SHRI G. S.

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SECIENCE, INDORE

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
UTILIZATION of ECTRICAL ENERGY LABORATORY

Roll No……………….. Expt. No.……………….. Date………………….

Remark and the signature of the staff member in charge

Objectives:
To dissect the power cable into it s distinguished parts.

APPARATUS:
 Dissected Cables
 Vernier Calliper
 Screw Gauge
THEORY:
An Cable essentially consists of one or more conductors covered with suitable insulation and
surrounded by a protecting cover. The cable is layed underground to distribute or transmit electric
power.

The underground cables are mostly used for distribution of electric power in urban areas at
comparatively low or moderate voltages. They are also very useful for distribution of electric power
in thickly populated areas where maintenance conditions prohibit the use of overhead lines.

Figure: Parts of cable

REQUIREMENTS OF THE CABLES

 The copper or aluminum conductor used should be of such a size that the cable should carry the
specified load current without overheating and should not cause a voltage drop beyond the
prescribed limit.

 The cable must have proper thickness of the insulation so as to give high degree of safety and
reliability of the voltage for which it is designed.

 All the materials used in the cable, manufacture should have complete chemical and physical stability
throughout.

 All the cables must be provided with proper mechanical protection so as to withstand the rough use in
laying them.

PARTS OF THE CABLE

The general construction of the cables is given below:

1. Core
All cables either have a central core or a number of cores of stranded of Copper or Aluminum
conductors having highest conductivity. Conductors are stranded in order to reduce the skin effect.
Generally there are one, two, three and four cores.

2. Insulation

It is provided to insulate the conductors from each other and from the outside periphery .The
common insulating materials are Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and Polyethylene
The insulating materials used in the cables should have the following properties:

1 .High insulation resistance

2. High dielectric strength

3 .High mechanical strength

4. Non-hydroscopic

5 .Immune to attacks by acids and alkalies

6. Non-inflammable

7. Low cost

3. Metallic Sheath
A metallic sheath is provided over the insulation so as to prevent the entry of the moisture into the
insulating material. The metallic sheath is usually of lead or lead alloy.

4. Bedding
Over the metallic sheath comes a layer of bedding, which consists of paper tape compounded with a
fibrous material. The purpose of providing the bedding is to protect the metallic sheath from
mechanical injury from the armoring.

5. Armoring
Armoring is provided to provided to avoid mechanical injury to the cable ad it consists of providing
one or two layers of galvanized steel wires or two layers of steel tape.

6.Serving
Over and above armoring fibrous material is again provided which is similar to that of bedding but is
called as Serving.

Figure: Cross Sectional View of Cable

 S. No. Properties Copper Aluminum
Annealed Hard Drawn Annealed Hard Drawn
1. Resistivity at 20 C (ohm-m 1.72 1.78 to 1.8 2.8 2.3
× 10-8)
2. Temperature coefficient of 0.00393 0.00393 0.00403 0.00403
electrical resistance at 20 C
3. Coefficient of linear 17.0 x 10-6 17.0 x 10-6 23.0 x 10-6 23.0 x 10-6
expansion per unit per C
4. Thermal 384 384 209.4 209.4
conductivity W/mK
5. Density kg/m3 8.89 x 10-3 8.89 x 10-3 2.71 x 10-3 2.71 x 10-3
6. Specific heat kJ/kg K 0.394 0.394 0.904 0.904

PROCEDURE:
Practical demonstration

RESULT:
Cables have been studied and their operation is understood.

EXERCISE:
You are given three cables of unknown cross section: find out the following information about each
cable.

S. No. No. of Cores No. of Strands Diameter(m) Cross Sectional Nomenclature

Area(mm2)

Give the definition of following terms:

1. Coefficient of linear expansion

2. Temperature coefficient
3. Thermal conductivity
4. Resistivity
5. Ampacity
Explain the following processes:

1. Annealing & Importance

2. Galvanizing
3. Vulcanizing

Give short answers to the following questions:

1 .What will be the difference in size of Cu & Al conductor for same installation?
(Hints: refer table)
2. Why do we use ACSR conductors for transmission not in distribution?

3. Mostly Aluminum is used in transmission system as a conductor, why not Cu as a

conductor?