Cable is used for all fixed wiring - which is usually hidden behind walls, ceiling and floor. It has an oval cross-section and contains cores that are set side-by-side in a thick white or grey PVC outer sheath.

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The live core is separately insulated in brown sheath, the neutral core in blue sheath, and the earth core is bare and runs between them. This is known as two-core-and earth cable. Special three-core-and-earth cable (with brown, black and grey cores, plus a bare earth) is used for the two-way switching of lights.

When you connect cable, you must protect the exposed earth core with a length of green/yellow electrical sleeving. You'll need bigger cable for circuits with a higher current demand. The common sizes of cable are 1, 1.5, 2.5, 4, 6 and 10mm2 - the measurement represents the cross-sectional area of the individual cores.

The current-carrying capacity of cable varies according to a number of installation design factors. If you're in any doubt about your requirements, make sure you ask a qualified electrician. As normal cable sheathing isn't frost-resistant, you'll need to protect it if it runs outdoors with a conduit or steel-wire-armoured cable (SWA).

12 April,

How an electrical cable is made

Electrical cables are the main means of transmitting the electricity we use in our homes and industries and they are familiar to all of us. However, many people wonder how can electrical cable is made: what material are they made of and what is the manufacturing process?

In this article we are going to answer your questions and try to show you, through our explanatory videos, what is the manufacturing process of electrical cables.

What is an electrical cable made of?

The technology required for an electrical cable to provide service for many years, without incident, involves complex manufacturing processes that require highly qualified personnel.

What metals are used to manufacture electrical cables?

Electrical cables are mainly made of copper. This is the best conductor of electricity, although there are also types of cables that use aluminium or other types of materials of different qualities depending on the use and type of cable in question.

How are power cables made?

By means of an illustrative video, our Top Cable technician explains how an electrical cable is manufactured, from the initial drawing, through the choice of insulation, followed by the phase wiring, the auxiliary protection, the outer sheath and ending with quality control.

Plus other steps such as shipping and aspects of the manufacturing process that ensure it is sustainable and environmentally responsible.

How is an electrical cable manufactured?

Graphical diagram of the manufacture of an electrical Medium Voltage cable

The manufacturing process of a Medium Voltage cable is divided into seven stages: incoming feed, polymer feed, triple extrusion, thickness control, cross-linking, cooling and collection.

1. Input power supply

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Driver input coils are supplied uninterruptedly, via an input accumulator, ensuring continuous, shutdown-free operation.

2. Polymer feed

The feeding of the polymers is done entirely through a clean and closed circuit (clean room), ensuring the purity of the materials from the supply packaging to the machine hopper.

3. Triple extrusion

Extrusion is carried out through a triple layer extrusion head, allowing perfect contact between the semiconductors, insulation and the total absence of foreign elements between them.

4. Thickness control

The thickness of each extruded layer is continuously monitored by an X-ray measuring head. This ensures both standardised thicknesses and perfect concentricity of the layers.

5. Cross-linking

The cross-linking of the insulation and semiconductors is carried out in a nitrogen atmosphere, to eliminate the risk of water absorption, through nine independent temperature zones that allow the cross-linking progression to be perfectly adjusted to the characteristics of each material.

6. Cooling

In this case, the final part of the catenary tube is dedicated to the controlled cooling of the cable already cross-linked. In this way, it is possible to guarantee an optimum temperature at the exit of the tube and during subsequent spooling.

7. Collection

The collection of the insulated cable is carried out on double winders with an automatic distributor, by means of an auxiliary pull track, which ensures perfect spooling, loop by loop and free of excessive tension.

Electrical cable manufacturing process

You can visualise the manufacturing process of a medium voltage cable in the following video.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Type W Portable Power Cables.