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| Photo: Sikora |
With the huge investments in AI data centers such as Stargate in the USA and Deepseek in China and elsewhere, the demand for high-quality data cables is rapidly growing. The quality requirements for these cables set new standards for the extrusion process.
In the past, it was sufficient to control the diameter to the nominal value. Nowadays, however, brief variations in a wide range of parameters of this cable type cause reflections during data transmission. This significantly reduces the usable length of a wire pair. Anyone who has to meet the requirements for this cable type on a permanent basis cannot do it without continuously monitoring the performance of the extrusion process.
Data cables are generally used for data transmission in the range of up to several gigabytes/s. Twisted wires with low-loss foamed insulation with minimized reflections can be used for this high data rate up to a length of 100 meters and more.
The real challenges with this cable type lie in the short-term, periodic variations and not only in the diameter and the scatter of these and other measured values. It is the single value accuracy that matters, not the average of many measured values: SIKORA devices such as LASER, CENTERVIEW or CAPACITANCE measure diameter and eccentricity values with the highest single value precision, so that decisive deviations and scatter of the nominal values can be precisely recorded. Take full advantage of the potential of this data! Measuring devices from other manufacturers only show smoothed average values from several less precise single values and are therefore unable to accurately record short-term deviations and variations.
Critical parameters that can affect your quality:
- Diameter: Too large or too small – endangers the function
- Out-of-roundness: Any deviation has an effect
- Eccentricity of the conductor in the insulation
- Degree of foaming and capacity of the insulation
- Distance variations in twisted pairs
At SIKORA, each single value is exact.
What SIKORA technology can do:
SIKORA measuring technology records all relevant nominal values and short-term variations during the extrusion of these wires. A watchdog function immediately reports any exceedance of such limit values and helps to guarantee a high quality of the wires and to ensure customer satisfaction in the long term.
