AC Drives / Interference Control

MEDIUM VOLTAGE CABLE CONSTRUCTION

 May 19, 2018  admin  Power Engineering  High Voltage Cable Construction

A power cable could appear as a simple electrical device, a conductor wrapped in an

insulation. However, as you can 몭nd in this article, an electrical cable is a well thought out
piece of engineering that has to withstand enormous stress over its life time. It is
important for power system engineers to know more about cable construction to make
intelligent engineering designs.

Here is a picture of a 15kV class Medium Voltage Cable (High Voltage Cable) with the
outer jacket removed.

15kv cable with outer jacket removed

The various layers of the cable from inside out are:

 1. Conductor

2. Conductor Shield

3. Insulation

4. Insulation Shield

5. Outer Shield

6. Outer Jacket (Not shown in the picture)

1) Conductor: The conductor carrying current could be copper or Aluminum and the
diameter of the cable varies by the load that the cable is designed to carry. The
conductor itself could be of many di몭erent types:

Solid

Stranded Concentric Round

Stranded Compressed Round

Stranded Compact Round

Stranded Compact Sector

Stranded Compact Concentric Round is found to be commonly used for larger diameter
cables whereas for very small diameters, solid conductor is commonly used.

Comparative sizes and shapes of stranded and solid conductors

 
 Compact Sector

The bene몭ts of stranded conductor is that it o몭ers improved 몭exibility. For similar
ampacity, a solid conductor will have smaller diameter compared to a stranded
conductor.

2) Conductor Shield: Conductor (Strand) shield is usually a semiconducting material

applied over the outer edge of the conductor to ‘smooth out’ the conductor contours.
Application of semiconducting conductor shield helps remove any isolated ‘air pockets’
that could lead to corona and failure of the cable in the long run. Additionally, application
of conductor shield results in a smooth conductor surface over which insulation can be
installed. Semiconducting shields evens out the electric 몭eld at the interface between
the conductor and insulation and hence reduces the electric 몭eld gradient at this
interface. Without the semiconducting layer high concentration of electric 몭eld at the
interface could break down the insulation.

Conductor Shield

It should be noted here that the term ‘semiconducting material’ does not refer to silicon
based semiconductors. Rather the semiconducting material refers to material that is
‘somewhat conducting’. These are made by adding carbon to insulation materials like PE
or XLPE. See a closeup picture of semiconducting insulating layer towards the end of this
article.

3) Insulation: Insulation used for cable construction can be broadly classi몭ed as

thermoplastic or thermoset.

Thermoplastic material loses their form upon subsequent heating, while thermoset
material tends to retain their form. This is because, once the wire is extruded on to wire,
it undergoes a chemical change known as vulcanization, cross-linking or curing. These
processes 몭x the physical property such that subsequent heating will not cause it to
melt, 몭ow or drip.

 Example of thermoplastic material is PVC and thermoset example is XLPE insulation and
EPR. There are also variants of these insulation systems in the market. Tree retardant
XLPE is one such example.

Some of the popular insulations are listed below:

1. Polyethylene

2. Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)

3. Ethylene-Propylene Rubber (EPR)

In the earlier part of 20th century paper insulated cables (PILC) were common before the
advent of polymer-insulated cables. Some of those original cables are still in use! These
are known as PILC cables, which stands for Paper Insulated Lead Covered are not very
common currently. They are required sometimes where it is necessary to splice in to
existing PILC cables system and some manufacturers do still o몭er them.

Some of the additional parameters important in the selection of cables are:

Dielectric Constant: Determines the capacitance of the cable.

Volume Resistivity: Determines the current leakage through the insulation.

Dielectric Losses: Losses due to dipole movements inside the cable.

Dissipation Factor: Ratio of resistive to capacitive current drawn by cable. This is also
known as loss angle, loss tangent.

Additional consideration on selecting insulation is the ground fault clearing time, based
on which 100%, 133% or 173% insulation may be selected.

100% Insulation: Applications in which ground faults will be cleared in less than 1 minute.

133% Insulation: Applications in which ground faults will be cleared in less than 1 hour.

173% Insulation: Applications in which ground faults clearing time is in몭nite. This usually
is used in industries where orderly shutdown of equipment is necessary to protect
equipment or personnel. The shutdown process could take an inde몭nite amount of time
and hence the insulation will be subjected to additional stress over a long period of time.

The selection of 100%, 133% or 173% insulation will progressively result in larger diameter
cable for a given conductor size. 133% insulation is often preferred insulation system for
15kV and above voltages even for systems with ground fault protection that could clear
in less than a minute. Probably this is done as an assurance or designing on the
conservative side.

