according to the standards DIN EN 50173 and ISO/IEC 11801.
A typical distinction is made between Cat. 5/Cat. 5e, Cat. 6/Cat.6A and Cat.7/Cat.7A, whose transmission performance ranges from 10/100 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s.
These Ethernet cables are used to transmit analogue and digital signals in a frequency range of up to 1000 MHz (depending on connector compatibility) and, similar to their performance class, are protected against electromagnetic interference in various ways.
Particularly in the industrial sector, where Ethernet cables are not only wiring the building infrastructure, but also in linear moving applications, industrial robots, control cabinets, laid on cable trays and used in cable chains, you should ensure a suitable conductor class is chosen.
The conductor classes are divided into three main categories, which are attached to the conductor cross-section in the short designations /1, /7 or /19 (e.g. AWG24/1). This short designation can be attributed to the number of individual conductors in the cable. Our overview shows you the conductor classes:
Short designation: /1
Application area of the Ethernet cable: for fixed installation
Application example: cable tray / building infrastructure
Short designation: /7
Application area of the Ethernet cable: for flexible applications
Application examples: patch cable / control cabinet
Short designation: /19
Application area of the Ethernet cable: for highly flexible applications
Example applications: cable chain / industrial robots
At this point, we would like to highlight the PROFINET system in particular. In addition to the transmission protocol, PROFINET also specifies internationally the type specification for cabling within and between production islands. The system thus provides a solution for all industrial communication systems. In addition to copper-based transmission media, the standard also standardises optical connection systems.
The type specification according to the PROFINET guideline defines three Ethernet cable types, on the basis of which the structure and the mechanical and electrical requirements are precisely defined.
| Number of pairs / power type | Type A | Type B | Type C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use | for fixed installation | for flexible installation | for special applications |
| 2-pair (2x2) | AWG22/1 | AWG22/7 | AWG22/1...19 |
| 4-pair (4x2) | min. AWG23/1 | min. AWG23/7 | min. AWG24/1...19 |
Depending on the use or application, you will require a suitable cable with suitable core insulation and sheath materials. Four typical sheath materials for Ethernet cables are:
Each sheath material has special properties, such as low smoke gas emission, which is particularly advantageous in the event of fires in buildings, when people have to be evacuated from buildings. Oil-resistant sheath materials are, on the other hand, very well suited for use in production lines with high contact with cooling or lubricating oils. The materials used for a LAPP ETHERLINE® cable can be found in the product descriptions in our Online Shop.
There are essentially three different screening types for Ethernet cables. However, as there are also Ethernet cables that do not have EMC screening altogether, four designations in the product features can be attributed to the EMC screening.
For this reason, you will find information such as S/FTP in the product properties. If you take the above table into account, this is due to the fact that this is a screened/foiled Twisted Pair Ethernet cable. This is therefore a cable with copper braiding and twisted pairs of conductors, sheathed in pairs with aluminium-laminated plastic foil.
The slant stripe separates the overall screening from the wire pair screening. In other words, all information to the left of the forward slash refers to the overall screening, while the information to the right of the forward slash refers to the screening of the individual pairs of wires.
With our ETHERLINE® cables at LAPP, we offer you the right product for almost every industrial application that requires fast, interference-free and robust data transmission. If everything needs to go quickly and you need some initial guidance, we have a rough overview for you here:
