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Wire Harnessing
"Made in the South of Germany"
What are ferrules and what are they used for?
The classic ferrule is a tin-coated copper clothing which is placed and
fixed onto a stripped cable end. Thus, an elegant connection is created
that allows for easy insertion into a connecting or clamping piece without
snapping or damaging individual cable strands. Ferrules are mainly used
for switch cabinets or for installation and distribution systems.
There are uninsulated and insulated ferrules – the first ferrules were
uninsulated and without plastic collar. But the insulated ferrules with plastic
collar have two main advantages: On the one hand they offer better electric
safety and on the other hand the different standardized colors of the plastic
collars make it easy to identify the cable cross-section at a glance.
Part of the wide range of ferrules produced by Zoller + Fröhlich.
Application of Ferrules
By using ferrules, the steady quality of electric connections can be ensured
on a long term basis and in addition, there are a number of advantages regarding
installation aspects. The advantages of using ferrules can thus be divided into
two groups: installation advantages and long-term operating safety.
Installation advantages:
• Without fanning out, the cable can be inserted into a connecting or
clamping piece.
• Cable ends with ferrules do not break, even if there are heavy vibrations.
• Harnessed, stripped cables are protected from fanning out during
transport and warehousing.
• Ferrules with plastic collars are snap-proof; in addition, the cable cross-sections
can easily be determined by the color of the plastic collar.
• Safe contacts even if the cables are repeatedly connected and reconnected.
Long-term operating safety:
• Improved contact safety for flexible cables in a contact point.
• In the long term, the contact resistance is comparable to a solid cable.
• Constantly good connection.
• A better protection against corrosion of the cable end assures constant
electric values.
• For ferrules with plastic collar, the plastic collar gives additional
protection against corrosive substance that could seep in.
• A plastic collar has a positive influence on test results, whereas the shape
of the crimping is of no influence.
Zoller + Fröhlich GmbH (Z+F) in Wangen, Germany, is an important
manufacturer of ferrules world-wide. The company in the south of Germany,
not far from Lake Constance, Austria and Switzerland, is one of the pioneers
of cable harnessing for switch cabinets. As early as 1969 Zoller + Fröhlich
invented the first ferrule with plastic collar. And for the twin ferrules —
a ferrule with plastic collar into which two cables can be inserted at the
same time — they were invented in 1991 and Z+F holds the patents.
Z+F offers a broad range of ferrules with cable diameters from 0.14 mm*
(AWG 26) up to 185 mm* (AWG 350 MCM) with different ferrule lengths.
Apart from the individual ferrules with and without plastic collar,
Zoller + Fröhlich also supplies insulated ferrules in a strapped version.
Overall, 350 different ferrules are produced by Z+F.
Crimping machines
Fourteen years after the invention of the insulated ferrule, in 1983, the
development engineers at Z+F created the first crimping machine for automatic
processing of ferrules. According to the company philosophy to meet
individual demands and to cover a broad area of applications with innovative
and high-quality products, the range of tools offered by Z+F starts with simple
hand tools for stripping cables up to the electropneumatic universal
stripper-crimper for the processing of twin ferrules. With each of the stripper-
crimpers and hand tools a broad spectrum of cable cross-sections and ferrule
lengths can be handled — the easy to operate Z+F machines cover almost the
entire range of ferrules offered on the market.
Z+F Stripper/Crimpers
The latest development of Z+F is the electropneumatically driven
stripper-crimper "UMAC-RYB" for the processing of individual,
insulated terminals. With this machine, cable cross-sections from 0.5 mm*
(AWG 20) up to 6 mm* (AWG 10) can be stripped and then crimped
with insulated ring and spade terminals as well as with flat-pin terminals
and sleeves — fast and simple and more cost-effective than with strapped
ferrules that are normally used in automatic systems.
A specialty of all stripper-crimpers of Z+F is that the ferrules and terminals
are crimped with the cable by mechanic force alone but are nevertheless
extremely durable. Crimp connections as such guarantee a perfect connection
with minimal contact resistance on the one hand and high mechanic durability
(vibration etc.) on the other hand.
Particularly for the stripping of cables, the electric Z+F stripping machines
"AI" make perfect sense. Depending on the design, they can strip cable
cross-sections between 0.05 mm* (AWG 30) and 16 mm* (AWG 6) with
infinitely variable cross-section adjustment without changing tools. With all
the machines of the "AI" series, total or partial stripping from 3 up to 20 mm
is possible. As a next step, Z+F's engineers developed the new "AI auto" —
this stripping machine recognizes the cable cross-section automatically so
that it does not need to be adjusted any longer, but still has the option
between total and partial stripping.
Just as the stripper-crimper "UMAC-RYB", the "AI auto" stripping
machine was presented for the first time at Productronica in Munich
to an expert audience.
Zoller + Fröhlich has 125 employees in its headquarters in Wangen.
In the subsidiaries Z+F USA Inc. (Pittsburgh) and Z+F UK Ltd. (Manchester)
a further 15 staff members are employed. The company exports its'
products to more than 40 countries worldwide.
Contact Z+G Gmbh, Simoniustr.22 Wagen i.A. D-88239 Germany.
Phone +49 (0) 75 22 93 08 58 or Fax +49 (0) 75 22 93 08 52.
E-Mail: info@zofre.de Visit website: www.zofre.de
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