Ribbon Cable Current Capacity And Limits
Owing to their high surface-to-volume ratio, the heat dissipation performance of the flat ribbon cable is better than that of the round multi-conductor cable. The side-by-side conductor geometry provides almost the same good heat dissipation from each wire with none buried in the center of a bundle of other hot conductors. Consequently, They can maintain a high current level under a given temperature rise and wire cross section. Further, The total number of conductors of a flat cable has little effect on the total rated current of the cable, while the rated current of a round cable will drop sharply as the number of bundled conductors increases.
The maximum current capacity of a flat cable may be limited by many factors, Including conductor cross-sectional area (AWG), conductor composition/conductivity, thermal performance of insulation or sheath material, ambient temperature, air flow, etc. The necessary condition is the highest temperature rise that can be tolerated. Many insulation types begin to soften when the temperature is higher than 100°C. Some cable manufacturers recommend keeping the cable below 85°C at all times to prevent thermal softening of the gold contacts.
