Underground Cables

An underground cable essentially consists of one or

more conductors covered with suitable insulation
and surrounded by a protecting cover.
Although several types of cables are available, the type
of cable to be used will depend upon the working
voltage and service requirements. In general, a cable
must fulfil the following necessary requirements :
(i) The conductor used in cables should be tinned
stranded copper or aluminium of high
conductivity. Stranding is done so that conductor may
become flexible and carry more current.
(ii) The conductor size should be such that the
cable carries the desired load current without
overheating and causes voltage drop within
permissible limits.
(iii) The cable must have proper thickness
of insulation in order to give high degree
of safety and reliability at the voltage for
which it is designed.
(iv) The cable must be provided with
suitable mechanical protection so that it
may withstand the rough use in laying it.
(v) The materials used in the manufacture
of cables should be such that there is
complete chemical
and physical stability throughout
Construction of Cables
Fig. 11.1 shows the general construction of a 3-conductor cable.
The various parts are :
(i) Cores or Conductors. A cable may have one
or more than one core (conductor) depending
upon the type of service for which it is intended.
For instance, the 3-conductor cable shown in Fig.
11.1 is used for 3-phase service. The conductors
are made of tinned copper or aluminium and are
usually stranded in order to provide flexibility to
the cable.
(ii) Insulatian. Each core or conductor is
provided with a suitable thickness of
insulation, the
thickness of layer depending upon the voltage to be
withstood by the cable. The commonly used
materials for insulation are impregnated paper,
varnished cambric or rubber mineral compound.
(iii) Metallic sheath. In order to protect the
cable from moisture,gases or other damaging
liquids (acids or alkalies) in the soil and
atmosphere, a metallic sheath of lead or
aluminium is provided over the insulation as
shown in Fig. 11.1
(iv) Bedding. Over the metallic sheath is
applied a layer of bedding which consists of a
fibrous material like jute or hessian tape. The
purpose of bedding is to protect the metallic
sheath against corrosion and from
mechanical injury due to armouring.
(v) Armouring. Over the bedding, armouring is
provided which consists of one or two layers of
galvanised steel wire or steel tape. Its purpose is to
protect the cable from mechanical injury while laying
it and during the course of handling. Armouring may
not be done in the case of some cables.
(vi) Serving. In order to protect armouring from
atmospheric conditions, a layer of fibrous
material (like jute) similar to bedding is provided
over the armouring. This is known as serving
It may not be out of place to mention here that
bedding, armouring and serving are only applied to
the cables for the protection of conductor insulation
and to protect the metallic sheath from mechanical
injury.
Insulating Materials for Cables
The satisfactory operation of a cable depends to a great
extent upon the characteristics of insulation used.
Therefore, the proper choice of insulating material for
cables is of considerable importance. In general, the
insulating materials used in cables should have the
following properties :
(i) High insulation resistance to avoid leakage current.
(ii) High dielectric strength to avoid electrical
breakdown of the cable.
(iii) High mechanical strength to withstand the
mechanical handling of cables.
(iv) Non-hygroscopic i.e., it should not absorb moisture
from air or soil.
The moisture tends to decrease the insulation resistance and
hastens the
breakdown of the cable. In case the insulating material is
hygroscopic,
(v) Non-inflammable.
(vi) Low cost so as to make the
underground system a viable proposition.
(vii) Unaffected by acids and alkalies to
avoid any chemical action.
No one insulating material possesses all the
above mentioned properties. Therefore, the
type of insulating material to be used depends
upon the purpose for which the cable is
required and the quality of insulation to be
aimed at. The principal insulating materials
used in cables are rubber, vulcanised India
rubber, impregnated paper, varnished cambric
and polyvinyl chloride.
1. Rubber
Rubber may be obtained from milky sap of
tropical trees or it may be produced from oil
products. It has relative permittivity varying
between 2 and 3, dielectric strength is about
30 kV/mm and resistivity of insulation is 1017Ω
cm. Although pure rubber has reasonably high
insulating properties, it suffers form some
major drawbacks viz., readily absorbs
moisture, maximum safe temperature is low
(about 38ºC), soft and liable to damage due to
rough handling and ages whenexposed to light.
Therefore, pure rubber cannot be used as an
insulating material.
2. Vulcanised India Rubber (V.I.R.)
It is prepared by mixing pure rubber with mineral matter
such as zine oxide, red lead etc., and 3 to 5% of sulphur.
The compound so formed is rolled into thin sheets and
cut into strips. The rubber compound is then applied to
the conductor and is heated to a temperature of about
150ºC. The whole process is called vulcanisation and the
product obtained is known as vulcanised India rubber.
Vulcanised India rubber has greater mechanical strength,
durability and wear resistant property than pure rubber.
Its main drawback is that sulphur reacts very quickly
with copper and for this reason, cables using VIR
insulation have tinned copper conductor. The VIR
insulation is generally
used for low and moderate voltage cables.
3. Impregnated paper
It consists of chemically pulped paper made from wood
chippings and impregnated with some compound such
as paraffinic or napthenic material. This type of
insulation has almost superseded the rubber
insulation. It is because it has the advantages of low
cost, low capacitance, high dielectric strength and
high insulation resistance. The only disadvantage is
that paper is hygroscopic and even if it is impregnated
with suitable compound, it absorbs moisture and thus
lowers the insulation resistance of the cable. For this
reason, paper insulated cables are always provided
with some protective covering and are never left
unsealed. If it is required to be left unused on the site
during laying, its ends are temporarily covered with
wax or tar.
Varnished cambric
It is a cotton cloth impregnated and coated
with varnish. This type of insulation is also
known as empire tape. The cambric is lapped
on to the conductor in the form of a tape and
its surfaces are coated with petroleum jelly
compound to allow for the sliding of one turn
over another as the cable is bent.
As the varnished cambric is hygroscopic,
therefore, such cables arealways provided
with metallic sheath. Its dielectric strength is
about 4 kV/mm and permittivity is 2.5 to 3.8.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
This insulating material is a synthetic compound. It is obtained
from the polymerisation of acetylene and is in the form of white powder.
For obtaining this material as a cable insulation, it is compounded with
certain materials known as plasticizers which are liquids with high
boiling point. The plasticizer forms a gell and renders the material
plastic over the desired
range of temperature.
Polyvinyl chloride has high insulation resistance, good dielectric strength
and mechanical toughness
over a wide range of temperatures. It is inert to oxygen and almost inert
to many alkalies and
acids. Therefore, this type of insulation is preferred over VIR in extreme
enviormental conditions
such as in cement factory or chemical factory. As the mechanical
properties (i.e., elasticity etc.) of
PVC are not so good as those of rubber, therefore, PVC insulated cables
are generally used for low
and medium domestic lights and power installations