A Data cable is a cable that provides communication between devices. Alternatively referred to as a cord, connector or plug, cable is one or more wires covered in plastic that transmit power or data between devices or locations. In this page we talk about Cable Types | The Electrical Cable Types and its size.
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Cable:
A thick, strong rope made of wires that are twisted together. A wire that moves a part in a machine. A group of wires, glass fibers covered in plastic or rubber and used to carry electricity or electrical signals. Cable is a medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another. “COM” or “Common” is the terminal to which the live core wire is attach. This is the brown wire that formerly red.
A major benefit of cable Television is that use of optic fibers and coaxial cables. It prevents interruption inside service even through bad weather. Analog to digital converter boxes usually do not need to bought by Tv viewers. Only for getting typical programming due to the fact most cable televisions are digital. The conductor used is to be of such a size that it may carry load current safely.
We Use underground Cables also. The Underground cables consists of one central core or a number of cores that is two, three or four of tinned stranded copper conductors. Sometimes use of aluminum conductor also made, insulation from each other by paper or varnished cambric. Its also made vulcanized bitumen or impregnated paper.
A cable is a thick wire or a group of wires inside a rubber or plastic covering. That used to carry electricity or electronic signals. Cable used to refer to television systems in which the signals sent along underground wires rather than by radio waves. All of your general internal power cables within your home will probably use twin core and earth cabling.
Types of Cable:
Various types of Cables used everywhere for various applications. Not all cables perform the same application. The function of a cable depends upon the type of cable.
The electrical cables made of aluminum or copper wires protected by an insulating coating which can made of synthetic polymers. Here we Describe some Types of Cables with their Description:
Communications Cable:
The types of cables and wires that used for communication or signal transmission purposes called communication cable. There sole purpose is to transmit information. Communications cable essentially used to transmit information by use of currents of various frequencies.
Communication cable is different from power cables in that power cables are design for high voltages and high currents. The communication cables designed for low voltage and low currents. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
Coaxial Cable:
Coax or coaxial cable is type of electrical cable made from four layers, forming coaxial shape. The central part of coaxial cable is a conductor cover by an insulating plastic layer. Itsurrounded by a metallic shield. On top that is a fourth layer of plastic insulation. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
The coaxial cable used for transmission of high frequency signal. This is why the metallic shield is use for blocking noise interference. It is commonly use for cable television signal distribution, signal transmission between antennas, transmitter and receiver. The coaxial cable further divided into various types and each of them has their own application.
Hard line Coaxial:
Hardline coaxial or mostly known by its trademark name Heliax cable is a thick coaxial cable with its center solid conductor. It made from copper and shield made from copper or silver tubing. It’s specifically use for high frequency broadcast transmission.
It can carry hundreds of channels and is usually install between a transmitter on ground and aerial antenna. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
Triax Cable:
Triax Cable is another type of coaxial cable which includes another layer of insulation and shield over top of existing shield. It is one of the best in Types of Cable. The second or outer shield grounded to protect inner shield from electromagnetic interference.
Twinax Cable:
Twinax cable is type of coaxial cable similar to RG-6 but with two inner conductors instead of one. It is one of the best in Types of Cable. The two insulated inner conductors twisted together surrounded by a braided shield. It used for high speed short range signal communication usually for 10 Gigabit Ethernet Network.
Semi-Rigid Coaxial Cable:
Semi-Rigid coax cable is another type of coax cable where the outer sheath is from solid copper with an inner conductor. It is one of the best in Types of Cable. The outer shield provides better interference protection. Due to tube like structure of shield, it is not very flexible and not meant to bent after initial forming.
Twisted Pair Cable:
This type of communication cable made from two insulated wires twisted together to form a twisted pair. The purpose of twisting is to reduce the electromagnetic interference or noise. They are use in Ethernet network and telephone communication. They further divided into two types based on their noise protection.
Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable:
Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable also known as UTP. The UTP cables do not have any extra shield for protection against noise. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
They twisted pairs may reduce the noise but it still affects it. Various categories of UTP cables are use in residential and commercial building with various bandwidth e.g. CAT1, CAT2 etc.
