Escha: your first stop for tailor made cabling and connectors
31 March 2013
Escha have been at the heart of the cable and connector industry for over 30 years, they have built a reputation for uncompromising quality and reliability whilst retaining the ability to respond rapidly to individual customer demands. Ian Manning reports.
Circular multipin connectors have their origins in the early 1930s; primarily designed for aircraft equipment, by the early 1940s they were used by virtually every aircraft builder, the Army and Navy.
Connectors facilitated independent production of modular equipment. Many factories could build identical parts dramatically increasing the rate of production. Other factories could build the wiring looms terminated in multipin connectors. Installation was then a simple task of bolting the modules to the framework and attaching the connectors.
This could be undertaken by unskilled workers where previously a skilled electrician would spend days with detailed schematics connecting each individual wire. As each part can be tested before it leaves the factory wiring faults could be eliminated from the installation.
Damaged or faulty equipment could be swapped in the field taking minutes instead of hours.
As car production became more automated in the 80s & 90s and the range of options within a single make and model of car increased, a single production line was required to produce multiple body styles, and so on. To achieve this, frequent tooling changes were required so the automotive industry looked to the military solution, utilising multipin connectors on all their tooling.
Continuous single line production whilst highly efficient, had a huge problem in that a single faulty part could stop the whole line, this resulted in connectors being fitted to small components including sensors.
Adding a connector to low cost items increases the cost as cordsets have to be purchased with them however the resultant savings from faster tool changes and reduced downtime are far greater than the increased cost.
Many industries demand special cable properties in order that the cable can survive the environment in which they are placed. Food and Beverage require sealing to IP69k, PVC free, -40 to +105°C and all stainless steel hardware.
The Automotive industry has many requirements, weld-field immune, drag-chain adapted, halogen – silicon free, chemical – oil resistant, flame immune and dust - waterproof to IP67. The wind power industry demand 360° shielding even at the highest mechanical stresses, halogen free, oil resistant, flame retardant and IP69K.
Separating the cordset from the sensor facilitates the use of specialised cable whilst using a standard sensor, eliminating long build times and high prices for specialised sensors.
Escha offers a range of 750 different cable types and 2,000 different connectors as standard. The company has an in house tool shop to provide rapid and economical custom designs.
Designs are also shared with the two other tool shops in the Turck group this not only trebles the design capacity but reduces the design time as similar products have often been produced before but at a different location. This exchange of design is uniquely possible within the Turck group because they share the same raw components.
Escha’s pedigree allows them to tailor make wiring looms for almost every situation, they were the first company to produce a 150°C connector for high temperature applications and have the only dual-component shielding system able to withstand the extreme conditions found in wind farm applications. They produce 3.5 million connectors per year, which, over their 30 years, would provide enough cable to reach the Moon.
Cable looms are not restricted to Escha’s own components, they are able to source non-standard, third party, cables and connectors and even use customer provided parts.
Whatever your industry Escha and Turck Banner Ltd has the capability to meet your cabling and connector needs.
Ian Manning is with Turck Banner, supplier and supporter of all Escha products in the UK
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