In the same vein, not much has changed, nor is it expected to change in the near future, the introduction of cast copper rotor cages is the sole truly innovative advancement that has occurred in previous years.
Medium Voltage Aluminum Cable
Aluminum and copper are basically only in competition with one another in the same market segments in the following three, and now four, areas in the field of electrical engineering: The question that needs to be answered is, which of these two undesirable aspects of the cable—a larger cable cross-section or a higher cable weight—is preferable? In most cases, the price of the cable made of aluminum will be significantly lower.
However, it is important to keep in mind that copper cable is more ductile and less likely to experience problems with electrical contact.
As a result, the copper cable provides a higher margin of safety than the same aluminum cable does.
Because it has a smaller cross-section, the copper cable will also be easier to install.
Medium Voltage Aluminum Cable Best
This is because the stiffness of the cable depends on the squared of the cross-sectional area, which in turn depends on the fourth power of the diameter.
It is also feasible to get a very small stranded copper cable.
Stranded aluminum cable, on the other hand, is only available at nominal cross-sectional areas of at least 10 mm2 and the single strands are still very thick in comparison to those in the equivalently sized copper cable.
Copper is the only material that can be made into conductors that are described as being "finely stranded" or "extra finely stranded."
This is due to the technical requirements involved.
Because of this, the most refined aluminum conductors on the market are noticeably more rigid than the most refined copper conductors, and the disparity between the two has, on occasion, resulted in some quite expensive surprises.
Medium Voltage Aluminum Cable Uses
Although the price of the aluminum conductor might appear to be lower on paper, this does not take into consideration the additional time and money required to install the less flexible aluminum cables.
Recently, as a compromise approach, a combination Cu-Al cable has emerged, and it is currently being used as an underground cable in low-voltage distributing networks at the Dietlikon power utility in Switzerland.
After being invited to attend conferences of DKE Committee 712 titled "Safety of Information Technology Installations involving Equipotential Bonding and Earthing," a representative from the Swiss Dietlikon company offered a report on the product and the underlying concept.
The electricity company that serves Dietlikon is the first known distribution network operator to systematically convert its distribution network to a five-wire TN-S system.
Medium Voltage Aluminum Cable Features
This is work that the utility normally only does when making repairs, expanding the network, or installing new installations.
In this new type of cable, the phase conductors and the neutral conductor both have the same cross-section, which contributes to the creation of a symmetrical cable structure.
The phase conductors are made of aluminum, while the neutral conductor, which has the same diameter as the phase conductors, is made of copper.
This allows the neutral conductor to carry a greater current, and as a result, the cable is better equipped to deal with the harmonic pollution issues that are so frequently discussed today.
Copper and aluminum are two metals that are commonly used around where you live in form of medium and low voltage cable; however, the aluminum wire or cable seems so powerless in technical terms against copper, aside from their ability to conduct electricity, the other technologically important properties of these two metals, such as their density, are so drastically different from one another that their fields of application have always been easily distinguishable from one another.