Shielded Twisted Pair Cable:
Shielded Twisted Pair Cable also known as STP. The STP cable has an extra layer of foil that protects the wires from electromagnetic interferences. They used for high end applications where cables may affected by external environmental interferences.
Fiber Optic Cables:
Fiber Optic or Optical Fiber cable is a type of communication cable. Its made of flexible, transparent glass fibers known as optical fibers. That transmit data in the form of light. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
The fiber’s thickness is approximately equal to human hair and each individual fiber. It is cover with plastic insulation. There is another external protection layer that protects the fibers from interference.
Direct Buried Cable:
Direct Buried Cable also known as DBC. It is one of the best in Types of Cable. That is a type of cable use for communication and power transmission. It specifically design to be buried directly underground without the need of extra insulation, sheathing or piping.
DBC, made of bundles of fiber optic cables with a thick metal core for stiffness. It has multiple layers of protection such as plastic insulation layer, waterproof layer as well as shock absorbing gel etc. It protect it from heat, moisture and other underground factors.
Non-Metallic Sheathed Cable:
The Non-Metallic or NM sheathed cable or known by its trademark name “Romex”. This cable is a type of electrical cable whose outer sheath is made of plastic. That protect the inside conductors. It is commonly used for residential electrical wiring.
Multi-Conductor or Multicore Cable:
Multi-Core or Multi-Conductor cable has multiple conductors with insulated sheaths that are rolled into one jacketed cable. Its job is to avoid messy connection by having one single cable instead of 10 or 20 separate wires and save time by connecting them one by one.
The individual conductors have insulation sheath with common housing made from insulating material. But in some cases, there is an aluminum layer for protection against EMI. Also have an extra armored layer for more protection. The multiple core cables usually ends in a multi-pin connector.
The cores are number of useful connections; a simple 3 phase cable cannot be called a multi-core cable. But a cable having 2 or more then 2 separate 3 phase conductors is a multicore cable. For example, an audio mixer has multiple input cables from microphones, cables are joined together to form multi-core cable. That is easier to plug in instead of plugging each cable in its own spot.
Paired Cable:
Paired cables are type of electrical cable made from a pair of two insulated conductor covered by an insulation sheath. It is one of the best in Types of Cable. They mostly used for DC application and also in low frequency AC applications.
Ribbon Cable:
This type of cable made from multiple small grade insulated wires parallel to each other in a flat shape. That resemble a piece of ribbon thus the name ribbon cable. They are flexible and they can handle very low voltages.
They mostly used in electronic devices and computers to connect different internal peripheral. It require data buses like hard drives, CD drives, printers etc. Due to their flat shape, they block airflow inside computer which affects cooling system. Nowadays, they mostly replaced by round cables.
Shielded or Screened Cable:
Shielded cable or screened cable is a type of electrical cable whose conductors are protected by an extra metallic layer known as shield. The shield may made from braided aluminum, copper or any other metal. It could be a foil, spiral tape or solid layer made from conducting metals.
It provides protection against electrical noise or EMI that generated by any near electrical sources. This eliminated by grounding the shield at one end. In power cables, shield layer grounded to protect insulation from breaking. Its just due to corona discharge as well as avoid electrical shock.
Single Conductor Wire:
Single conductor wire most commonly known as just wire. It is one of the best in Types of Cable. That made of a single insulated conductor. It is most popular choice for residential wiring. It is available in multiple colors for phase and earth identification.
Single Stranded Wire:
Single stranded wire made of multiple thin strands of wires that form together one conductor. The stranded design offers flexibility thus they are suitable for applications. There wires need to bent or twisted.
Electrician prefer stranded over solid because it is easier to route through pipes in walls due to its flexibility. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
Single Solid Wire:
Single solid wire made of single solid core with plastic insulation. The solid design offer better connection but it is difficult to bend or twist due to its stiffness. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
Multiple bending might damage and break conductor inside. They used in applications where there is no movement or bending required for wires.
Submersible Cable:
As the name suggest, this type of electrical cable designed to used in wet locations or submersed in a liquid. The insulation use for such cables is very rug, abrasion, resilient, extremely durable and reliable. It for meet the challenges present in installation environment. Their designed to used as direct buried cable.
