Double Loop Room Size Field Cancelling Cables

Installation

Guidelines for cable layouts are included in the SC22 and SC24 user manuals. Cables may be routed on walls in plastic wireways or laid above suspended ceilings or below raised floors. Cables may be routed in pipes embedded into a concrete floor or run across the floor in suitable protectors.

These cables carry low voltages (±20 V max), so it is not necessary to specify electrical grade conduit. Cables may be routed in plastic or steel conduits. However, it is important that the conduit does not make an electrically conducting loop, because this would act as a transformer with a shorted turn, reducing the dynamic range (the maximum field that can be cancelled).

The required conduit diameters are shown in the specifications. The larger sizes make for easier installation. If smaller sizes must be used, the connector hoods or even the entire connector can be removed and replaced on site.

The cables are labelled with color-coded directional arrows. This helps to ensure that they are installed so that both loops go around in the same direction.

If there is excess cable in the main loop, it should not be coiled, because that would make a magnetic field. It should be doubled back on itself and bundled tightly so that the field cancels out. The tails do not create any significant magnetic field.

The drawing shows a typical double loop installation. The dimensions of the dual loop cables have been optimized to make the cable fields uniform over the length of the microscope column for this size room. Every microscope room is different, and the optimum cable spacings depend on the room size and height. There are often doors, pillars, beams and other features that make the room shape more complicated. VEC has many years’ experience in designing custom cable layouts. We build custom cables for each double loop room installation.

SC22 Features