4) Insulation Shield: This is a semiconducting nonmetallic material over the dielectric

circumference. The material should be capable of conducting leakage current from the
conductor through the insulation to the outer shield (current due to capacitive charging
etc.) without appreciable voltage drop. Insulation shield also provides a smooth surface
over which metallic outer shield can be installed with good low resistance connection.
Semiconducting shield evens out the electric 몭eld at the interface between the insulation
and outer shield or neutral and hence reduces the electric 몭eld gradient at this interface.
Without the semiconducting layer high concentration of electric 몭eld at the interface
could break down the insulation.

It should be noted here that the term ‘semiconducting material’ does not refer to silicon
based semiconductors. Rather the semiconducting material refers to material that is
‘somewhat conducting’. These are made by adding carbon to insulation materials like PE
or XLPE.

5) Outer Shield: This is a metallic wire or tape covering over the insulation shield. The
outer shield will carry the capacitive leakage current and sometimes the fault current
itself to the ground. Grounding the shield also results in symmetrical electric 몭eld
distribution within the insulation resulting in better stress distribution. By grounding the
outer metallic shield (which could be tape or wire) the potential of the outer surface of
the cable is referenced to ground. This will prevent any dangerous touch voltage
accumulating on the high voltage cable.

A concentric neutral cable is produced using a would wire over the insulation in lieu of a
tape shield. The wire would o몭er all the bene몭ts of a shield plus it will be rated to carry
the neutral current. Additional discussion on concentric cable is at the end of this article.

It should be noted that there are two methods of grounding the outer shield:

1. Single Point Grounded System

2. Multiple Point Grounded System

3. Cross Bonded Grounded System

Each arrangement has its advantages and disadvantages.

6) Outer Jacket: Outer jacket is used to provide environmental and mechanical

protection to cable. It could also be used for enhancing the 몭ame resistance of cable as
well as improved sunlight resistance. Outer jacket could additionally be colored to aid in
easy identi몭cation in the 몭eld.

Shielded or Non-Shielded Medium Voltage Cable?

Per the National Electric Code 2011, 310.10(E) Non-shielded, ozone resistant insulated
conductors with a maximum phase-to-phase voltage of 5,000V is permitted in Type MC
(Metal Clad) cables in industrial establishments where only quali몭ed persons service the
installation. For other establishments, solid dielectric insulated conductors operated
above 2,000V in permanent installations shall have ozone-resistant insulation and shall
be shielded.

Cross Section of High Voltage Cable

The purpose of shield as mentioned in section 5 above is to have the electric 몭eld stress
evenly distributed within the insulation. When a conductor in a cable is energized,
electric 몭eld originates from the conductor to the grounded surface. For an unshielded
cable touching a grounded surface at one point, the electric 몭eld will be ‘crowded’ at the
interface between the conductor and the ground. Or stated otherwise, the insulation will
be stressed more between the conductor and the ground.
 Electric 몭eld overstress on insulation due to unshielded power cable touching a grounded surface.

In a shielded cable, the shield is typically grounded. The electric 몭eld lines originate at
the conductor and will spread out evenly from the conductor through the insulation to
the shield ground. The electric 몭eld stress is hence distributed ‘evenly’ around the
circumference of the cable rather than ‘crowded’ in the case of non-shielded cable. This
will reduce electric 몭eld stress on the cable and helps prolong its life.

Electric 몭eld is evenly distributed within insulation for shielded power cable touching a grounded surface. The shield itself
will be grounded.
15kV cable with conductor shield and insulation shield (outer shield and jacket are removed)

Terminating the shielded power cable requires special consideration and is not
straightforward as terminating non-shielded cable. At the point of termination, the outer
shield will have to be stripped back and this will cause insulation to be over stressed at
the termination due to electric 몭eld that becomes ‘crowded’ at the interface. Suitable
stress relieving termination (Stress cones) will have to be applied at the termination to
avoid premature cable failure.

Concentric Neutral Cables

Concentric neutral cables use the outer shield of the cable as the neutral current return
path, while also functioning as the insulation shield. The shield (neutral) in this case has to
be sized to conduct the expected neutral current.

Concentric Neutral Cable [1]

The neutral is usually wound helically around the insulation shield and is expected to
carry the full neutral return current. For single phase utility cables, the neutrals are
usually full size meaning the cross section of the helically wound neutral is the same as
the center phase conductor.

Concentric neutral cables are extensively used in utility residential feeder applications-
majority with full neutral wires and also for feeding commercial and industrial customers
 majority with full neutral wires and also for feeding commercial and industrial customers
though to a limited extent.

As the outer jacket deteriorates, the neutral wires could come in contact with earth and
this has been one of the reasons behind stray voltage issues encountered in many areas
using underground concentric neutral cables.

References: [1] Electric Power Distribution Handbook , T.A. Short

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