What is a flat cable?
2025-07-11
Flat cable, also known as flat cable, is a row of conductive wires arranged in parallel within a wide and flat ribbon cable base. Flat cables can be folded and bent, providing great design flexibility.
Ribbon cables were invented by Cicoil (Trexon) for IBM in 1956 and are used in mainframe computer equipment such as card readers and punching machines, which require cables to adapt to small spaces. NASA began using ribbon cables in the 1960s, which played a role in important space applications such as the first moon landing. In early consumer market computers, they were often used for computers and printers, connecting internal drives such as hard drives, floppy drives, and CD-ROM drives to the motherboard through parallel ATA (PATA) interfaces. Although new technologies such as SATA and Flat Flexible Cables (FFCs) have largely replaced ribbon cables in modern computers, they are still used in some industrial, automotive, and embedded systems.
Design Description
Connectorization: Flat cables are typically used in conjunction with insulation displacement connectors (IDC). Each wire is color coded or uniformly insulated, and they are typically connected to insulation displacement connectors (IDCs), which allow for easy and reliable termination without stripping the wire. These connectors are commonly used for pin headers on circuit boards, especially in traditional or industrial systems.
Flat cables can transmit data and power, although they are typically used for data transmission.
Amphenol Communication Systems FFC jumpers showcase the modern iteration of flat cables.
Standardization: Flat cables typically have a standard number of wires (10, 20, 40 or more), depending on the application. The most common spacing standard for flat cables (spacing between individual wires) is 0.050 inches (1.27 millimeters). Other spacing standards include 0.100 inches (2.54 millimeters).
To help identify individual wires, a common color coding rule is typically used: standard rainbow flat cables use a repeated color sequence of brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, gray, white, and black for every 10 wires. On monochrome cables, the first wire is usually marked with a red stripe.
Material specification: Flat cables are usually made of copper wire suspended in PVC material. Teflon, polyethylene, and thermoplastic elastomers will also be used. Some flat cables also come with laminated sheaths to encapsulate the entire component.
Adam Tech's FFC is a customizable product based on flat cables. They offer multiple options, including centerline spacing of 0.50 millimeters to 2 millimeters, almost any desired length of contact quantity, and the ability to configure contact positions on the same side, alternating sides, or a combination of both.
Physical characteristics: Due to the parallel arrangement and close distance of wires, flat cables are susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and crosstalk if not properly shielded. Therefore, they are most suitable for short distance, low-speed communication tasks.
Reinforcement: Some high-performance flat cables can withstand high temperatures, wear, bending, and chemical exposure.
Molex Temp Flex high-performance flat ribbon cables are designed to prevent signal interruption caused by faults in PVC and TPE cables in harsh environments.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU
Copyright © 2025 Guangzhou Jinhong Electronics Co., Ltd.