Power Conductor Water Blocking with Tapes and Yarns Containing Superabsorbent Polymers

摘要

The long-term reliability of power cable networks is generally good, but in many cases, falls short of power utility and electricity customer expectations. Evidence of this can be seen in regular reports of serious power outages all over the world. There are many root causes for power outages and one of the known failure mechanisms is insidious or catastrophic damage from water ingress into the structure of insulated cables [1][4]. As a result of such cable damage, electricity customers may suffer direct or indirect loss and power utilities may bear increased maintenance & repair costs or, in the case of a failure, a loss of revenue and decreased network reliability levels.One potential solution to water ingress is longitudinal water blocking of the cable structure and it is now technically and economically feasible to water block any potential water paths in virtually any type of cable. This paper covers materials and techniques specifically developed for longitudinal water blocking of power cable conductors for the consideration of power cable producers and power cable end users alike.