Cable 101:
Introduction to Belden Wire & Cable Company
Presented By:
Belden Engineering Center Staff
Belden Wire & Cable Company
OVERVIEW
Who is Belden?
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Belden is a world leader in the field of signal transmission
and advanced broadcast, professional & commercial A/V,
RF, Networking, and Telecommunication products designing solutions that meet the needs of today’s
automotive, commercial, industrial, institutional and military
environments.
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Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence: Belden’s high
standards for Development, Design, Process, and Mfg.
Methods are subject to continuous development and
improvement.
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Technological Leadership: Belden has been committed to
innovation since 1902; our technological expertise is
recognized and in applications worldwide. We lead the way
by developing robust, cost-effective solutions produced by
our advanced manufacturing methods and backed by 100
years of proven reliability.
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Global Manufacturing and Support: Belden has more then
5,000 associates and >25 manufacturing facilities spread
over 11 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Estimated revenue for 2010 is $2B.
Who is Belden?

Centers of Excellence: Belden maintains an Engineering
Center in Richmond Indiana which is a world class leader in
wire and cable innovation. In addition, networking
connectivity is centered in Montreal Canada, and copper
connectivity is centered in Horseheads, NY. Cable
engineering is also located in Hong Kong (Asia Pacific) and
Venlo, The Netherlands (Europe, Middle East, and Africa).
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Belden Wire & Cable Manufacturing Facilities:
 Richmond, IN
 Monticello, KY
 Leominster, MA
 Washington, PA
 Nogales, Mexico
 Tijuana, Mexico
 Sao Paulo, Brazil
 Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
 Shanghi, Dai Lin, and Hui Zhou China
 Venlo, The Netherlands
 Budapest, Hungary
 Lancashire, UK
 Horni Podluzi, Czech Republic
 Bagnacavallo, Italy
 Gjern, Denmark
Who is Belden?

Other Wire & Cable Brands:
 Alpha
 LTK
 Mohawk
 Thermax
 West Penn
 Duna Kabel
 Kabelovna
 ITC
 Raydex
 Poliron
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Other Belden Companies
 Hirschman Automation and Control
 Lumberg Automation
 Telecast Fiber Systems
 LRC (Snap-N-Seal)
 ICM (F-Conn, CablePro)
Innovations in Wire & Cable
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1902 – Belden Corporation Started.
1905 – Beldenamel – Flexible enamel insulate wire products.
1910 – Rubber insulated wires added to portfolio.
1940s - Belden manufactured strictly war materials by 1942, and its products were
used in tanks, airplanes, mobile radios, submarines, ships, jeeps, and a variety of
other machinery.
1980s – Innovations in Cable Shielding techniques lead to providing cabling solutions
for the first computers, and large customers like IBM.
1990s - Innovation in data cables, bonded pairs, and high performance coax
solutions for data networking and HDTV.
2000s – Innovations in high speed data cables for 10 Gigibit data solutions.
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Belden currently holds over 250 patents related to wire and cable products.
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Belden Wire & Cable Company
MARKETS SERVED
Key Customers
Portfolio
Switches
Connectors
• Industrial Ethernet
• Industrial
switches
• Rail-mounted and
rack-mounted
• Industrial wireless
connectors
• Field bus
components
• Belden IBDN
connectors for
enterprise copper
and fiber
Cable
• Copper and fiber
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optic cable
BondedPair
DataTuff
Brilliance
broadcast cable
Thermax
aerospace cable
Professional Broadcast Systems
Commercial AV Vertical Markets
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Casinos
Cruise Ships
Consumer A/V
Theme Parks
Corporate A/V
Movie Theaters
Houses of Worship
Retail/Restaurants
Education
Convention Centers
Stadiums
Auditoriums
Video, Sound, Security
Where are these applications
being installed?

