NFPA - The electrical standard in the US
NFPA 79 - the Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery - is part of the American National Fire Protection Association. The standard contains guidelines for designing the electrical system of a machine and shows ways to ensure machine operator safety.
It used to be difficult for machine designers to comply with the NFPA standard when cables were used for moving applications. Until 2012, the NFPA standard did not allow the use of AWM cables. Since the 2012 revision, certain AWM cables are allowed, and many of them can be used for highly flexible applications. NFPA 79, together with the UL standard, is considered an important basis for complying with technical specifications for electrical equipment in machinery in America. Before a machine can be put into operation in the US, a check is made to determine whether the individual parts forming a machine have been assembled correctly in accordance with the NFPA 79 standard.
The NFPA 79 standard describes the requirements that AWM cables must meet. Some of the most important are summarised below.
The NFPA 79 standard describes the requirements that AWM cables must meet. Some of the most important are summarised below.
- The standard allows AWM cables if the cable in question has been identified for use with the approved equipment and is used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Many igus customers use chainflex cables, for example, because they were specially developed for moving applications and many of them bear the UL AWM mark.
- The NFPA 79 standard defines some of the cable design requirements for AWM cables, including flame retardancy, wall thickness, and minimum number of stranded wires.
- The standard also requires that the cable meet all requirements of the corresponding UL AWM style page.
For our chainflex cables, this means the following:
We offer a complete NFPA-compliant product range with over 900 chainflex types from the areas of control, bus, servo, motor, and measurement system cables. Complying with the conditions of the NFPA 79 standard and built according to the AWM standard, our chainflex cables can be easily used in industrial environments.
