Conduction Full-time Job

Heat is an interesting form of energy. Not only does it sustain life, make us comfortable and help us prepare our food, but understanding its properties is key to many fields of scientific research. For example, knowing how heat is transferred and the degree to which different materials can exchange thermal energy governs everything from building heaters and understanding seasonal change to sending ships into space.

Heat can only be transferred through three means: conduction, convection and radiation. Of these, conduction is perhaps the most common, and occurs regularly in nature. In short, it is the transfer of heat through physical contact. It occurs when you press your hand onto a window pane, when you place a pot of water on an active element, and when you place an iron in the fire.

This transfer occurs at the molecular level — from one body to another — when heat energy is absorbed by a surface and causes the molecules of that surface to move more quickly. In the process, they bump into their neighbors and transfer the energy to them, a process which continues as long as heat is still being added.

Aerial Bundle Cables, often referred to as Aerial Bundled Conductors or simply ABC, are cables for overhead line power, so called for combining multiple single core cables together. With applications including temporary power distribution to street lighting and secondary pole-to-pole service cables, they are lightweight stranded aluminium conductors, both single core and multi-cores. Whilst Aerial Bundle Cables are used in rural power distribution in some countries, they are more commonly used in temporary power installations such as on construction sites. As insulated cables they are often preferred to bare conductors which are installed and separated by air gaps but where sparks and shorts in the event of high winds may cause resulting bushfires in dry climates or risk nearby property. The XLPE insulation material, and where relevant the sheathing material, allows the ABC to be tightly bundled together – additional steel wire supports similar to those in ACSR can also be incorporated as catenary wires .

Solar power installations in the US have grown 35 fold since 2008, while the average cost of photovoltaic panels has dropped 50% since 2014. Over 242,000 people work in the solar power industry in the US, which is more than double the number in 2012.

With this undeniable level of growth there's a lot of interest in solar panel wire, or photovoltaic (PV) wire (UL 4703). What makes solar farm wire unique comes down to its material, form, and insulation.

Wire Materials used in Solar Farms

The two main materials used to make solar farm wiring are copper and aluminum. Copper is more conductive than aluminum, which means a copper wire carries more current than an aluminum wire of the same size. Aluminum wiring is also more vulnerable to bending and flexing during installation, which can weaken it faster than copper wire. Another challenge with aluminum wire is the higher maintenance costs. Aluminum is more susceptible to temperature extremes. The expansion and contraction of the metal will require a technician to periodically tighten the terminals where aluminum is used. The main benefit to using aluminum is that the up-front cost is cheaper than copper.

Solid and Stranded Forms of Wire

Fiber optic cable, twisted pair cable, and coaxial cable are the three main types of network cables used in communication systems. Each of them is different and suitable for various applications.

Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves.

Fiber Optic cable has a complicated design and structure. This type of cable has an outer optical casing that surrounds the light and traps it within a central core. The inside of the cable (the core) must configured in two different ways – Single-mode and multi-mode; although the difference may seem small, it makes a tremendous difference to the performance and the usage of fiber optic cables.

Twisted Pair Cable

aluminum processing, preparation of the ore for use in various products.

Aluminum, or aluminium (Al), is a silvery white metal with a melting point of 660 °C (1,220 °F) and a density of 2.7 grams per cubic cm. The most abundant metallic element, it constitutes 8.1 percent of Earth’s crust. In nature it occurs chemically combined with oxygen and other elements. In the pure state it is soft and ductile, but it can be alloyed with many other elements to increase strength and provide a number of useful properties. Alloys of aluminum are light, strong, and formable by almost all known metalworking processes. They can be cast, joined by many techniques, and machined easily, and they accept a wide variety of finishes.

In addition to its low density, many of the applications of aluminum and its alloys are based on its high electrical and thermal conductivity, high reflectivity, and resistance to corrosion. It owes its corrosion resistance to a continuous film of aluminum oxide that grows rapidly on a nascent aluminum surface exposed to air.