The Cable Lab

There's a place where people are experts at pulling, bending, breaking and burning. Why? Because if a cable might fail we want it to happen here, in The Cable Lab. 

"For some, cable is just cable. To us it's not" says Jean-Sebastien, Eland Cables Director.

Deborah, Head of Marketing reiterated, "Testing cables is at the very heart of what we do, and that means putting cables through ever increasing tests to make sure that they are compliant and do meet the performance expectations."

Cables are expected to perform under a range of conditions: from being under constant mechanical stress to experiencing extreme temperatures; some face exposure to UV radiation or lie in waterlogged ducts. That's why the experts in our world-class lab work to identify sub-standard and non-compliant cable.

Ivan, Head of QA/Technical explained: " Over time ozone will degrade cables so the cables will become brittle - that means the sheathing material will crack and expose the insulated cores and potentially lead to fatal consequences."

Medium voltage cables are often buried in long runs underground, making any maintenance costly and time-consuming. It's why we test them so rigorously in our specialist MV facility.

Mark, Lab Manager talked through the testing: "We're going to apply a voltage between the conductor and the copper screen and see if there's any breakdown between the layers and so we can assure a whole drum has been tested not just a representative sample."

Emma, Lab Supervisor underlines the importance of testing: "If a cable does fail, we quarantine the cable and that's great because it means we've stopped it going out into the real world."

Deborah continued, "It's not just about laboratory testing, we go above-and-beyond across the board for our customers, so it's about having industry specialists that understand the challenges a project is going to face onsite."

Jean-Sebastien underlined this, "We provide the service, from the selection, the design, to the assurance that comes with a product that is often used in very critical applications."

Deborah concluded: "Of course the laboratories are a huge investment, and an ongoing investment at that, but we want to be able to give our customers the confidence that the cables meet all of the compliance and regulatory and practical applications that they demand. The laboratory is ever-more important and at centre of what we do. It will be something we continue to invest in because it is what sets us apart and what makes a difference to our customers.

Eland Cables - A tailored service on a global scale