MANUFACTURING PEOCESS IN INDUSTRY-1

Copper / Aluminum (Rods)

Wire drawing

Conductor (Core)
Stranding and Compacting

Semi Conducting Compound

Conductor Screening

Triple Extrusion and curing

Dielectric Material

Insulation

Semi Conducting Compound

Insulation Screening

MANUFACTURING PEOCESS IN INDUSTRY-2

Copper Tape

Metallic Screening

Identification of Cores

Colored Tape

Fillers

PVC Compound

Steel Strip / Steel Round Wires

PVC Compound

Laying of Cores

Inner Sheathing

Armoring

Finishing
(Outer Sheath)

Testing

Packing

Curing processes-I
STEAM CURING PROCESS WITH CCV LINE :
This is wet curing process. Cross linking takes place
on CCV line under high temperature steam at 200 oC
and at high pressure in the range of 18-20 bars.
During cross linking process the high percentage of
moisture is absorbed by the XLPE insulation. By
passage of time some percentage of moisture dries
out from the XLPE insulation but still it leaves
behind moisture in the XLPE insulation 2000 PPM
and number of voids in the insulation. The moisture
and voids present in the XLPE insulation result in
formations of water trees in the XLPE insulation
when cables are energized. These trees are
converted into electrical trees which ultimately
results in shortening the life of the cable and
insulation failure. This technology is now out dated
and not used.

Curing processes-II
DRY CURING PROCESS
The cable is extruded by triple extrusion in one process on
CCV line where Cross linking takes place simultaneously in
the atmosphere of Nitrogen gas of high temperature at
about 300oC-350oC and high pressure in the range 10-15
bar of dry Nitrogen gas. Since cross linking take place
under Dry atmosphere, this process is known as dry curing
process.
Major advantage of Dry Curing with Nitrogen Gas are:
i) Moisture content in the XLPE insulation practically
negligible
-50PPM
ii) Formation of Micro voids in the insulation almost
eliminated.

Global Energy Consulting Engineers, Hyderabad

Curing processes-III
SIOPLAS TECHNOLOGY
Saline grafted polyethylene is extruded on
normal
PVC extruders and after that it is cured/
cross linked by hot water or steam
separately.

COMPARISON BETWEEN OHS & UGCS

DESCRIPTION OF CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES -1

Conductor

Copper/Aluminum
Solid/Stranded
Circular/Shaped/Segmental
Ns=1+3n(n+1)andD=(1+2n)dand
A= D2/4;where'Ns'isNumberofstrandsinthecore,'n'
isthenumberoflayers,'D'istheoveralldiaofthecoreand
'd' is the diameter of each strand. Normally the number of
strandsare1,7,19,37and61.

ConductorScreen

Semi conducting screen over the conductor is to prevent

dischargebetweentheconductorandtheinsulationandalso
toprovideprotrusionfreesurfaceoverthecoreforextrusion
ofinsulation

Insulation

Thematerialsusedforinsulationshouldhave
GoodInsulationResistance
GoodThermalResistance
NonHygroscopic
GoodMechanicalproperties
Goodchemical/AlkalineresistantProperties

COMPARISON BETWEEN OHS & UGCS

DESCRIPTION OF CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES -2

InsulationMaterialsUsed

Rubber
Paper
PVC
XLPE(CrossLinkedPolyethylene)

Insulation Screen and Metallic To discharge the tangential stress to the ground and
Screen
to make the stress only radial to prevent damage
totheinsulation
Fillers

To fill the gap between the inter-sticks of the cores

andtomaketheshapecircular

Metallic Sheath / PVC Inner To make the cable non hygroscopic in the case of
Sheath
paper insulated cables and to bind all the cores
togethertomaketheshapecircularinothertypes
ofcables

COMPARISON BETWEEN OHS & UGCS

DESCRIPTION OF CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES-3

InnerBedding

Another protective layer over the metallic sheath for

paper insulated cables to make it further non
hygroscopic

Armoring

Formechanicalprotectionbyproviding
Steeltapesforpaperinsulatedcables
Steelstrip/SteelroundwiresforPVC/XLPECables

OuterServing/OuterSheath

Finishing of the cable with fibrous material

impregnated in bitumen compound for PILC cables
calledouterserving
PVC compound treated with anti-rodent anti-termite
chemicalsforPVCandXLPEcables

COMPARISON
BETWEEN
OHS & UGCS
SELECTION
/ SIZING
OF CABLES