Cables smaller than the eye can see

Fine and flexible

Because medical applications, and especially ultrasound imaging probes, require ever smaller, lighter and higher performance cables, Nexans has developed a very flexible coaxial cable bundle which can be produced in industrial quantities.

New ultrasound applications

Ultrasound or echography is used for more than prenatal imaging. It is used in cardiology and gastroenterology, veterinary medicine, and industrial non-destructive testing (e.g. for aircraft maintenance checks). Since the cables linking the ultrasonic probe to the visualizing equipment is made of many tiny coaxial cables (up to 528), their size must be reduced (down to 40 µm) to keep them highly flexible.

High-value cables

Since the 1990s a special workshop in Draveil (France) has been manufacturing these very special cables on adapted machines. Although they do not generate a big tonnage of products, they represent a growing market for high-value products.

Tight jackets

Equipment was developed to extrude very thin layers of thermoplastic materials over the tiny center conductor. Then ultra-thin, silver-coated copper was carefully spun around the insulated core. Modeling tools were developed to optimize the process, and insulation was continuously improved to assure optimum flexibility and bending radius. For some operations the wires are barely visible to the naked eye. Our next step is to supply a complete assembly solution to medical and industrial customers.

Biocompatible and sterile

Aside from compactness, these cables also meet biocompatibility and sterilization requirements. Safe ultrasonic imaging provides a relatively inexpensive complement to more traditional techniques , like X-Rays and magnetic resonance imaging.