Cable Impedance Calculations - Open Electrical

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Cable Impedance Calculations

From Open Electrical
This article provides details on the calculation of cable impedances - dc resistance, ac resistance and
inductive reactance.

Contents
1 Cable Resistance
1.1 DC Resistance
1.2 AC Resistance
2 Cable Reactance
3 References

Cable Resistance
The dc and ac resistance of cable conductors can be calculated based on IEC 60287-1 Clause 2.1.

DC Resistance
The dc resistance of cable conductors is calculated as follows:

Where

is the dc resistance at the conductor operating temperature ( / m)

is the resistivity of the conductor material at 20oC (.m).
For copper conductors,
= 1.7241 x 10-8
For aluminium conductors,
= 2.8264 x 10-8
is the cross-sectional area of the conductor (mm2)
is the temperature coefficient of the conductor material per K at 20oC.
For copper conductors,
= 3.93 x 10-3
For aluminium conductors,
= 4.03 x 10-3
is the conductor operating temperature (oC)

AC Resistance
The ac resistance of cable conductors is the dc resistance corrected for skin and proximity effects.

Where

is the ac resistance at the conductor operating temperature ( / m)

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is the dc resistance at the conductor operating temperature ( / m)

is the skin effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect) factor (see below)
is the proximity effect (http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Proximity_effect_%28electromagnetism%29) factor (see below)
The skin effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect) factor is calculated as follows:

Where

is the dc resistance at the conductor operating temperature ( / m)

is the supply frequency (Hz)
is a constant (see table below)
Note that the formula above is accurate provided that

2.8.

The proximity effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proximity_effect_%28electromagnetism%29) factor

varies depending on the conductor geometry. For round conductors, the following formulae apply.
For 2C and 2 x 1C cables:

For 3C and 3 x 1C cables:

Where

is the dc resistance at the conductor operating temperature ( / m)

is the supply frequency (Hz)
is the diameter of the conductor (mm)
is the distance between conductor axes (mm)
is a constant (see table below)
Note that the formula above is accurate provided that

2.8.

For shaped conductors, the proximity effect factor is two-thirds the values calculated above, and with:
equal to the diameter of an equivalent circular conductor of equal cross-sectional area and
degree of compaction (mm)
where is the thickness of the insulation between conductors (mm)

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Type of Conductor

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Dried and
Impregnated?
Copper

Round, stranded

Yes

0.8

Round, stranded

No

Round, segmental

0.435

0.37

Sector-shaped

Yes

0.8

Sector-shaped

No

Aluminium
Round, stranded

Either

Round, 4 segment

Either

0.28

0.37

Round, 5 segment

Either

0.19

0.37

Round, 6 segment

Either

0.12

0.37

Cable Reactance
The series inductive reactance of a cable can be approximated by the following equation:

is the conductor inductive reactance ( / km)

Where

is the supply frequency (Hz)

is the axial spacing between conductors (mm)
is the diameter of the conductor, or for shaped conductors, the diameter of an equivalent
circular conductor of equal cross-sectional area and degree of compaction (mm)
is a constant factor pertaining to conductor formation (see below for typical values)

No. of wire
strands in
conductor

0.0778

0.0642

19

0.0554

37

0.0528

>60

0.0514

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1 (solid)

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0.0500

For 3C and 3 x 1C cables, the axial spacing parameter

depends on the geometry of the conductors:

References
IEC 60287-1-1, Electric cables Calculation of current rating Part 1: Current rating equations
(100% load factor) and calculation of losses Section 1: General (https://webstore.iec.ch
/publication/1266) , 2006
G.F. Moore, Electric Cables Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0632040750
/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=openelect-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&
creative=399349&creativeASIN=0632040750) , Third Edition, 1997, an excellent reference
book for cables
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Category: Cables
This page was last modified on 9 May 2015, at 01:32.

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