INTRODUCTION

CABLES

TO

UNDERGROUND

PRESENTED BY:

ROSHAN PRADHAN

C.V.RAMAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

BBSR
C.V.RAMAN GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS.

UNDERGROUND CABLES

PRESENTED BY:
ROSHAN PRADHAN
REGD NO - 1221227062
SEC-2, GROUP-C
SEM-7th ,YEAR-4th
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
C.V.RAMAN GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS

Introduction
Since the loads having the trends towards growing

density. This requires the better appearance, rugged

construction, greater service reliability and
increased safety. An underground cable essentially
consists of one or more conductors covered with
suitable insulation and surrounded by a protecting
cover. The interference from external disturbances
like storms, lightening, ice, trees etc. should be
reduced to achieve trouble free service. The cables
may be buried directly in the ground, or may be
installed in ducts buried in the ground.
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Introduction

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Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages
Better general appearance
Less liable to damage through storms or lighting
Low maintenance cost
Less chances of faults
Small voltage drops

Disadvantages
The major drawback is that they have greater installation cost and

introduce insulation problems at high voltages compared with

equivalent overhead system.
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Construction of Cables
Core or Conductor

A cable may have one or more than one core

depending upon the type of service for which it
is intended. The conductor could be of
aluminum or copper and is stranded in order to
provide flexibility to the cable.
Insulation
The core is provided with suitable thickness of
insulation, depending upon the voltage to be
withstood by the cable.
The commonly used material for insulation are
impregnated paper, varnished cambric or
rubber mineral compound.
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Construction of Cables
Metallic Sheath

A metallic sheath of lead or aluminum is

provided over the insulation to protect the
cable from moisture, gases or others
damaging liquids
Bedding
Bedding is provided to protect the metallic
sheath from corrosion and from mechanical
damage due to armoring. It is a fibrous
material like jute or hessian tape.
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Construction of Cables
Armouring

Its purpose is to protect the cable from

mechanical injury while laying it or during the
course of handling. It consists of one or two
layers of galvanized steel wire or steel tape.
Serving

To protect armouring from atmospheric

conditions, a layer of fibrous material is
provided.
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Properties of Insulating
Material
High resistivity.
High dielectric strength.
Low thermal co-efficient.
Low water absorption.
Low permittivity.
Non inflammable.

Chemical stability.
High mechanical strength.
High viscosity at impregnation temperature.
Capability to with stand high rupturing voltage.
High tensile strength and plasticity.
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Insulating Materials for Cables

Rubber
It can be obtained from milky sap of tropical trees or

from oil products.

It has the dielectric strength of 30 KV/mm.
Insulation resistivity of 10 exp 17 ohm.cm
Relative permittivity varying between 2 and 3.
They readily absorbs moisture, soft and liable to damage

due to rough handling and ages when exposed to light.

Maximum safe temperature is very low about 38 C
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Insulating Materials for Cables

Vulcanized India Rubber
It can be obtained from mixing pure rubber with mineral compounds

i-e zinc oxide, red lead and sulphur and heated upto 150 C.
It has greater mechanical strength, durability and wear resistant

property.
The sulphur reacts quickly with copper so tinned copper conductors

are used.
It is suitable for low and moderate voltage cables.
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Insulating Materials for Cables

Impregnated Paper
This material has superseded the rubber, consists of chemically
pulped paper impregnated with napthenic and paraffinic materials.
It has low cost, low capacitance, high dielectric strength and high

insulation resistance.
The only disadvantage is the paper is hygroscopic, for this reason

paper insulation is always provided protective covering.

Varnished Cambric
This is simply the cotton cloth impregnated and coated with varnish.
As the varnish cambric is also hygroscopic so need some protection.
Its dielectric strength is about 4KV / mm and permittivity is 2.5 to 3.8.
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Insulating Materials for Cables

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

This material has good dielectric strength, high insulation resistance and high

melting temperatures.
These have not so good mechanical properties as those of rubber.
It is inert to oxygen and almost inert to many alkalis and acids.

