World Class Engineered Cable Blog

Expensive VFD Cable For IGBT Drives in Marine Shipboard Applications should be specified to protect expensive motors and electrical equipment?

Harmonic currents generated from IGBT power devices can cause excessive heating of motors and other electrical equipment, as well as adversely affect sensitive digital equipment. Standard constructed single or multi-conductor cables will cause premature motor bearing failure, crosstalk, noise to the inverter, and electric shock!

A VFD cable is specifically designed to cancel voltage, magnetic fields and reduce charging currents generated by induced pulse width modulated switching.

EXANE Marine Shipboard VFD construction provides:

- EXANE insulation can withstand the stresses of  substantial voltage spikes
- Sinusoidal lay length contain and cancel magnetic fields generated by power conductors onto the ground conductors
- Double overall shielding, properly grounded, contains the electric field, thus preventing induced voltage “cross-talk” to adjacent cables
- Segmented ground conductors reduce noisy ground currents
- Outer jacket is resilient to UV light, oils, muds, and abrasion

In summary, a properly designed VFD cable will reduce common-mode currents, motor frame voltages and protection against electro-mechanical interference (EMI) for optimized system performance and life expectancy.

Properly designed high performance oil and gas cables for ocean rig drilling and land rig drilling can meet the challenge of maintaining equipment efficiency, reducing operational cost, and minimizing unscheduled maintenance.  Unforeseen and consistent rig downtime can directly affect top line day rates and contract renewal.  Key drilling components such as top drives, drawworks, pipe handlers, BOP controls, mud equipment and drilling control systems are the lifeline to a safe and efficient rig operation.

How can electrical cable minimize rig downtime?  One cable type is not fitting for each application.  Close collaboration with customers can determine cable turnover rates as it relates to mode of failure.  Products designed for certain applications can increase performance and minimize equipment downtime.

The good news is that EXANE cables are among those that can help!  State of the art cross-linking technology coupled with high grade compounds generate cables with improved life expectancy and field reliability.

What cables meet US requirements for offshore rig installations in a hazardous area environment?  Although it makes economic sense to standardize on one cable type, specifying engineers need to be cautious when trying to standardize as some applications which meet IEC standards do not in fact meet the requirements of the US API RP-14F standard or even meet the minimal cable construction requirements of IEEE Std.1580 as Marine Shipboard Cable.