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Copper-clad aluminium wire (CCAW or CCA) is a dual-metal electrical conductor composed of an inner aluminium core and outer copper cladding.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2021) |
Copper-clad aluminium wire (CCAW or CCA) is a dual-metal electrical conductor composed of an inner aluminium core and outer copper cladding.
A copper strip is formed into the shape of a cylinder, while it is being wrapped around an aluminum core and the edges of the copper strip are welded together. The assembly is then pulled through a die, where the cladded wire is squeezed and stretched while also improving the bonding between the copper and the aluminum core. [1]
The primary applications of this conductor revolve around weight reduction requirements. These applications include high-quality coils, such as the voice coils in headphones or portable loudspeakers; high frequency coaxial applications, such as RF antennas and cable television distribution cables; and power cables.[ citation needed ]
CCA was also used in electrical wiring for buildings. [2] The copper/aluminium construction was adopted to avoid some of the problems with aluminium wire yet retain most of the cost advantage. Its low copper content makes it unattractive to copper thieves.
CCA is also seen in counterfeit unshielded twisted pair networking cables. These cables are often less expensive than their full-copper counterparts, but the official specifications such as Category 6 require conductors to be pure copper. [3] This has exposed the manufacturers or installers of cable with fake certification to legal liabilities. [4]
The properties of copper-clad aluminium wire include:
The skin effect forces alternating current to flow on the outer periphery of any wire; in this case, the outer copper cladding of the conductor which has lower resistance than the mostly unused aluminum interior. The better conductor on the outer path causes the wire's resistance at high frequencies, where the skin effect is greater, to approach that of a pure copper wire. This improved conductivity over bare aluminum makes the copper-clad aluminium wire a good fit for radio frequency use.
The skin effect is similarly exploited in copper-clad steel wire, such as the center conductors of many coaxial cables, which are commonly used for high frequency feedlines with high strength and conductivity requirements.
A wire is a flexible, round, bar of metal. Wires are commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Wire gauges come in various standard sizes, as expressed in terms of a gauge number or cross-sectional area.
A transmission medium is a system or substance that can mediate the propagation of signals for the purposes of telecommunication. Signals are typically imposed on a wave of some kind suitable for the chosen medium. For example, data can modulate sound, and a transmission medium for sounds may be air, but solids and liquids may also act as the transmission medium. Vacuum or air constitutes a good transmission medium for electromagnetic waves such as light and radio waves. While a material substance is not required for electromagnetic waves to propagate, such waves are usually affected by the transmission media they pass through, for instance, by absorption or reflection or refraction at the interfaces between media. Technical devices can therefore be employed to transmit or guide waves. Thus, an optical fiber or a copper cable is used as transmission media.
An electrical cable is an assembly of one or more wires running side by side or bundled, which is used as an electrical conductor to carry electric current.
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which electric power is delivered to businesses and residences, and it is the form of electrical energy that consumers typically use when they plug kitchen appliances, televisions, fans and electric lamps into a wall socket. The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean simply alternating and direct, respectively, as when they modify current or voltage.
Coaxial cable, or coax, is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting shield, with the two separated by a dielectric ; many coaxial cables also have a protective outer sheath or jacket. The term coaxial refers to the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing a geometric axis.
Category 5 cable (Cat 5) is a twisted pair cable for computer networks. Since 2001, the variant commonly in use is the Category 5e specification (Cat 5e). The cable standard provides performance of up to 100 MHz and is suitable for most varieties of Ethernet over twisted pair up to 2.5GBASE-T but more commonly runs at 1000BASE-T speeds. Cat 5 is also used to carry other signals such as telephone and video.
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is an object or type of material that allows the flow of charge in one or more directions. Materials made of metal are common electrical conductors. The flow of negatively charged electrons generates electric current, positively charged holes, and positive or negative ions in some cases.
In electromagnetism, skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current (AC) to become distributed within a conductor such that the current density is largest near the surface of the conductor and decreases exponentially with greater depths in the conductor. It is caused by opposing eddy currents induced by the changing magnetic field resulting from the alternating current. The electric current flows mainly at the skin of the conductor, between the outer surface and a level called the skin depth.
Copper-clad steel (CCS), also known as copper-covered steel or the trademarked name Copperweld is a bi-metallic product, mainly used in the wire industry that combines the high mechanical strength of steel with the conductivity and corrosion resistance of copper.
Induction cooking is a cooking process using direct electrical induction heating of cooking vessels, rather than relying on indirect radiation, convection, or thermal conduction. Induction cooking allows high power and very rapid increases in temperature to be achieved: changes in heat settings are instantaneous.
