Basic Information about Wire and Cable (Part 1)

There are two applications of wire and cable, one is transmitting electricity and the other is transmitting signal. Main Technical Index for electricity transmitting cable is conductor resistance, withstand voltage, and Main Technical Index for signal transmitting cable is characteristic impedance, attenuation and crosstalk. and the transmitting of signal can also be achieved by using optical carrier.

1. The classification of cable

Bare wire type

Electromagnetic wire (enameled wire)

Power cable

Wire and cable for electrical equipment

Communication cables and optical cables

2. Basic structure of cable

Basically, we have conductor, insulation layer and outer jacket layer, and there will add some structure based on specific requirement, such as shielding layer, inner sheath, armor layer and add some filler to make cable looks smooth and round. The conductor is carrier for transmmting of electricity and singnal, and other structure is made for protection.

3. Three protective performances

According to the requirement of product, there are three protective performances. one is to protect each unit of cable from mutual interference, such as withstand voltage, heat resistance and electromagnetic loss, communication cables are protected from signal interference. Another is to protect electricity from influencing outside environment, such as prevent current leakage , prevent electromagnetic leakage etc., The last is to protect inner cable from being influenced by outside, such as pressure resistance, tensile resistance, heat resistance, weather resistance, fire resistance, waterproof, electromagnetic interference resistance, etc.

Next time I will introduce each part of cable structure.please stay tuned. Thank you for your time.