EVolution EMC Cable Gland

In relation to reliability and service life, the EMC shield contact of high-voltage cables in electric vehicle applications is often not given enough attention. In addition to the shield current carrying capacity, the sum of all loads in service has a significant influence on the product’s service life and thus on its performance.

It is too often assumed that a new vehicle’s ability to meet all specified EMC requirements, particularly in relation to the components of the EMC shield contact, means that it will continue to do so throughout the vehicle’s service life and in all operating conditions. But, in fact, EMC tests are only required for new vehicles, and how the EMC values of the high-voltage vehicle electrical system will change over the service life remains uncertain. If a power component in a vehicle’s drive train fails, this is immediately noticeable in the system as a malfunction. If an EMC shield contact fails, however, the situation is very different.

In such a case, the operational reliability of the vehicle is drastically affected, with EMC interference emissions from damaged or destroyed shield contacts. These “interference sources” can cause EMC coupling at “interference sinks” in other locations, e.g. on control lines or in electronic components. The various possible impacts on control signals represent a latent reliability risk. Furthermore, troubleshooting the problem – including finding the interference source and the interference sink in the workshop – typically requires great effort and is very costly. And to resolve the problem, it is not uncommon for extensive changes to be made to the EMC protection concept – changes that usually affect not just one vehicle but an entire fleet.

With the EVolution EMC^® cable gland, these costs can be saved. It is clearly more economical to allow for the use of high-quality EMC cable glands right from the start, rather than subsequently carrying out time-consuming and expensive troubleshooting and/or using expensive monitoring devices.

In the manufacture of individual devices, vehicle components, subassemblies and entire vehicles, process reliability is generally the top priority – especially in the context of any shortage of skilled workers. It is therefore essential that proper attention be paid during selection of EMC cable glands to their process-reliability during cable assembly, installation on the vehicle, and any subsequent removal and reinstallation (maintenance work). A strong focus was placed on these aspects in the development of the EVolution EMC cable gland. The EMC contact system must be assembled on the cable using the AXI-PRESS tool, in accordance with the instructions. The process enables the user of the EVolution EMC to plan for the steps to be carried out semi- or fully automatically. The final assembly on the vehicle has also been redesigned and significantly simplified with regard to safety and reliability. For vehicle and machine manufacturers, the benefits include improved process reliability, increased operational reliability and lower installation costs.
1. Push the cable lug through
2. Insert the contact sleeve
3. Slide over the sealing insert
4. Tighten the pressure nut. Tighten to fully seated.