Handbook on Electrical

Power Cables for General Services

CHAPTER 1/GENERAL

INTRODUCTION:
Cables as compared to overhead lines have the following
advantages.
(i)The cable transmission and distribution are not subjected to
supply interruptions caused by lightening or thunderstorms,
birds and other severe weather conditions.
(ii)It reduces accidents caused by the breaking of the
conductors.
(iii)Its use does not spoil the beauty of place, cities. But if a fault
occurs due to any reason, it is not easily located.
Main disadvantage of using cable compare to overhead lines
are: Higher installation costs, difficulty in locating faults, longer
repair times, more complex branching.
MAIN PARTS OF CABLES:
Conductor, insulation and protection are the main three parts
of the cables.
Conductor: Conductor is a material that provides low
resistance to the flow of electrical current. Electrical grade high
conductivity annealed copper or annealed aluminium
conductors are used in cables. Generally all power cables have
aluminium as the conductor material.
Aluminium of high purity, (99.5% pure electrical grade) which is
highly anticorrosive and highly conductive is used as conductor in
cables. Annealing softens the aluminium, reduces tensile
strength and increase conductivity.
Insulation: Insulation material means a material having good
dielectric properties, which is used to separate or isolate the
conducting electrical parts. Insulation to be used for cables must
have following properties.
 It should have a high specific resistance and dielectric
strength.
 It should be tough and flexible.
 It should not be hygroscopic i.e. it should not absorb
moisture from air or surroundings.
 It should be capable of standing high temperatureswithout
much deterioration.
 It should be non-inflammable, fire retardant.
 It should not be attacked by acids or alkalies.
The following are the main types of insulationgroup, which are
used.
i. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
ii. Ethylene propylene rubber (EPR)
iii. Cross linked polyethylene (XLPE)
Protection: Following protecting layers are provided for
protection of the cable.

Conductor
Insulation
Inner
sheath
Armour

Outer Sheath

Figure 1.1 Cross Sectional Construction of Multi-Core

Armoured Cable
(a) Inner Sheath: For protection from moisture and aggressive
elements, sheath is provided over the insulation. For oil
impregnated paper insulated cables, lead sheath or impregnated
jute tapes with layers of bitumen compound are used. For
polymeric material insulated cables, extruded PVC sheath or
wrapping of plastic tapes are used.
(b)Armouring: Armouring is provided to avoid mechanical injury
to the cable. The armouring is applied over the core insulation
or inner sheath for single core cables and over the inner sheath
for the multicore cables.
Armour is a metallic wrapping over the cable insulation.
For single core cables, non magnetic materials are used as
armour, the armour material may be galvanized round steel
wire or flat steel strip.
(c)Outer Sheath
Single core and multicore cables are provided with an extruded
PVC outer sheath. The colour of the outer sheath is generally
black.
CLASSIFICATION OF ELECTRICAL CABLES
Electrical cables may be classified according totheir application
as follows:
(i)Wiring cables: These cables are used for internal wiring of the
buildings and other protected installations and have two
components viz. conductor and insulation. PVC as insulation
material and annealedcopper (solid or stranded) as conductor are
commonly used for wiring cables. Voltage grade of these cables is
upto 1100 Volts.
(ii)Control cables
These are designed for control purposes or measuring circuits for
carrying signals of direct current (DC) up to 220 Volts and
alternating currents (AC) up to 440 volts. These cables are
available with armour and without armour. In these cables PVC,
XLPE, EPR, Neoprene etc. are used as insulation. Control cables
are available in 0.5/0.75/1.00/ 1.5/2.5 mm2 size copper
conductor (solid/stranded) from2 cores to 61 cores.
(iii)Power Cables
Electrical power cables are used for distribution and transmission
of electrical energy. These cables either single core or multi-core
are particularly useful in power stations, substations, house
service connections, street lighting, etc. They can be installed
indoors or outdoors, in air, in cableducts or underground.
CLASSIFICATION OF POWER CABLES
Electrical power cables are generally classified according to their
designed (rated) voltages or the type of insulation used.
Classification as Per Designed Voltage
Electrical power cables are generally classified according to their
designed (rated) voltages as given below:
Low voltage up to and including 1100volts.
Medium voltage from 3.3 kV up to andincluding 33 kV
High voltage above 33 kV and up to andincluding 132 kV
Extra high voltage above 132 kV and up to and
including 700 kV

