【Summary description】 Guangdong's cable makers reckon that cables already account for a quarter of China's electrical output. According to the different conductive materials, the cable can be divided into aluminum core cable, copper core cable and alloy cable. With the development of science and technology, the electrical and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy cable are improving constantly. In developed regions such as Europe and America, aluminum alloy cables with higher cost performance and superior electrical performance have been successfully applied for more than 40 years, and aluminum alloy conductors account for about 90% of all cables.

Guangdong's cable makers reckon that cables already account for a quarter of China's electrical output. According to the different conductive materials, the cable can be divided into aluminum core cable, copper core cable and alloy cable. With the development of science and technology, the electrical and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy cable are improving constantly. In developed regions such as Europe and America, aluminum alloy cables with higher cost performance and superior electrical performance have been successfully applied for more than 40 years, and aluminum alloy conductors account for about 90% of all cables.

 

Guangdong cable manufacturers think the advantages of aluminum alloy cable:

 

1) Cable material. Guangdong cable manufacturers consider aluminum alloy to be pure aluminum with the addition of copper, iron, magnesium, silicon, rare earth elements and other alloy materials. The physical and mechanical properties of pure aluminum are improved greatly by special process synthesis and annealing treatment.

 

2) Electrical performance. Guangdong cable manufacturers say the conductivity of aluminum alloy is 61.5% of that of copper IACS, the common reference material, and the carrying capacity is 79% of that of copper. The section of aluminum alloy cable with the same carrying capacity is 1.5 times that of copper core cable.

 

3) Mechanical properties. Guangdong cable manufacturers believe that the special aluminum alloy cable compaction technology lamination coefficient is 0.93, special-shaped wire compression coefficient can reach 0.95. The lack of volume conductivity of aluminum alloy can be made up by greater compression. The twisted conductor core is like a solid conductor, which significantly reduces the outer diameter of the core and improves the conductivity. At the same load capacity, the outer diameter of the conductor is only 12% larger than that of the copper cable, and the weight is about 43% to 46% of that of the copper cable.

 

Guangdong cable manufacturers argue that aluminium alloys are 30% more flexible than copper, with a bending radius of only seven times the outer diameter of the cable, and require much less tension to install than copper-core cables. The resilience is 40% lower than that of copper, and the tensile strength is 1.3 times that of copper core cable, which increases the reliability of large-span installation and is convenient to install. Compared with pure aluminum, creep resistance is increased by 300%, and relaxation problems caused by cold flow or creep are avoided.

 

4) Corrosion resistance. Guangdong cable manufacturers attribute aluminium's inherent corrosion resistance to the formation of a thin but strong oxide layer on the surface of aluminium when it comes into contact with air. This oxide layer is particularly resistant to various forms of corrosion. The addition of rare earth elements in the alloy can further improve the corrosion resistance of the alloy, especially the electrochemical corrosion resistance. Alkaline soil and some types of acidic soil environments are very corrosive to aluminum, so directly buried aluminum wires should be anticorrosive with insulation or moulded sheath.

 

5) Flame retardant insulation performance. Guangdong cable manufacturers believe that aluminum cable using environmentally friendly crosslinked polyethylene material, not only the service life is much longer than PVC insulation, but also better safety performance. In addition, with the unique metal interlocking armor structure, to meet the low smoke halogen-free flame retardant class A requirements, reduce the fire risk factor.

 

The total cost of using aluminum alloy cable as the main AC /DC cable in a large photovoltaic power station is about 56% of the total cost of using copper core cable. Aluminum alloy cable is cheap and plays a major role in reducing the total cost of photovoltaic power station cable.