Notes 11: Cables

11.0 Introduction

Underground conductors are more expensive

than overhead conductors because the entire
length of each conductor must be insulated
 from the ground and
 from other conductors

Therefore, cables are generally used for

underground distribution. The most salient
difference between cables and overhead
conductors is that cables are insulated.

In addition, to obtain a given ampacity, a

cable requires a larger conductor than an
overhead line because cables do not
dissipate heat well because of 2 reasons:
 No wind
 Insulation confines the heat
This further increases cable cost compared
to overhead.

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And that is just for the wire. In addition,
cable installation is more costly than
overhead installation because of the
variability of soil conditions. If the job
requires trenching through the rich soil of
Iowa farmland, installation cost is generally
slightly higher. But if even in a relatively
short distance of the overall installation, the
soil is very rocky, or worse yet, underneath
concrete or asphalt, costs can skyrocket.

Some 1991 data indicates single-phase cable

installation are 1.3 to 2.4 times the cost of
equivalent overhead, whereas three-phase
cable installation is 1.7-7.6 times the cost of
overhead [1].

So what are the reasons for going

underground? There are 4 main reasons:
1. Aesthetics: Only power engineers really
like to look at overhead lines .

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2. Safety: Overhead is exposed and can
fall. Other strange things can happen as
well. Underground is not exposed.
3. Reliability: Overhead circuits typically
fault about 90 times/100 miles/year. In
contrast, underground faults less than 10
times/100 miles/year [1].
4. Maintenance: The number 1
maintenance cost for overhead, tree-
trimming, is entirely eliminated with
underground.
5. Reach: With greater diameters to obtain
desirable ampacity, reactance is decreased
and therefore voltage drop is lower.

11.1 Cable construction

There are seven distinguishing features in

regards to cable construction.
1. Single phase vs. polyphase
2. Neutral
3. Conductor
4. Insulation

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5. Shielding
6. Jackets
7. Burial

11.1.1 Single phase vs. polyphase

Cables may have 1, 2, 3, or 4 conductors.

Use of multiple conductors saves money, as
only 1 shield and 1 jacket is necessary and
they are easier to install.

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Single phase conductors are used when the
cable is to be tapped frequently, as is the
case for street lighting and for underground
residential distribution (URD). In fact, it is
common now to refer to single phase cable
as URD cable.

11.1.2 Neutral

The neutral may be non-concentric or

concentric.

The non-concentric neutral typically has

only a single neutral wire. Fig. 2 above
shows such a configuration, which is shown
in Fig. 3 in cross-section.

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 Fig. 3
Concentric neutrals, on the other hand, have
neutral wires wound helically around the
insulation shield, as shown in Fig. 4 below.

Fig. 4 [1]

URD (single phase cable) almost always

uses the concentric neutral configuration. It
may also be used in 3-phase cables where
each cable then carries its own neutral. It is
in this case that we see the six conductor
configuration previous mentioned (see eq.
42 of “Notes 9”).

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In fact, it is possible to have a 7-conductor
configuration, which is the 3-phase case
with concentric neutrals together with a
separate neutral conductor.

Neutrals can be designed to have the same

resistance as the phase conductor, in which
case they are referred to as “full neutrals” in
that they are designed to carry the same
current as the phase. URD cables typically
have full neutrals.

Neutrals can also be designed to have

greater resistance than the phase conductor
and therefore be capable of carrying 1/3 of
the phase current. The “one-third” neutral is
common with three-phase cables.

A last type of neutral is used in tape shielded

cables. This type of cable consists of a
central phase conductor covered by a thin
layer of nonmetallic semiconducting1 screen
1
The term semiconducting, as used here, means “somewhat conducting” in that the
material has some resistance, more than the conductor but less than the insulation. The

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to which is bonded the insulating material.
The insulation is covered by a
semiconducting insulation screen. The
shield is bare copper tape helically applied
around the insulation screen. An insulating
jacket encircles the tape shield. Fig. 5 below
illustrates a tape-shielded neutral cable.

