Trailing cable specified on metres of movement per shift
Voltcore supplies flexible trailing cable, longwall shearer cable and mine power cable for underground operations and tunnel construction.
Nothing in an underground mine is stationary for long. A longwall shearer moves continuously along the face while drawing several hundred kilowatts, and its cable is dragged over floor debris, pinched against pan line, bent around the ranging arm and tensioned by the machine itself thousands of times per week. Somewhere in that same circuit an insulation fault develops, and because the whole machine frame may then rise in potential, the safety system depends on the pilot core and the screen being of known impedance so the protection trips before anyone touches the equipment. A mining cable specification is therefore really a mechanical duty specification: movement cycles, tensile load and abrasion come first, and current rating is worked out afterwards.
Voltcore Cable has operated from Yixing, Jiangsu since 2008, running 32 production lines including heavy rubber sheathed and flexible constructions. The factory works under ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 systems and supplies mine operators, equipment rebuilders and tunnelling contractors in more than 60 countries. Typical orders combine trailing cable in several conductor sizes, longwall shearer cable with pilot and earth screen, mine power cable for the gate road and heavy duty industrial rubber cable for surface plant, produced in one 15–25 working day window and shipped from Shanghai or Ningbo.
Trailing cable is dragged across rock, steel pan sections and spilled material, then trapped under machinery wheels. Impact from falling roof material and crushing against conveyor structure are routine. The sheath has to absorb energy and resist tearing while still remaining flexible enough to be handled daily by crews wearing gloves.
Every pass of the shearer imposes a full bending cycle at the machine entry and at every guide roller. Tidal pull from the reel adds tensile load on top. Fine strand conductor, short lay lengths and a cushion separator between insulation and sheath determine how many cycles the cable survives before strand breakage shows up as local heating.
Gate roads carry standing water that can be acidic and rich in dissolved solids. Any water that enters through a sheath defect wicks along the conductor strands for metres, so moisture-resistant bedding compounds and sound splicing practice matter more here than in almost any other application.
In gassy workings, any cable fault can become an ignition source. For that reason mine cable uses flame retardant sheath compounds and mandatory screen or pilot cores so that earth leakage monitoring trips supply rapidly, rather than allowing sustained arcing at the fault point.
Development headings and tunnel faces can sit above 30 °C with poor airflow, reducing the heat that any conductor can shed. Derating for ambient conditions and for cables bundled on the same hangers is unavoidable, and it often drives the conductor size more than the machine rating does.
Selected from 67 types because they match the conditions above, not because they are our best sellers.
General purpose trailing supply to continuous miners, shuttle cars, pumps and conveyors that move around the face.
Full specification →Shielded cable with control cores for face machinery where earth fault monitoring and pilot circuits are mandatory.
Full specification →Fixed mine supply cable for gate roads, drives and installation feeders that do not need continuous reeling.
Full specification →Outdoor auxiliary plant, dewatering pumps and temporary power around the pit top and washery.
Full specification →Medium duty flexible supply for drills, lighting loads and small portable equipment used on the face sidings.
Full specification →Very flexible high-current leads for down-hole repairs, panline rebuilds and workshop fabrication work at the mine.
Full specification →Tunnel emergency circuits supplying escape lighting, ventilation controls and refuge chamber services during construction.
Full specification →A 2.2 km decline conveyor feeder in a coal mine had suffered repeated sheath damage from roof falls and vehicle contact, putting the belt drive supply at risk.
Voltcore supplied armoured mine power cable for the fixed decline route, with heavy duty flexible rubber cable used only for the last movements to the drive head. Conductor size was increased above continuous rating to allow for poor ventilation and hanger grouping, and additional support points were specified at regular intervals to carry the vertical load.
A metal mine rebuilding its continuous miners needed replacement trailing cable that could be reeled daily without strand failures at the machine entry.
The specification was set on movement duty rather than current alone: fine stranded Class 5 conductor, short lay lengths, a cushion bedding between insulation and sheath, and an overall screen with galvanised earth in place to suit the mine's earth leakage relays. Cable was delivered cut to length per machine set, with free sample lengths supplied first for a trial against the existing fleet.
Examples are illustrative; project references and documentation available on request.
Include cross-section, core count, voltage grade, route length and installation method — those five determine price more than anything else on the page.
Repair is acceptable for isolated sheath damage away from the machine entry, on an un-aged length with no conductor involvement. Once conductor strands are broken or damage lies in the highest-flexing zone, replacement is safer because failures there progress quickly. Voltcore recommends tracking movement cycles rather than calendar time as the replacement trigger.
The earth leakage protection measures the pilot core loop and the phase-to-screen impedance continuously. If damage raises that impedance, a fault may not draw enough current to trip before the machine frame rises in potential. The screen is also what carries fault current away, so its construction and cross-section cannot be chosen independently of the protection setting.
Yes. Mine orders commonly combine trailing cable, shearer cable, mine power cable and rubber leads for pit-top plant. Voltcore produces them in one 15–25 working day window against MOQ of 500 m per size, with cut lengths and drum markings to suit individual machine sets, shipped from Shanghai or Ningbo.
Three causes dominate: bending below minimum radius at the machine entry, reel tension set higher than necessary, and sheath cuts left unrepaired so water wicks along the strands. All three are mechanical rather than electrical. Our engineers can review the installation arrangement and suggest the correct construction before you place the order.
RFQs are answered by an application engineer first. Typical reply within 12 hours, CST working days.