ACAR Conductors-A Techno-Economic Evaluation

Abstract

USE of aluminium for making electrical conductors is now univeraslly well-established . Large quantities of conductors will he required in India to sustain the rapid pace of electrification and industrialisation and this demand has to be almost completely met by aluminium conductors owing to an acute shortage of cop- per in the country . At present two principal types of conductors viz. AAC( All Aluminium Conductors) and ACSR ( Aluminium Conductors Steel Reinforced) are used for overhead transmission lines. The former make use of all strands of 99.5% purity EC grade aluminium metal, whereas in the latter a reinforcement with steel wires is provided to meet the strength requirements of longer spans . Both these types of conductors require EC grade aluminium strands for electrical conduction for which an acute shortage exists in the country and it is likely to persist in spite of the rapid and remarkable growth in our aluminium manufacturing capacity .