Access Control
 CCTV
 Fire Alarm
 Sound/Intercom
Everywhere!
Residential
Networking / Enterprise
Industrial Vertical Markets
 Automotive
 Chemical
 Food & Beverage
 Pulp & Paper
 General
Manufacturing
 Metals
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Petroleum
Pharmaceutical
Semiconductor
Textiles
Belden Wire & Cable Company
Components of Wire and Cable
Conductors
 What is a conductor?
– A substance that easily transfers electricity
 Belden primarily uses copper
Conductors
 AWG (American Wire Gauge)
30 AWG
6 AWG
 The Richmond wire mill starts with 5/16” copper rod
and draws it down as small as 38 AWG
– 1 foot of 5/16” rod can make over 1 mile of 38 AWG
wire!
Conductors - Variations
 Bare
 Coated
– Tin, Silver
 Stranding
– Increases flexibility of finished product
– More strands = More flexibility (and more cost)
Insulation
 Functions of Insulation
– Separates conductors, electrically and physically,
within a cable
 Characteristics
– Electrical and physical properties important
– Can be solid or foamed
 Two types of materials- thermoplastic and thermoset
Common Thermoplastic Insulations
 PVC
– Inexpensive and most common
– Can be formulated to have a variety of properties
• We use more than 50 different PVCs because of all the
different property combinations- both internal and external
formulations
– Used in all types of cables
Common Thermoplastic Insulations
 Polyethylene
– Used in coax cables
– Good electrical properties
– Poor flame properties- burns like a candle
– Easily foamed
Common Thermoplastic Insulations
 FEP (Teflon ®)
– Awesome in most properties
• Great Flame Retardancy- used in Plenum applications
• Great chemical resistance
• Great electrical properties
– Very expensive!
Common Thermoset Insulations
 Silicone Rubber– Ceramifiable makes fire alarm work during fire
 Other Rubber and Crosslinked materials
– High temperature properties
• Great for under-the-hood applications
– Good chemical resistance properties
Types of products – Lead Wire
 Single conductor covered by insulation
 Also called hook-up wire
Types of products – Multiconductor
 Twist together multiple wires
 Used for applications with non-stringent electrical
requirements
Types of products – Paired Cable
 Twist together two wires in a tightly controlled manner
 Multiple twisted pair units are cabled together, forming
multipair cables
 Great for data cable applications, like Ethernet
Shields
 A shield is a conductor that encloses other conductors
to protect against interference
Braid
Foil Shield
Coax
 Center conductor and shield share a
common axis
 Tightly controlled geometry
– Great electrical performance
Jacket
 Purpose of Jacket
– Physically protects the internal components of the
cable
– Appearance is very important- colors
– Protects cable from environment
– Protects cables from rigors of installation
Common Jacket Materials
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PVC- Low cost, most common
CPE- Good for chemical resistance
LSZH- Non-halogen for enclosed spaces- ships, mines
Others- TPU, Rubber, PE, FEP
Belden Wire & Cable Company
Properties of Wire and Cable
Physical Properties
 Temperature Rating
– Determines cable applications
• Under- the-hood, etc
 Flame Retardant Properties
– Determines where cable
can be installed
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Plenum- Air Handling
Riser- Between Floors
General Purpose- Cable Trays
Residential
Physical Properties
 Cold Properties
– Determines what environments we can use/install
our cables. Can it be installed in Canada in
winter?
 UV Resistance
– Can the cable be installed
outdoors?
 Chemical, Oil, Abrasion
resistance
– How well can the jacket
protect the cable from the environment
 Flexibility, Flex life
Electrical Performance
 How good is the cable at sending a signal?
Electricals - Resistance
 Resistance
– Opposition to the flow of current
– Determined by conductor size
– Abbreviated DCR for “direct current resistance”
– Measured in ohms / 1000 ft
– Lower is better
10 X 104 = 100,000 ohms
Length of 24 AWG from
Richmond to Albany
Electricals - Capacitance
 Capacitance
– Opposition to a change in voltage
– Determined by cable geometry and dielectric
– Measured in pF / ft
– Lower is better
– Important for analog audio
Low
capacitance
High
capacitance
Electricals - Impedance
 Characteristic Impedance
– Ratio of voltage to current
– Determined by cable geometry and dielectric
– Measured in ohms
– Match cable impedance to system impedance
– Important for high frequency (fast) signals
Electricals - Attenuation
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Attenuation
– How strong is the signal?
– Measured in dB / 100 ft
– Lower is better (closer to zero)
– Analog
• How good does it sound or look?
– Digital
• Does it work?
Belden Wire & Cable Company
How do you make this stuff?
How to Make Cable
 Extrusion
How to Make Cable
 Cabling
How to Make Cable
 Braiding
Belden Wire & Cable Company
DIFFERENTIATION
Differentiation
 What separates Belden from the rest?
– Vertically Integrated
– Quality Built In
– Integrity of Brand and 100 years
– 10 Year Product Warranty
– Innovative Custom Solutions
 Belden There Is No Equal ®
Questions
Thank you for your time!
Questions?