XLPE Cables (Cross Linked Poly-ethene)

This material has temperature range beyond 250 300 C
This material gives good insulating properties
It is light in weight, small overall dimensions, low dielectric constant and high

mechanical strength, low water absorption.

These cables permit conductor temperature of 90 C and 250 C under normal

and short circuit conditions.

These cables are suitable up to voltages of 33 KV.

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CLSSIFICATION OF CABLES
Low tension (L.T) ----- up to 1000V

High tension (H.T) ----- up to 11, 000V

Super tension (S.T) ---- from 22KV to 33KV

Extra high tension (E.H.T) cables --- from 33KV

to 66KV
Extra super voltage cables ------beyond 132KV
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Extra High Tension Cable

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Low Tension Cable

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3- Core Cables
Belted Cables

In these cables the conductors are wrapped with oil impregnated

paper, and then cores are assembled with filler material. The
assembly is enclosed by paper insulating belt.
These can be used for voltages up to 11KV or in some cases can
be used up to 22KV.
High voltages beyond 22KV, the tangential stresses becomes an
important consideration.
As the insulation resistance of paper is quite small along the
layer, therefore tangential stress set up, hence, leakage current
along the layer of the paper insulation.
This leakage current causes local heating, resulting breaking of
insulation at any moment

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3-core belted Cable

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3- Core Cables
Screened Cables
These can be used up to 33kv but in certain

cases can be extended up to 66kv.

These are mainly of two types
H-type and
S.L type cables

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3- Core Cables
H-TYPE Cables:
Designed by H. Hochstadter.
Each core is insulated by layer of impregnated paper.
The insulation on each core is covered with a metallic screen
which is usually of perforated aluminum foil.
The cores are laid in such a way that metallic screen make
contact with one another.
Basic advantage of H-TYPE is that the perforation in the
metallic screen assists in the complete impregnation of the
cable with the compound and thus the possibility of air
pockets or voids in the dielectric is eliminated.
The metallic screen increase the heat dissipation power of
the cable.

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3- Core Cables (H-Type)

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3- Core Cables
S.L - Type: (Separate Lead)

Each core insulation is covered by its own lead

sheath.
It has two main advantages, firstly the separate
sheath minimize the possibility of core-to-core
breakdown. Secondly the, bending of cables
become easy due to the elimination of over all
sheath.
The disadvantage is that the lead sheaths of S.L is
much thinner as compared to H-Type cables,
therefore for greater care is required in
manufacturing.
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3- Core Cables (S.L. Type)

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3- Core Cables
Pressurized Type Cables
In these cables, pressure is maintained

above atmosphere either by oil or by gas.

Gas pressure cables are used up to 275KV.
Oil filled cables are used up to 500KV.

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Laying of Underground Cables

The reliability of underground cable network

depends to a considerable extent upon
proper laying.
There are three main methods of Laying
underground cables
a. Direct Laying
b. Draw in system
c. Solid system
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Direct Laying

This method is cheap and simple and is most

likely to be used in practice.
A trench of about 1.5 meters deep and 45 cm
wide is dug.
A cable is been laid inside the trench and is
covered with concrete material or bricks in
order to protect it from mechanical injury.
This gives the best heat dissipating conditions
beneath the earth.
It is clean and safe method
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Direct Laying

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Disadvantages of Direct Laying

Localization of fault is difficult

It can be costlier in congested areas where
excavation is expensive and inconvenient.
The maintenance cost is high

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Draw in System
In this conduit or duct of concrete is laid in

ground with main holes at suitable positions

along the cable route.
The cables are then pulled into positions from
main holes.