Fig. 5

11.1.3 Conductors

term “semiconducting,” as used here, does NOT refer to nonlinear resistive materials like
silicon or metal oxide. Here, the resistance is fixed and does not change with voltage.

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Conductors may be copper or aluminum.
Copper is a slightly better conductor than
aluminum (lower resistivity) and therefore
the same ampacity can be achieved with a
lower diameter cable. However, aluminum is
lighter and less expensive. As a result,
aluminum is most common.

The conductor will normally be stranded in

order to increase its mechanical flexibility.

Note: ACSR is never used in underground

cables. Why not?

11.1.4 Types of insulation

Insulation is critical to the cable because of

three main reasons.
1. Insulation must (obviously) provide
sufficient insulation between the
conductors. This means it must have a
dielectric breakdown higher than the
voltage gradient between the phases. For

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 example, a 0.175 in thick polymer cable is
designed to insulate against 8 kV, which is
a 46 kV per inch gradient.
2. Insulation must withstand high
temperatures during high loading.
3. Insulation must provide physical
protection against any kind of
mistreatment that might ever occur 4 feet
underground (moisture, rodents, digging).

There are three basic types of cable

insulation in use today.
1. Paper: These are sometimes referred to
as paper-insulated lead-covered (PILC)
cables. The paper is impregnated with
insulating oil which increases the
dielectric breakdown voltage of the paper.
A lead sheath is used to keep the moisture
out and the oil in. PILC failures are due to
moisture ingress, oil loss, or thermal
stress. PILC was the first type of cable
used and, although it is rarely used in new

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 installations, there are many such cables
still in operation.
2. Plastic compounds: The most common
of these is polyethylene (PE). It is cheap,
strong, and has good insulation strength.
3. Rubber or rubber-like compounds: There
are several of these, as follows:
a.Crosslink polyethylene (XLPE).
b. Ethylene propylene rubber (EPR).
c.Isobutylene isoprene (Butyl).
d. Styrene butadrene rubber (SBR).
These have excellent electrical and
physical insulation properties and can be
used in up to 138 kV applications. EPR in
particular is good for submarine crossings.

11.1.5 Shielding

The shield is a conducting layer surrounding

another part of the cable. There is normally a
shield surrounding the conductor (a
conductor shield) and a shield surrounding
the insulation (an insulation shield).

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These shields serve the important function
of reducing sharp “edges” associated with
the physical construction of the cable. Such
edges, which occur on “seams” or
“boundaries” between different parts of the
cable, such as:
 between conductor and insulation
 between insulation and jacket
represent a sharp change in dielectric and as
a result, create very high voltage gradients.
The shields serve to reduce these high
voltage gradients.

The insulation shield also serves the

function of confining the electric field of the
cable to the insulation surrounding the
conductor. This is because it represents the
other “plate” of a parallel plate capacitor and
will therefore have charge on it equal and
opposite to the charge on the conductor.
Recalling Gauss’ law for electric fields,
which says the net outward electrostatic flux

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through any closed volume is equal to the
charge enclosed by that volume, we see that
the net outward electrostatic flux outside the
insulation must be zero.

The confinement of the electric field tends

to minimize interference with
communication media that might be close to
the cable.

All cables above 8kV must be shielded to

satisfy NEC. Cables below 2 kV are usually
not shielded. Between 2 and 8 kV, it may or
may not be shielded.

11.1.7 Jackets

The jacket is also referred to as the armor,

and like this latter name suggests, its
function is to provide physical protection
from environmental and installation
conditions.

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The jackets may be nonmetallic or metallic.

Nonmetallic jackets are usually PVC, PE, or

XPLE.

Metallic jackets are interlocker armor,

corrugated metal, lead, aluminum, or copper.

11.1.8 Burial

Cables placed underground in 1 of 3 ways:

-direct burial
-ducts or pipes inside concrete sheaths
-tunnels built for other reasons: sewer, water

11.2 Data

The tables provide typical cable data.

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References
[1] T. Short, “Electric power distribution
handbook,” CRC press, 2004.
[2] www.mysouthwire.com/Southwire/cda/front_door/0,1256,,00.html

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