Stainless steel cable glands

Our SKINTOP® stainless steel cable glands are designed for use under tough conditions and therefore have a high chemical and mechanical resistance. They are available in metric, PG and NPT connection threads. With stainless steel as the material for cable glands, you can impress in many industrial applications, such as in the food industry, in clean rooms and in offshore areas.

What is a stainless steel cable gland?

Our stainless steel cable glands are particularly high-quality cable glands for special applications such as the food industry, the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries and harsh offshore areas. Like other single-entry systems, they are used for sealing and strain-relieving the insertion of cables into the housing of a machine or control cabinet.

What is stainless steel actually made of?

In general, it can be said that stainless steel is a raw material with a higher degree of purity than brass, which not only often has a much higher quality, but is also corrosion-resistant, i.e. stainless, weather-resistant and therefore extremely durable, depending on the composition.

A steel always becomes stainless if undesirable components

such as phosphorus and sulphur do not exceed

a certain maximum percentage.

Stainless steel isn’t always “just” stainless steel

There are both unalloyed and alloyed stainless steels. Alloying here means mixing and melting steel with several other materials.

In non-alloy steels, certain components such as chromium, nickel or titanium are only contained in very low quantities. They give stainless steel its typical positive properties. This is why non-alloy steels are not necessarily “worse”.

In alloy steels, these important alloy components are contained in higher quantities. This is the only way that stainless steel develops its really positive properties.

Did you know?

Only alloy steels with a high proportion of chromium are also rust-resistant stainless steels.

The quality of stainless steel depends on whether and

which alloy elements were used in which proportions to produce the stainless steel.

Where are stainless steel cable glands used?

Typical areas of application for stainless steel cable glands include:

The food industry, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industry	Offshore applications
Strict hygiene regulations apply here for all components used	The harsh environmental conditions require metals with corrosion protection

Our products are impressive in all these areas due to their material and shape.

Requirements for electrical components in the food industry

In the food industry, special hygiene requirements and design guidelines apply when designing machinery. The top goals are:

Functional reliability of the system
The functional reliability of the system is of paramount importance, as downtime of machines and systems must be avoided at all costs so that easily perishable food does not have to be disposed of unnecessarily.
Hygienic cleanliness
Hygiene plans must also be drawn up to reduce the risk of food contamination by germs and other impurities to an absolute minimum. After all, the health of consumers must not be endangered.

Repeated cleaning processes for machines and systems, often several times a day, are an important approach to achieving these goals. In addition to hot water vapours and jets of water, some very aggressive cleaning media are used for this purpose. In the meantime, particularly sticky machine parts are often cleaned with dry ice, which freezes the dirt and then allows it to be easily removed.

Only a few materials can withstand these stresses in the long term. Stainless steel is the first choice here.

What do hygienic products look like?

In the case of cable glands, a hygienic design requires rounded shapes and few corners and edges to minimise the deposit of dust, dirt or food residues and to simplify product cleaning.

Hygienic cable glands have special certifications for the food and beverage (F&B) sector and are particularly resistant to cleaning agents and disinfectants.

Still completely sealed?

The sealing materials and mechanisms of hygienic cable glands must be completely sealed against dirt and liquids on both sides. Food or liquid residues must not accumulate either at the connection point to the machine or at the cable entry point into the cable gland.

Sealing material in blue is used to easily distinguish from food.

Very easy to clean, permanently sealed and functional – even for frequent cleaning processes!

Incidentally, the organic oils, fats, fruit acids and lactic acids contained in foodstuffs also affect the components, which is why the products used in F&B have to demonstrate high and, above all, versatile chemical resistance.

Would you like a general product overview for the food & beverage sector?

Here you will find our F&B products and our helpful White paper!

Requirements for components in offshore applications

Offshore refers to all areas that are literally “off the shore” and therefore no longer on the mainland. These include wind power plants for power generation, oil drilling platforms, natural gas production plants and many areas of shipping.

Outside the coastal waters there is a harsh sea climate with changing wind and temperature conditions. This requires waterproof, seawater-resistant and therefore corrosion-proof electrical components that can continuously withstand the weather for many years, enable easy maintenance and cleaning and are environmentally compatible.

The higher the quality and level of suitability

of the components used, the lower the running costs will be because

these components are more durable and easier to clean.

What should be considered when selecting stainless steel cable glands?

Before purchasing a stainless steel cable gland, you should ask yourself the following questions:

Which cable should be inserted? What clamping range is required?
Which connection thread should it be: metric, NPT or PG?
Which thread size is required for the specific application?
Are standards and certifications such as UL (CSA), DNV-GL, EHEDG, NSF/ANSI 169, FDA or ECOLAB® relevant?
In which application is the cable gland used? If it is used in the food industry, how close does the cable gland come to foodstuffs?
Does electromagnetic compatibility play a role in your application?
In which temperature range should the cable gland be used?
What protection against foreign bodies and water is required (IP protection class)?

More information on this can be found
in the guide for single-entry systems

Find out more about the ECOLAB®
More information on this can be found
in the guide for cable glands

Stainless steel cable gland solutions from LAPP

All stainless steel product variants offer high functional reliability, optimum strain relief, wide variable clamping ranges, high resilience to mechanical load and are designed for easy product cleaning.

You are looking for a stainless, chemical and thermally resistant cable gland for a wide range of harsh applications, for example in the petrochemical industry.

Properties: