Underground

Cables
Presented By:
ADNAN
Lecturer
NED UET Karachi

Deptt. Of Electrical Engg

Introduction
An underground cable essentially consists of

one or more conductors covered with suitable

insulation and surrounded by a protecting
cover.
The cables may be buried directly in the

ground, or may be installed in ducts buried in

the ground.

Most common Conductors used are

Copper:

The principal electrical conductor due to its excellent

conductivity and reasonable cost.
Aluminum:

61% conductivity as compared to copper and 0.3027 times

the weight of copper. Used in power cables, overhead
(ACSR).
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Comparison

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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CABLE STRUCTURE

Construction of cable
Parts of a power cable:
A cable is composed of the following parts;
Cores:
All cables either have a central core (conductor) or a number of cores made of strands
of Copper or Aluminum conductors. Conductors are stranded in order to reduce the
skin effect.
Insulation:
It is provided to insulate the conductors from each other and from the outside
periphery. The common insulating materials are Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and XLPE.
Metallic Sheath:
Metallic Sheath protects the cable against the entry of moisture. It is made of lead,
some alloy of lead or Aluminum.
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CABLE STRUCTURE

Construction of cable
Bedding:
In order to protect the metallic sheath from injury, bedding is wound over it. It
consists of paper tape compounded with a fibrous material.
Armoring:
It consists of one or two layers of galvanized steel wires or two layers of steel
tape, to avoid the mechanical injury. Armoring provides mechanical strength
to the cable.
Serving:
A layer of fibrous material, used to protect the armoring

Desired Properties of
Insulating Material
High resistivity.
High dielectric strength.
Low water absorption.
Non inflammable.
Chemical stability.
High mechanical strength.
High tensile strength and plasticity.
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Properties of Insulating
Material

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Insulating Materials for Cables

Rubber
Vulcanized India Rubber
Impregnated Paper
Varnished Cambric

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Insulating Materials for Cables

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
This material has good dielectric strength, high insulation

resistance and high melting temperatures.

It is inert to oxygen and almost inert to many alkalis and

acids.

XLPE Cables (Cross Linked Poly-ethene)

This material gives good insulating properties
It is light in weight and high mechanical strength, low water

absorption.

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XLPE cable

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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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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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3- Core Cables (Gas

pressure)

Punjab EDUSAT Socity

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Gas Pressure Cables

Punjab EDUSAT Socity

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Gas Insulated Cables (GIC)

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Laying of
Underground Cables
The

reliability
of
underground
cable
network depends to a
considerable extent upon
proper laying.
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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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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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TYPES OF CABLE FAULTS

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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OPEN CIRCUIT FAULTS

When there is a break in the conductor of a cable, it is

called open circuit fault.

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
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SHORT CIRCUIT FAULTS

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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Summary of Costs: Overhead vs. Underground

Transmission: Underground may be 24 times

Overhead.
Sub transmission: Underground may be 10-20
times Overhead
Distribution: Underground may be 7 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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