Types of Cables

What is an Electric Cable?

A cable used to distribute and transmit electrical power is called an eclectic cable. Where overhead lines are impractical to use, high voltage is transmitted via electric cable.

An electric cable is made of three kinds of things those are –  

• Conductor
• Dielectric
• Sheath

The conducting path in the electric cable is provided by the conductor. The insulation or dielectric isolates the live conductor from other objects and can withstand the service voltage. The Cable is shielded by the sheath from all outside influences, including chemical and fire attacks. Additionally, it guards against moisture damaging the electric Cable.

Introduction

Because copper conducts electricity well, electric cables are typically made of this material. And Because copper is less expensive than silver, the work is simpler. Because it is less expensive than copper, aluminium is occasionally used to make cables. When numerous wires are connected, a cable is created. Electrical power is produced, transmitted, and distributed using shielded conducting wires known as electrical cables. In a circuit, electrical cables are connected by connectors. A cable assembly is a grouping of cables and connectors.An electrical cable’s conducting wire transports electricity, while the insulator and sheath shield the cables from unintended circuit paths and chemical reactions. Based on their various uses and structures, cables can be divided into a number of categories. Some Types of Cables are coaxial cables, twisted pairs, optical fibers, patch cables, power cables, data cables, etc. 

Components of a Cable

A cable should have the following three components,

• Conductor: The conducting part is used to transmit electricity. Extensively used conductors are copper and aluminum. 
• Sheath: It is yet another layer to give protection to the wires from chemical reactions with the atmosphere. A common material for the sheath is PVC (polyvinyl chloride).
• Insulator: To keep the conductors separated from each other and prevent unintended paths for current flow (e.g. short circuit), the wires are shielded with insulating materials. Various synthetic polymers are used for this purpose.

Classification of Cables and Colors(Types of Cables)

Different colors of wires are used for different purposes. In DC circuits, the colors are,

• Black: Wires for the negative current. 
• Red: Wires for positive current.
• White or Grey: Ground wires.

For AC circuits (power 120/208/240 Volts),

• Black: Phase 1 lines are colored black. These wires are for power generation.
• Blue: Phase 3 or power distribution wires.
• Red: Phase 2 or transmission wires.
• White: Neutral wires.
• Green or Green with Yellow Stripes: Ground wires.

Various Types of Cables and Their Uses

The various parts of a networking system are connected using network cables. So Different Types of Cables are used, depending on the size and structure of the systems.

These are listed below,

• Coaxial Cables: These cables, which are also known as coax, have a conducting core that is encased in another conducting layer. A coaxial cylinder-shaped dielectric or insulator serves as the barrier separating the two layers. An outer jacket is provided for the entire setup as protection. So Televisions, radio transmitters, antennas, and many other devices use coaxial cables to transmit high-frequency signals with little energy loss. 

Twisted Pairs: Two cables are twisted together and color-coded. As compared to a pair of untwisted cables, the twisted one has less possibility of crosstalk or interference. These cables are used in ethernet networking systems. 

• Optical Fibers: Fibers have glass cores surrounded by some protective layers. These cables use total internal reflection to transmit light and therefore have almost zero energy dissipation. Optical fiber has a core inside a cladding. The cladding is optically rarer than the core. The transmitting electromagnetic wave reflects in the core-cladding interface several times. Optical fibers can be classified further into two types, which are multi-mode fiber (short-range) and single-mode fiber (long-range).    

• Patch Cable: Patch cables are used to connect or “patch” different devices.
• Power Cables: Power cable assemblies are used to transmit electrical power. These can be used as permanent wiring in buildings. Power cable types are the power cord, extension cable, twisted, shielded, extensible, communication cable, and many more. These cables can be used overhead or buried underground.
• Internet Cables: Types of internet cables are ethernet cables (shielded and twisted). Ethernet cables connect a computer or a game console to a modem. These cables transfer data across the internet. Some cables, called “cross-over cables” can connect two devices. 
• Types of Computer Cables: Types of computer cables are power cables and data cables. Power cords are used in the charging of a computer or a laptop. Data cables can be of DVI, VGA, or HDMI types. Data cables are used to transfer multimedia from one device to another.

Ribbon Electric Cables

Ribbon Electric Cable is made of multiple insulated wires running parallel with one another. It is used for the transmission of multiple data simultaneously.  For example, it says that the CPU with the motherboard is connected by the Cable and is generally used for networking devices’ interconnection.

Shielded Cables

Shielded Cable is made of 1 or 2 insulated wires covered by a woven braided shield or aluminum Mylar foil for better signal transmission and removing irregularities in radio frequency of power and external interference. These cables transmit high voltage electric current. A shield is protecting it.

• Twisted Pair Cables

Twisted Pair Cables has two or more insulated copper wires twisted with each other and coded with color. Twisted Pair cables are especially used in telephone cables. The number of wires can measure the resistance to external interference.

• Coaxial Cables

Coaxial Cables are made of solid copper or steel conductor plated with copper.  The plated part is enclosed in the metallic braid and metallic tape. This entire Cable is covered with an insulated protective outer jacket.  In computer networking and audio-video networking, this kind of Cable is used.

• Fibre Optics Cable

Fibre Optics Cable transports optical data signals to the receiving device from an attached light source.  One must be pretty much aware of optical fiber and its uses in a wide variety of applications.

Important

• Thomas Edison invented the electric Cable.
• Cable sheaths protect and hold the conductors from chemical reactions. 
• Copper is used as conducting wires in electrical cables because copper is a good conductor and also cheap. 
• Polyvinyl chloride, butyl rubber, polyethylene, impregnated paper, etc. compounds are used as the insulating layers in different cables.
• So Most cables have multiple insulating layers and sheaths. 
• Single-mode fibers are used for the transmission of a particular frequency.
• Multi-mode optical fibers can transmit signals of multiple wavelengths and are used for short-distance transmissions. 
• Power cables come in various sizes depending on the purpose of use.
• Different kinds of glass were used as the core of the optical fiber. Nowadays, transparent plastics are used in the core.
• Twisted pairs have reduced energy dissipation and less interference.