Category 6 cable (Cat 6) is a standardized twisted pair cable for Ethernet and other network physical layers that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards.
Litz wire is a particular type of multistrand wire or cable used in electronics to carry alternating current (AC) at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect and proximity effect losses in conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz.
Speaker wire is used to make the electrical connection between loudspeakers and audio amplifiers. Modern speaker wire consists of two or more electrical conductors individually insulated by plastic or, less commonly, rubber. The two wires are electrically identical, but are marked to identify the correct audio signal polarity. Most commonly, speaker wire comes in the form of zip cord.
Triaxial cable, often referred to as triax for short, is a type of electrical cable similar to coaxial cable, but with the addition of an extra layer of insulation and a second conducting sheath. Triax provides greater bandwidth and rejection of interference than coax, but is more expensive.
RG-6/U is a common type of coaxial cable used in a wide variety of residential and commercial applications. An RG-6/U coaxial cable has a characteristic impedance of 75 ohms. The term, RG-6, is generic and is applied to a wide variety of cable designs, which differ from one another in shielding characteristics, center conductor composition, dielectric type and jacket type. RG was originally a unit indicator for bulk radio frequency (RF) cable in the U.S. military's Joint Electronics Type Designation System. The suffix /U means for general utility use. The number was assigned sequentially. The RG unit indicator is no longer part of the JETDS system (MIL-STD-196E) and cable sold today under the RG-6 label is unlikely to meet military specifications. In practice, the term RG-6 is generally used to refer to coaxial cables with an 18 AWG center conductor and 75 ohm characteristic impedance.
Magnet wire or enameled wire is a copper or aluminium wire coated with a very thin layer of insulation. It is used in the construction of transformers, inductors, motors, generators, speakers, hard disk head actuators, electromagnets, electric guitar pickups, and other applications that require tight coils of insulated wire.
Aluminium conductor steel-reinforced cable (ACSR) is a type of high-capacity, high-strength stranded conductor typically used in overhead power lines. The outer strands are high-purity aluminium, chosen for its good conductivity, low weight, low cost, resistance to corrosion and decent mechanical stress resistance. The centre strand is steel for additional strength to help support the weight of the conductor. Steel is of higher strength than aluminium which allows for increased mechanical tension to be applied on the conductor. Steel also has lower elastic and inelastic deformation due to mechanical loading as well as a lower coefficient of thermal expansion under current loading. These properties allow ACSR to sag significantly less than all-aluminium conductors. As per the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and The CSA Group naming convention, ACSR is designated A1/S1A.
Copper has been used in electrical wiring since the invention of the electromagnet and the telegraph in the 1820s. The invention of the telephone in 1876 created further demand for copper wire as an electrical conductor.
Physical media refers to the physical materials that are used to store or transmit information in data communications. These physical media are generally physical objects made of materials such as copper or glass. They can be touched and felt, and have physical properties such as weight and color. For a number of years, copper and glass were the only media used in computer networking.
Al-Ca composite is a high-conductivity, high-strength, lightweight composite consisting of sub-micron-diameter pure calcium metal filaments embedded inside a pure aluminium metal matrix. The material is still in the development phase, but it has potential use as an overhead high-voltage power transmission conductor. It could also be used wherever an exceptionally light, high-strength conductor is needed. Its physical properties make it especially well-suited for DC transmission. Compared with conventional conductors such as aluminium-conductor steel-reinforced cable (ACSR), all aluminium alloy conductors (AAAC), aluminium conductor alloy reinforced (ACAR), aluminium conductor composite reinforced ACCR and ACCC conductor that conduct alternating current well and DC current somewhat less well, Al-Ca conductor is essentially a single uniform material with high DC conductivity, allowing the core strands and the outer strands of a conductor cable to all be the same wire type. This conductor is inherently strong so that there is no need for a strong core to support its own weight as is done in conventional conductors. This eliminates the "bird caging", spooling, and thermal fatigue problems caused by thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between the core and outer strands. The Al-Ca phase interfaces strengthen the composite substantially, but do not have a noticeable effect on restricting the mean free path of electrons, which gives the composite both high strength and high conductivity, a combination that is normally difficult to achieve with both pure metals and alloys. The high strength and light weight could reduce the number of towers needed per kilometer for long distance transmission lines. Since towers and their foundations often account for 50% of a powerline's construction cost, building fewer towers would save a substantial fraction of total construction costs. The high strength also could increase transmission reliability in wind/ice loading situations. The high conductivity has the potential to reduce Ohmic losses.