Types of Conductors Used In Overhead Power Lines

A conductor is one of the most important components of overhead lines. Selecting

a proper type of conductor for overhead lines is as important as selecting economic
conductor size and economic transmission voltage. A good conductor should have the
following properties:
 high electrical conductivity
 high tensile strength in order to withstand mechanical stresses
 relatively lower cost without compromising much of other properties
 lower weight per unit volume

Conductor Materials
Copper was the preferred material for overhead conductors in earlier days, but,
aluminum has replaced copper because of the much lower cost and lighter weight of the
aluminum conductor compared with a copper conductor of the same resistance.
Following are some materials that are considered to be good conductors.
 Copper: Copper has a high conductivity and greater tensile strength. So, copper in
hard drawn stranded form is a great option for overhead lines. Copper has a high
current density which means more current carrying capacity per unit cross-
sectional area. Therefore, copper conductors have relatively smaller cross-
sectional area. Also, copper is durable and has high scrap value. However, due to
its higher cost and non-availability, copper is rarely used for overhead power lines.
 Aluminium: Aluminum has about 60% of the conductivity of copper; that means,
for the same resistance, the diameter of an aluminium conductor is about 1.26
times than that of a copper conductor. However, an aluminium conductor has
almost half the weight of an equivalent copper conductor. Also, tensile strength of
Aluminium is less than that of copper. Considering combined factors of cost,
conductivity, tensile strength, weight etc., aluminium has an edge over copper.
Therefore, aluminium is being widely used for overhead conductors.
 Cadmium-copper: Cadmium-copper alloys contain approximately 98 to 99% of
copper and up to 1.5% of cadmium. Addition of about 1% of cadmium to copper
increases the tensile strength by up to 50% and the conductivity is reduced only by
about 15%. Therefore, cadmium-copper conductors can be useful for exceptionally
long spans. However, due to high cost of cadmium, such conductors may be
uneconomical in many cases.
  Other materials: There are many other metals and alloys that conduct electricity.
Silver is more conductive than copper, but due to its high cost, it is not practical in
most of the cases. Galvanised steel may also be used as a conductor. Although
steel has very high tensile strength, steel conductors are not suitable for
transmitting power efficiently due to the poor conductivity and high resistance of
steel. High strength alloys such as phosphor-bronze may also be used sometimes
at extreme conditions.

Types of Conductors
As it is already mentioned above, aluminium conductors have an edge over copper
conductors considering combined factors of cost, conductivity, tensile strength, weight
etc. Aluminium conductors have completely replaced copper conductors in overhead
power lines because of their lower cost and lower weight. Though an aluminium
conductor has larger diameter than that of a copper conductor of same resistance, this
is actually an advantage when 'Corona' is taken into consideration. Corona reduces
considerably with increase in the conductor diameter. Following are four common types
of overhead conductors used for overhead transmission and distribution to carry
generated power from generating stations to the end users.
Generally, all types of conductors are in stranded form in order to increase the flexibility.
Solid wires, except for very small cross sectional area, are very difficult to handle and,
also, they tend to crystallize at the point of support because of swinging in winds.
1. AAC : All Aluminium Conductor
2. AAAC : All Aluminium Alloy Conductor
3. ACSR : Aluminium Conductor, Steel Reinforced
4. ACAR : Aluminium Conductor, Alloy Reinforced
AAC: All Aluminium Conductor
This type is sometimes also referred
as ASC (Aluminium Stranded Conductor). It is
made up of strands of EC grade or Electrical
Conductor grade aluminium. AAC conductor has
conductivity about 61% IACS (International
Annealed Copper Standard). Despite having a
good conductivity, because of its relatively poor
strength, AAC has limited use in transmission and
rural distribution lines. However, AAC can be seen in urban areas for distribution where
spans are usually short but higher conductivity is required.

AAAC: All Aluminium Alloy

Conductors
These conductors are made from
aluminium alloy 6201 which is a high strength
Aluminium-Magnesium-Silicon alloy. This alloy
conductor offers good electrical conductivity
(about 52.5% IACS) with better mechanical
strength. Because of AAAC's lighter weight as
compared to ACSR of equal strength and
current capacity, AAAC may be used for distribution purposes. However, it is not usually
preferred for transmission. Also, AAAC conductors can be employed in coastal areas
because of their excellent corrosion resistance.

ACSR: Aluminium Conductor, Steel Reinforced

ACSR consists of a solid or stranded steel core

with one or more layers of high purity aluminium
(aluminium 1350) wires wrapped in spiral. The core
wires may be zinc coated (galvanized) steel or
aluminium coated (aluminized) steel. Galvanization or
aluminization coatings are thin and are applied to
protect the steel from corrosion. The central steel core
provides additional mechanical strength and, hence, sag
is significantly less than all other aluminium conductors.
ACSR conductors are available in a wide range of steel
content - from 6% to 40%. ACSR with higher steel
content is selected where higher mechanical strength is
required, such as river crossing. ASCR conductors are
very widely used for all transmission and distribution purposes.

Aluminium Conductor, Alloy Reinforced

ACAR conductor is formed by
wrapping strands of high purity aluminium
(aluminium 1350) on high strength
Aluminum-Magnesium-Silicon alloy (6201
aluminium alloy) core. ACAR has better
electrical as well as mechanical properties
than equivalent ACSR conductors. ACAR
conductors may be used in overhead
transmission as well as distribution lines.

Bundled Conductors

Transmission at extra high voltages (say above

220 kV) poses some problems such as significant
corona loss and excessive interference with nearby
communication lines when only one conductor per
phase is used. This is because, at EHV level, the
electric field gradient at the surface of a single
conductor is high enough to ionize the surrounding air
which causes corona loss and interference problems. The electric field gradient can be
reduced significantly by employing two or more
conductors per phase in close proximity. Two or
more conductors per phase are connected at
intervals by spacers and are called as bundled
conductors. The image at right shows two
conductors in bundled form per phase. Number of
conductors in a bundled conductor is greater for
higher voltages.