XLPE Cables: Following are the main advantages of XLPE cables

over PVC cables:
(i) Excellent electrical & physical properties: High resistance to thermal
deformation and the ageing property of XLPE cables provides greater
continuous and short circuit current capacity.
Permissible maximum conductor temperature
XLPE cables PVC cables
Continuous duty 90°C 70°C
Short circuit 250°C 160°C
(ii)Higher current carrying capacity: Current carrying capacity of XLPE
cables of the same size is approximately 20 to 30% higherthan that
of PVC due to higher operating temperature.
(iii) Resistant to heat.
(iv) XLPE cables have lower dielectric loss, lowerpermittivity
as compared to PVC cables.
(v) Due to lower specific gravity, XLPE cables arecomparatively
lighter in weight than PVC cables,therefore, ease in handling,
laying and installation.
 (vi)XLPE cable has higher mechanical properties and more
robust as compared to PVC cables due tothermosetting
process.

Core Identification
Different cores in a cable are identified by colours of PVC
insulation. Accepted colour codes for PVC insulated cables are as
under.
a. Single core: Red, yellow, blue or black.
b. Twin core : Red and black
c. Three core: Red, yellow and blue.
d. Four core: Red, yellow, blue and black.
e. Five core : red, yellow, blue, black and light grey.
In 3.5 core cables, the three main cores are red, yellow, blue for
phases and reduced core is black for neutral.
Red, yellow, blue colours represent phase ‘R’, ‘Y’, ‘B’ and black
colour represents neutral ‘N’.

Ratings and Applications

PVC insulated power cables are generally designed and
manufactured from rated voltage 650/1100 volts up to and
including 6.35/11 kV and no. of cores are 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4 or 5 cores.
Nominal area of aluminium conductor ranges from
1.5 to 1000 sq. mm for single core cables and from 2.5 to630 sq.
mm for multicores cables.

SELECTION OF THE CABLE ROUTE:-

•Select the shortest but the easiest route to reduce the overall
cost.
•Transportation of cable drums. Check the road conditions, turns
and width.
•The route should be as far as possible, away from parallel
running gas, water pipes and telephone/ telecommunication
cables.
•Suitable locations for cable joints and terminationsshould be
 selected as required.
MINIMUM PERMISSIBLE BENDING RADII
The cable should not be bent to a sharp radius. Minimum
permissible bending radii for cables as given in IS: 1255 – 1983
are given below:
Voltage PVC and XLPE cables
rating(kV) Single core Multi core
Up to 1.1 15 D 12 D
Above 1.1 to 11 15 D 15 D
Above 11 20 D 15 D
Note: D is outer diameter of cable.
At joints and terminations bending radius for the individual
cores should be above 12 times the diameter over the
insulation.
METHODS OF CABLE LAYING & INSTALLATION
The conventional methods of cable laying andinstallation are:
 Laying direct in ground.

Lying Direct in Ground:

This method involves digging a trench in the ground and laying
cables on a bedding of minimum 75mm riddled soil or sand at
the bottom of the trench, and covering it with additional riddled
soil or sand of minimum 75mm and protecting it by means of
bricks, tiles or slabs.

SOIL
BRICK
75 mm Min.
SAND cable

75 mm Min.

Cable Trench Layout

Depth: The desired minimum depth of laying from ground
surface to the top of the cable should be as following:
• Cables, 3.3 KV to 11 kV Voltage rating: 0.9m
•Cables, 22 kV, 33 kV Voltage rating: 1.05 m
•Low voltage and control cables = 0.75 m
•Cables at road crossings: 1.00 m
•Cables at railway level crossings: 1.00 m (Measured from
bottom of sleepers to the top of pipe)

Clearances: The desired minimum clearances are as following.

Power cable to power cable – Clearance not necessary.
However larger the clearance, better would be current
carrying capacity.
 Power cable to control cables : 0.2m
 Power cable to communication cable : 0.3m
 Power cable to gas/ water main : 0.3m

TESTING OF CABLE INSTALLATION

Insulation Resistance Test on Newly Installed Cables Before
Jointing: The voltage rating of the insulation resistance tester for
cables of different voltage grades should be chosen from the
following table.
Voltage Grade of Cable Voltage Rating of IR Tester
1.1kV/1100V 500V
3.3kV 1000V
6.6kV 1000V
11kV 1000V
22kV 2.5kV
33kV 2.5kV