Cable Tray Fill

Single-row width check from cable outside diameters.

Before you calculate

Will the cables fit side by side?

A geometric single-row check from cable outside diameters, gaps and reserves. It is not an ampacity, support-load or installation approval.

Learn more — complete guide →

Step 1

Tray and cables

Use the cable OUTSIDE diameter from the datasheet, not the conductor size in mm².

Usable tray width (mm)The real inside width, after sidewalls and dividers.

Number of cables

Cable outside diameter (mm)

Gap between cables (mm)Your chosen edge-to-edge clearance; 0 = touching.

Advanced: more cable groups, reserves, depth, candidate widths, mass (optional)

Group 2: number of cables

Group 2: outside diameter (mm)

Group 3: number of cables

Group 3: outside diameter (mm)

Left reserve (mm)

Right reserve (mm)

Usable tray depth (mm), for area occupancy

Candidate inside widths to compare (mm)Your supplier's real inside widths; there is no universal list.

Group 1: cable mass (kg/m)

Group 2: cable mass (kg/m)

Group 3: cable mass (kg/m)

The width I entered is the nominal catalog width

Step 2

Results

Check before relying on this result

Gap 0 mm is a close-packed row. It says nothing about thermal grouping or the spacing the cable manufacturer or the installation rules require.

Required single-row width264.0 mm12 cables

Width margin36.0 mmGeometric fit (single row)

Circular cable area4562 mm²

Geometric screening only. A fit says the cables can lie side by side in one row. It does not check the current-carrying capacity and grouping, bending radius, support span and load, segregation, bonding or corrosion. IEC 61537 is a standard for tray systems, not a universal fill percentage.

1. Required single-row width

Sum of the cable outside diameters, plus a gap between each pair of neighbouring cables (N − 1 gaps across the whole row), plus the edge reserves.

W_{req}=\sum d_i+(N-1)\,g+c_L+c_R

W_{req}=264+0+0+0=264\ \text{mm}

2. Width margin

Usable width minus required width. A negative margin means the cables do not fit side by side.

\Delta W=W_{usable}-W_{req}

\Delta W=300-264=36\ \text{mm}

3. Circular cable area

Informational: the sum of the circular outer cross-sections.

A=\sum n_j\,\frac{\pi d_j^2}{4}

A=4561.6\ \text{mm}^2

Calculations use full precision internally; the displayed numbers are rounded for readability.