Imagining a world without cords and cables is impossible, as ever since the advent of electricity we have been using them as conductors of electricity and will continue to do so. There are many types of electric cables and many forms in which they are manufactured. Based on the industries they are used in and their applications, cables and cords have been customized in terms of the materials used or length or diameter or insulation or shape or any other attribute. Out of these many customized cords and cables, coiled cords remain to be one of the most popular type of cables. Coil cords are customized and different from the regular cables that we use, mainly with their shape and the way they function. This article will help you understand the ways these coiled cords are manufactured, materials that go into their manufacture and various advantages of using them.
How Are Coiled Cords Manufactured?
The most striking and advantageous feature of coiled cords is that they are coiled unlike the regular cables or cords that are straight. So how does one make these cords coiled? Is there any special material that adds elasticity to these cords or is it some manufacturing technique that renders these curls? Well, the answer is quite simple than expected! Coil cords are just like any other regular cords and the curls are obtained using a simple manufacturing technique. In order to give it a spiral form and shape, the metal conductor inside the cord is first wound around a mandrel or tube. Once it gets a circular shape, a polymer coat or any other coat of insulation is given to obtain the finished product. Coil cords have a conducting material, an insulating material and a protective covering on top of it. Insulation and protective covering is very much essential as these cords carry high amount of current and without proper insulation one will be electrocuted.
What Materials Are Used In Coiled Cords?
As mentioned before, the three most important elements of a coiled cord are a conducting material made of multiple cores, an insulating material and a protective covering on the top of it. Normally metal is the most preferred conducting material and the most popular metals used in coil cords as conducting materials are copper, tinned copper and aluminum. For insulation, while Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and Polypropylene (PP) are the most preferred materials, materials like polyurethane (PU) are used in case the insulation needs to be strong to prevent abrasions or any other form of undesirable effect, such as coming in contact with oils, UV rays etc. In most of the cases, these coiled cords are custom made by cable manufacturers to specific applications but 10-20 feet remains to be the most commonly preferred length of coiled cords.
Advantages of Using Coiled Cords
Coiled cords are widely preferred by common people and industry professionals alike for their advantages. Their distinct curled feature is more complex than one thinks, as the implications of this simple modification can save a lot of time, money and resources. Here’s how.
1. First and foremost, coiled cords are widely used in electronic equipment regularly used in household and office spaces. Landline phones and headphone jacks use coiled cords as these cords can be stretched and carried to far off places. Suppose the cord is measured 7 feet when bundled, when pulled it can stretch more than 10 feet long. Thus, coiled cords are very flexible to use, offering greater mobility to the user and thus behaving user friendly.
2. When a certain equipment or system uses multiple cables, it’s a common sight to see those cables intervened with each other to form a complex and seemingly impossible to separate system of wires. However, this problem of dangling and intervening cables won’t exist in the case of coiled cords (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-coiled-cord.htm) as they are remain intact and remain circular in their shape, thus making it difficult for other cables to be intervened with them.
3. Apart from dangling cables, storage of these cables is also a major concern. Regular cables when compared to coiled cords take a large amount of space to be stored and that implies these cables are difficult to move around as well. In many industrial applications, it is required that cables are carried from one place to another on a regular basis and with coiled cords, transportation and storage of cables becomes a lot easier.
