Power Cables

Power cables are solid or stranded conductors surrounded by insulation, shielding, and a protective jacket.  These cables are designed for high voltages (>600 V). Generally the power cables are rated Low Voltage (<1kV), Medium Voltage (6-36 kV), and High Voltage (>40 kV). Applications for power cables are for use with heavy machines, feeders and branch circuits in industrial, commercial, and electric utility applications.  Important cable performance specifications to consider when searching for power cables include number of conductors, nominal outer diameter, rated voltage, rated amperage, and operating temperature.  The number of conductors is the number of insulated conductors in the cable.  The nominal outer diameter is the diameter of the cable or wire including insulation and jacket.

Important cable construction parameters to consider when searching for power cables include cable jacket, cable shielding, cable insulation, and cable conductor.  Choices for cable jacket include chlorinated polyethylene (CPE), chlorosulphonated polyethylene (CSPE), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).  Cable shielding is a metallic layer placed around an insulated conductor or group of insulated conductors, to prevent electrostatic or electromagnetic interference between the enclosed wires and external fields.  Cable shielding choices for power cables include copper tape, copper wire shield, and no shield.  Cable insulation is a material having a high resistance to the flow of electric current to prevent leakage of current from a conductor.  Common materials include cross linked polyethylene (XLP), ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), polyethylene (PE), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).  A cable conductor is a wire or combination of wires not insulated from one another, suitable for carrying electric current.

Common conductor size specifications to consider when searching for power cables include conductor size in AWG, conductor size in MCM, conductor size in mm ², and stranded.  In North America, wire area is measured by the American Wire Gauge (AWG) to indicate conductor size. The AWG is used to measure certain conductors including copper. The higher the AWG number the thinner the wire. This is because AWG stems from a measurement that represented the number of times the copper wire was run through a wire machine that reduced the diameter of the wire. Thus 24-gauge wire went through the machine 6 more times than 18-gauge wire.  Conductor sizes larger than 4/0 AWG are called out in MCM (Thousand Circular Mils).  AWG sizes are also referred to as 00, 000, and 0000.  Sizes larger than 4/0 are called out in MCM (Thousand Circular Mils).  Conductor sizes larger than 4/0 AWG are called out in MCM (Thousand Circular Mils).  Outside North America, countries measure conductor size by the size of the area of the wire, measured in mm².  A stranded conductor is a conductor composed of a group of wires, or of any combination of groups of wires. (Note: The wires in a stranded conductor are usually twisted or braided together.) Stranding makes wires more flexible.  Common approvals for power cables include CSA Mark, UL Listing Mark, and UL Recognized Component Mark.

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Part Numbers for Power Cables