They are available in single as well as multiple conductor design. They having flat or round structure to meet its applications. The conductors are color coded to identify phase and earth connections. As well as control wires that runs along power conductors.
Flexible Cables:
Flexible cables are a type of electrical cables withstand continues bending in moving applications. The flexibility achieved by using stranded conductors. It is one of the best in Types of Cable.
They used in automation industries where the machines are continuously moving. Such as pick and place machines and CNC based machines such engraving, milling machines etc.
Cables Categories:
Here we give some categories of Cables:
High tension cables: These have a maximum voltage handling capacity of 11 kV.
Super tension cables: These have a maximum voltage handling capacity of 33 kV.
Extra high tension cables: These have a maximum voltage handling capacity of 66 kV.
Cable Parts:
Here we give important Parts of Cable:
- Conductor (For LV/MV/HT Cables)
- Conductor Screen (For MV/HT Cables)
- Filler & Binding Tapes (For LV/MV/HT Cables)
- Insulation (For LV/MV/HT Cables)
- Insulation Screen (For MV/HT Cables)
- Separation Tape (For MV/HT Cables)
- Bedding (Inner Sheath)
- Metallic Sheen (For MV/HT Cables)
- Armor (For LV/MV/HT Cables)
- Outer Sheath (For LV/MV/HT Cables)
- Water Blocking Tapes –Optional (For MV/HT Cables)
- Insulation Tapes–Optional (For MV/HT Cables)
Labeling of Cables:
The labeling of cables is very important. It provides a lot of information regarding its insulation types, numbers of wires and gauge of wires. Take a look at some of labels written on wires commonly used in home wiring.
- 14-2G: The cable contains two insulated wires and a ground wire; individual wire is 14 gauge.
- 14-3G: The cable contains three insulated wires and a ground wire; individual wires are 14 gauge.
- 12-2 w/G: The cable contains two insulated wires with a ground wire; individual wires are 12 gauge.
- 12-3 w/G: The cable contains three insulated wires with a ground wire; individual wires are 12 gauge.
- 600 V: This Cable is rated for a maximum of 600 volts. It commonly used NM cable for home wiring.
- TYPE NM-B: NM stands for Non-metallic, it is a non-metallic sheathed cable of type-B; this is the commonly used cable for wiring appliances and devices in home.
The most important label of them is about the insulation or plastic coating around conducting wires. Here are some of the common labels written on wires:
- THHN
- THWN
- THW
- XHHN
The meaning of each letter used in the labels above given below:
- T: Thermoplastic insulation, a fire resistant material.
- H: Heat resistant; able to withstand temperatures up to 167 F.
- HH: Highly heat resistant; able to withstand temperatures up to 194 F.
- W: “Wet” or approved for damp and wet locations. This wire is also suitable for dry locations.
- X: Insulation made of a synthetic polymer that is flame retardant.
- N: Nylon coated for resistance to oil and gasoline.
What is Electrical Cable?
The cable that used for transmission and distribution of electrical power known as electrical power cable. It used for the transmission of high voltages in places where overhead lines are impractical to use. Various types of Cables used everywhere for various applications. Not all cables perform the same application.
The power cable made of three main components, namely, conductor, dielectric and sheath. The conducting path for current in cable is provided by the conductor. The insulation or dielectric withstands service voltage and isolates the live conductor with other objects. The sheath does not allow moistures to enter and protects cables from all external influences. Like chemical or electrochemical attack and fire.
Most Used Cables:
Three types of wire used are:
- Live wire. (Red colour)
- Neutral wire. (Black colour)
- Earth wire. (Green colour)
They mostly used in electronics for data transmission in application such as:
- In networking.
- Transmitting audio signal to audio mixer.
- Sending audio and video signal in gaming consoles.
- The Sending audio and video signal using a single cable from camera.
- Sending camera signal to CCU (camera control unit) in TV studios.
Coclusion:
A thick, strong rope made of wires that twisted together. A wire that moves a part in a machine. Cable is a medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another. A data cable is a cable that provides communication between devices. Alternatively referred to as a cord, connector or plug, a cable is one or more wires covered in plastic. That transmit power or data between devices or locations.