Electric power supply cable:
fire proof CABELTE

There is a wide range of different construction of low voltage power cables. Neverthless, it is possible to identify 3 constituent parts:

* Conductors ensuring electric power transmission,
* Insulation ensuring the perfect degree of electrical safety, for the specified rated voltage,
* Sheaths for cable external protection, which characteristics essentially regard the application and installation conditions.

The most common materials used on conductors is copper and aluminium because of their high conductivity level and easy handling.

In what concerns the insulation materials, the most used are the compounds of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and cross linked polyethylene (XLPE). PVC has gradually been replaced by XLPE since the polyethylene has better electrical characteristics and endure higher temperatures.

With regard to cables protection, sheaths are usually made of polymeric materials and, when a higher mechanical protection is required, wire armours or metallic tapes are applied.

The growing need of people and building safety requires the usage in many installations of low voltage cables with improved fire behaviour. The sheaths and insulations of these fire proof cables are made of compounds with low halogen degree and, when submitted to fire, they exhibit low smoke emission, low opacity and low corrosivity emission.

In some special applications, namely in signalling and control circuits, it is important to reduce the electromagnetic interferences so, cables have a metallic screen, generally made of copper or aluminium wires or tapes

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