The different companies of wire and industrial cable usually represent their newest types of electrical innovation in a PPT format, representing the newest features.
When it comes to the industry, nothing is untouched in the evolutionary process.
The same applies to the technology used to make the wires.
We have used wires and cables for our electrical needs since electricity paved the way for our spaces.
People often use terms like wire and cable interchangeably.
However, they are completely different from each other.
The first way to separate them is to think of a wire as a component of a cable.
Wires are used more or more widely than cables.
To put it simply, a wire is usually a single wire or a group of conductive materials such as copper or aluminum; whereas a cable consists of two or more insulated wires wrapped in a sheath.
The easiest way to tell the two apart is that the wires are usually visible, but the cables are usually insulated.
Let's learn more about the difference between wire and cable.
- Electric wire
As previously mentioned, a wire is a single strand of conductors or a group of strands of conductors wrapped in an insulating sheath to prevent unwanted contact between the conductors.
Wire is generally used to transmit electricity and telecommunication signals, but it can also be used for mechanical loads.
Basically there are two types of thread, solid and stranded.
While solid wire is actually a long, single conductor, stranded wire consists of several strands of fine wire twisted together.
Solid wire has low resistance and is ideal for use at higher frequencies.
Litz wire is more flexible and therefore lasts longer.
For the same current-carrying capacity, stranded wire also has a better cross-sectional area than solid wire.
- Cable
A cable is usually two or more wires that run together or are glued, twisted, or braided together.
They are mostly insulated to provide better protection than wires.
Cables are mainly used for power transmission and transmission of electrical and telecommunication signals.
There are many types of cables, such as twisted pair cables, coaxial cables, multiconductor cables, and fiber optic cables.
If we talk about twisted pair cable, it consists of two cables twisted around each other and is mainly used for transmitting signals.
Multicore cables, on the other hand, consist of many conductors that are insulated from each other and are used to protect signal integrity by reducing hum, noise, and crosstalk.
Coaxial cables are made of inner solid conductors surrounded by parallel outer foil conductors and protected by an insulating layer and are generally used in television cables.
Fiber optic cables help transmit signals through a bundle of glass fibers.