ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE (EMI) AND THERMAL STUDIES OF FLAT CONDUCTOR CABLE (FCC)

Brent A. Warner, Susan R. Breon
Cryogenics Section
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

The Cryogenics Section at the Goddard Space Flight Center is studying Flat Conductor Cable (FCC) to determine whether it is suitable for spaceflight cryogenic systems. FCC could replace conventional cryogenic wiring, such as coaxial cables and single strand stainless steel and manganin.

We have tested two types of shielded flat cable. One type, made by W.L. Gore, uses twisted pairs of stainless steel on a Gore-Tex expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrate. This cable has been baselined for use in the X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS) of AXAF-S, the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility - Spectroscopy. The other type, FCC made by Basic Electronics, is essentially a long, narrow flexible circuit: it uses stainless steel traces on a Kapton base.

We report on crosstalk measurements of the cables between 1 kHz and 100 kHz. We also report thermal conductance measurements of the FCC below 30 K.

Advances in Cryogenic Engineering Vol. 39, p 1161 - 1168.


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