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Advantages of Draw in System

It is very high initial cost
Heat dissipation conditions are not good
This method is suitable for congested areas

where excavation is expensive and

inconvenient
This is generally used for short lengths cable
route such as in workshops, road crossings
where frequent digging is costlier and
impossible
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Solid System
In this system the cable is laid in open pipes or
troughs dug out in earth along the cable route.
The troughing is of cast iron or treated wood
Troughing is filled with a bituminous after cables is
laid.
It provides good mechanical strength
It has poor heat dissipation conditions
It requires skilled labour and favorable weather

conditions
It is very much expensive system
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Solid System

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Grading of Cables
Since the stresses are maximum at surface of

the conductor or inner most part of the

dielectric.
The stress goes on decreasing as outer most
layer is reached.
Since the process of achieving the uniform
electrostatic stresses on the dielectric of
cables is known as Grading of cables
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Grading of Cables
The unequal distribution
undesirable because,

of

stresses

is

if dielectric is chosen according to maximum

stress the thickness of cable increases or either
this may lead to breakdown of insulation.
The following are the two main methods of
grading
Capacitance grading
Inter sheath grading
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Cables are generally laid in the ground or in ducts

in the underground distribution system. For this
reason, there are little chances of faults in
underground cables. However, if a fault does
occur it is difficult to locate and repair the fault
because
conductors
are
not
visible.
Nevertheless, the following are the faults most
likely to occur in underground cables
1) open circuit fault
2) short circuit fault
3)earth fault
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 The open circuit fault can be checked by megger.

For this purpose, the three conductors of the 3-

core cable at the far end are shorted and earthed.

The resistance between each conductor and earth
is measured by a megger and it will indicate zero
resistance in the circuit of the conductor that is
not broken.
However, if the conductor is broken, the megger
will indicate infinite resistance in its circuit
When there is a break in the conductor of a cable,
it is called open circuit fault.
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 When two conductors of a multi-core cable come

in electrical contact with each other due to

insulation failure, it is called a short circuit fault.

Again, we can seek the help of a megger to
check this fault.
For this purpose the two terminals of the megger
are connected to any two conductors.
If the megger gives zero reading, it indicates
short circuit fault between these conductors.
The same steps is repeated for other conductors
taking two a time.
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EARTH FAULTS
When the conductor of a cable comes in

contact with earth, it is called earth fault or

ground fault.
To identify this fault, one terminal of the
megger is connected to the conductor and
the other terminal connected to earth.
If the megger indicates zero reading, it means
the conductor is earthed. The same
procedure is repeated for other conductors of
the cable.
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Physical Limitations of
Underground Lines
The main
argument against constructing
underground systems is usually financial. But costs
are not the only limitation.
The laws of physics limit how physically long a power
line can be.
These limits are relatively unimportant on overhead
lines but will severely limit high voltage underground
cable systems

The higher the voltage the shorter the line length

must be.
The limiting effects become very important at
transmission voltages, especially 100,000 Volts and
above.
Limiting effects may also be important for
subtransmission voltages, 69,000 Volts and 35,000
Volts.
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Physical Limitations: The Effect of

Capacitance
o Capacitance causes current to flow even when no

load is connected to the cable. This is called line

charging current.

o Underground line capacitance for power cables is far

higher than overhead line capacitance.

o Wires are closer to each other
o Wires are closer to the earth (within a few inches).
Underground lines have 20-75 times the line
charging current that an overhead line has
(depending on line voltage).
If a line is long enough the charging current could be
equal to the total amount of current the line can
carry. This will severely limit its ability to deliver
power.
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Summary of Costs: Overhead vs.

Underground
Transmission: Underground may be 4-20

times Overhead.
Sub transmission: Underground may be 4-20
times Overhead
Distribution: Underground may be 2-10 times
Overhead
New underground may be cheaper than
overhead in special conditions and costs vary
greatly from utility to utility and place to
place.
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THANKS
PREPARED & PRESENTED BY:
ROSHAN PRADHAN
regd no 1221227062

sec-2 , group-c
sem-7th ,year-4th
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
C.V.RAMAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

C.V.RAMAN GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS

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