UNDERGROUND CABLES

Underground cables: an underground cable essentially consists of one or more conductors covered with suitable insulation and surrounded by a protecting cover. There are several types of cables are available, the type of cable to be used will depend upon the working voltage and service requirements.

A cable must fulfill the following necessary requirements: The conductor used in cables should be tinned stranded copper or aluminium of high condcutivity. Stranding is done so that conductor may become flexible. The conductor size should be such that the cable carries the desired load current without overheating and causes voltage drop within permissible limits. 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.

The cable must be provided with suitable mechanical protection so that it may withstand the rough use in laying it. The materials used in the manufacture of cables should be such that there is complete chemical and physical stability throughout.

Advantages and disadvantages of UG cables over OH lines

Advantages : The underground cable is not affected by lightning and other severe weather conditions. Accidents caused by the breaking of the conductors will be reduced. The maintenance cost of UG system is very low because of less chance of fault occurrence.

 Cont Because of less spacing between the conductors in an UG system, inductance is very low as compared to OH lines; therefore the voltage drop is less. In an UG system, surge effect is smoothened down as the sheath absorbs surge energy. In an UG system, there is no interference to communication lines. The UG system of distribution or transmission is more aesthetic because no wiring is visible.

 Dis advantages: UG cables are more expensive than OH lines due to the high cost of conduits, cables, manholes and other special equipment. As transmission voltage increases, the cost of the cable increases. In this system, expansion for new loads is not possible. It can met by installation fo new lines only.

 Cont.. Joining of UG cables is difficult, so tapping of loads and service mains is not conveniently possible in an UG system. The cables have high capacitance due to less spacing between the conductors so it draws high charging current. Though there is only a rare chance of faults occuring in an UG system, it is very difficult to locate the fault point and its repair is difficult and expensive.

Construction of cables
The various parts of cable are: cores or conductors Insulation Metallic sheath Bedding Armouring Serving

 Cores or conductors: A cable may have one or more than one conductor depending upon the type of service for which it is intended. The conductors are made of tinned copper or aluminium and are usually stranded in order to provide flexibility to the cable.

 Insulation : each 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.

 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 of aluminium is provided over the insulation. 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.

 Armouring : over the bedding, armouring is provided which consists of one or two layers of galvanised steel wire or steel tape. the purpose of armouring is to protect the cable from mechanical injury while laying it and during the course of handling. Armouring may not be done in some cables.

 Serving: in order to protect armouring from atmospheric conditions, a layer of fibrous material(like jute) similar to bedding is provided over the armouring.

Insulating materials for cables

The satisfactory operation of a cable depends to a great extent upon the characteristics of insulation used. The proper choice of insulating material for cables is one of considerable importance.

 Properties of insulating materials: High insulation resistance to avoid leakage current. High mechanical strength to avoid electrical breakdown of the cable. High mechanical strength to withstand the mechanical handling of cables. 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, it must be enclosed in a waterproof covering like lead sheath.

Cont Non inflammable. Low cost so as to make the underground system a viable proposition. 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 required. The insulating materials used in cables are rubber, vulcanised india rubber, impregnated paper, varnished cambric and polyvinyl chloride.

 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 30kv/mm and resistivity of

Classification of cables
Cables for underground service may be classified in two ways according to i. the type of insulating material used in their manufacture. ii. The voltage for which they are manufactured. The latter method of classification is generally preferred.

 According to voltage the cables can be divided into the following groups: i. L T cables -upto 1000v ii. H T cables -upto 11kv iii. S T cables - upto 33kv iv. E H T cables -upto 66kv v. Extra super voltage cables beyond 132kv

LOW TENSION CABLES

These are used for voltages below 1kv This type of cable does not require any special construction because electrostatic stresses developed are very small and thermal conductivity is also not very important. The insulation may consist of paper impregnated with oil. Over the insulation, a lead sheath os provided to protect the cable from moisture and handling.

 The cables are of two types: 1. single core cable 2. multi core cable Single core cable: This cable consists of copper/ aluminium stranded circular core. This conductor is insulated with paper insulation over which a lead sheath is provided. The lead sheath protects the cable against the moisture entering them. Above the lead sheath there is a provision of a layer of compounded fibrous material of hessian tape in order to protect the metallic sheath against corrosion.

Multi core cable

Consider a three core cable. In this all three cores are insulated with each other and placed. These are either circular shaped, oval or sector shaped conductors wrapped around by impregnated paper. Insulating belt of paper is provided surrounding the three cores. To protect the cable from the entry of moisture, a lead sheath is enclosed over the cable.

High tension cables

These are used for three phase medium and high voltage distribution. Paper is generally used for inualtion. The construction is same as that of LT cables. The three core belted type cable has three insulated cores. The three cores are again insulated with impregnated paper; over this a lead sheath is provided to prevent moisture entering into the cable.

Super tension cables

These are used for operating voltages up to 33kv

Super tension cables

H- type or screened cables

SL type cables

HSL type cables

H type or Screened cables

These cables contain three paper insulated cores. The insulation of each core is covered with a metallic screen which is usually perforated aluminimum foil. Cotton tape with fine fine wires of copper is wound around the three cores which acts as an insulator. The layers of lead sheath, bedding, armouring, and serving are provided as usual.

hochstadter

 Cont.. Advantages : The electrical stresses are entirely radial and reduce the dielectric loss since all four screens and the lead sheath are at the earth potential. The metal foil increases the heat dissipating power and hence there is no sheath loss. There is an increase in the current carrying capacity of the cable. There is no possiblity of forming voids.

SL (separate lead) type cables

It is basically H type but the screen round each core insulation is covered by its own lead sheath. There is no overall lead sheath but only armouring and serving are provided. The SL type have advantages over H type are the separate sheaths minimise the core to core breakdown and bending of cables becomes easy due to the elimination of overall lead sheath.

HSL type cable

HSL is combination of H and SL type. In this each core has insulation with impregnated paper and a separate lead sheath is provided. All three cores are arranged in required form and then insulated by providing the layers of bedding, armouring and serving as usual.

Extra high tension cables

Three core cables are generally used for voltages up to 33kv. Because of weight and size, three core cables are not economical practicable. To meet the increased voltage working demand, super tension cables are used. But, there are greater sheath losses in single core cables. Due to presence of voids in extra high tension voltage cables, there is a danger of breakdown of dielectric. Due to the failure of the dielectric there exists ionization and allied chemical reactions, which damage the insulation.

There are two methods employed to minimize the formation of voids. 1. Oil filled cables 2. Gas pressure cables