{"id":5535,"date":"2023-03-29T13:56:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T05:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ray-tron.com\/?p=5535"},"modified":"2023-09-01T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T05:46:10","slug":"ele5683","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ray-tron.com\/en\/ele5683\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the application scopes of shielded wires?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Four-conductor shielded cable with foil shield and drain wire.<\/p>\n
Shielded cable or wire is a cable that has a common conductive layer around its conductors for electromagnetic shielding. This shield is usually covered by the outermost layer of the cable. Common cable shielding types can be most broadly divided into metal foil type (hereinafter referred to as: metallized film), contrasting spiral wire strands (braided or not) or both. The longitudinal wires may need to be short-circuited with a dielectric spiral foil for each turn.<\/p>\n
The shield acts as a Faraday cage \u2013 a surface that reflects electromagnetic radiation. This both reduces the amount of external noise that can interfere with the signal, and also reduces the signal from being radiated and potentially interfering with other equipment (see electromagnetic compatibility). To be effective against electric fields (see also capacitive coupling), the shield must be grounded. The shield should be electrically continuous, including any cable joints, for maximum effect. For high frequency signals (over a few MHz), this will extend to the connector and housing, and also circumferentially: The cable shield needs to be circumferentially connected to the housing (if any), either through the connector or cable joint.<\/p>\n
Some types of shielded cables use the shield as a return path for the signal. For example, coaxial cable does, while twinaxial cable does not.<\/p>\n
High voltage power cables with solid insulation are shielded to protect the cable insulation, people and equipment.<\/p>\n
The best way to route shielded cables is to ground the shield at both ends of the cable. Traditionally there has been a rule of thumb to only ground the shield at the source end to avoid ground loops. Best practice is to ground at both ends, but ground loops are possible. On aircraft, special cables are used that have both an outer shield to protect against lightning strikes and an inner shield that is grounded at one end to eliminate hum from the 400 Hz power system.<\/p>\n