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Archives for 2014

ETS Staff Supporting The Alzheimer’s Society

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Staff from our Midlands Project Office were again proud to be involved with the annual Cannock Chase Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk, with this year proving to be the biggest event yet.

Organisers and ETS volunteers alike are celebrating after numbers doubled for last weekend’s event. More than 1,100 took part, which is almost double the number of attendees who attended in 2013.

The society organises these sponsored walks throughout the UK as a way of raising much needed funds to help people living with Dementia and to help research into finding a cure.

  Channock Chase Memory Walk Channock Chase Memory Walk Channock Chase Memory Walk

Hundreds of people turned up for the walk, including some famous faces including former They Think It’s All Over presenter Nick Hancock, a couple of Wolverhampton Wanderers players and BBC news presenters.

All in all the event was a great success and around £45,000 is hoped to have been raised.

For more information on the work they do please visit http://www.memorywalk.org.uk 

Cembre Update Product Range With New Hydraulic Crimpers

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Cembre, the internationally renowned tool cable tooling manufacturer, has recently launched two new 18v cordless battery operated hydraulic crimping tools. The new B500E and B1350-CE are designed to replace the B51 and B135-C crimping tools respectively.

Main Features

The new tools represent a significantly advantageous evolution of the popular B51 and B135-C tools. The main features of this new generation of crimpers include:

  • New Li-Ion 18V 4Ah batteries offering high capacity, faster charging and energy optimisation.
  • Greater crimping speed and crimping force resulting from a revitalised hydraulic system with double speed action.
  • A maximum pressure sensor and security valve, together provide greater precision and repeatability of the pressure cycle and double the provision for operator safety.
  • An OLED display makes essential tool operating information available in real time. Including:Compression force being generated, for confirmation of tool performance and adherence to best practices.
  • Bi-component plastic shell for enhanced resistance to wear and damage, and rubber grip inserts for operator comfort.
  • LED lighting at the front of the tool to illuminate the working area for additional convenience and safety.

The tools will also collect crimping cycle data for up to 200,000 events, this is automatically stored on a memory card for transfer to PC by USB interface.

New LED display with touch button

battery led display

Remaining batter power status

 crimps remaining until service

Number of crimps remaining before tool service is required to maintain optimum condition.

 compression force generated

Compression force being generated, for confirmation of tool performance and adherence to be practices.

 tool identification

Tool identification, LED state

The data below shows the specific performance increases of both the Cembre B500E and B1350-CE over their previous counterparts.

Comparison of performance: Cembre B500E vs Cembre B51

b500e vs b51 cembre comparison

Comparison of performance: Cembre B1350-CE vs B135-C

Cembre b1350 ce vs cembre b135

For more information on the new range of Cembre crimping tools, please contact our Tooling Department with your requirements.

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Q&A: What are the differences between crimp connectors and mechanical shear-bolt type connectors?

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Question:

What are the advantages or differences between using mechanical connectors over the traditional crimp connector system?

Answer:

Crimp connectors have been popular for many years, but mechanical connectors with bolt heads, which shear off once a certain torque, are becoming universally acceptable.

The advantages a modern mechanical connector has over crimp connectors are:

  1. They are range taking.
  2. They do not require the additional expense of crimping systems.
  3. Eliminates the chance of the jointer using an incorrect die set.
  4. No sharp edges, which may be caused when using hexagonal die-sets.

However, there are 3 distinct disadvantages to using connectors with shear-bolt technology:

  1. Mechanical terminals can be considered more expensive than traditional crimp systems, especially if the end user is fully tooled up for crimping.
  2. It has a larger profile than its crimp connector equivalent, therefore all systems may not be easily installed. Especially push-on types.
  3. The cross-section may not always be symmetrical, which can make treatment over the connector area more critical.

These pro’s and con’s need to be considered when deciding on choosing a mechanical or crimp connector system. Contact our sales team for more information on the best electrical lug types for your application and to find out more about our range of cable connectors and terminals.

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Q&A: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Separable Connectors?

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Question:

I’m thinking of using separable connectors for a termination, what are the pro’s and con’s of using these deadbreak connectors over traditional Heatshrink or Coldshrink terminations?

Answer:

Separable connectors, also know as screened elbows or tee connectors, offer an alternative method of terminating cable.

As with any method of cable termination there are positives and negative, as listed below:

Advantages:

– The connector is fully screened making it unaffected by adverse environmental conditions.
– The two Faraday cages featured within the connector eliminate the need for separately installed stress control and taping of components.
– Tee connectors can ‘piggybacked’, allowing more than one cable to be attached to a single bushing.
– Each unit is factory tested for partial discharge and power frequency withstand (dependant on manufacturer).
– Can be installed both indoor and outdoor environments.
– Connectors can be utilised to joint cables together, using the appropriate mating part.

Drawbacks:

– The equipment and connector must have the correct bushing interface, unlike with heat shrink and cold shrink terminations.
– Separable connectors are best suited for single core cables (Although three-core cables can be modified to suit).
– Tends to be more expensive than the equivalent cold and heat shrink terminations.

For more information on our range of separable connectors, heatshrink and coldshrink terminations, please contact our Sales Team.

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Earthing Electrodes and Earth Rods

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Earthing electrodes are specifically designed and installed to improve a systems earthing. These earth electrodes must ideally penetrate into the moisture level below the ground level to reduce resistance.

They must also consist of metal conductors (or a combination of metal conductor types), which do not corrode excessively for the period of time they are expected to serve. Earth electrodes include rods or pipes driven into the ground, metallic plates or mats buried in the earth or a copper wire ring encircling the structure.

Underground gas piping or aluminium electrodes are NOT permitted for use as an earth electrodes.

Earth rods are often selected on the basis of their resistance to corrosion. The other major faction in selection is cost. All too often, the cost of a product is seen as the initial up front price, but the real cost is determined by the serviceable life of the ground rod.

Copper bonded earth rods vs copper clad
Copper Bonded Rod vs Copper Clad Rod

Galvanised steel rods are one of the cheapest electrodes available. However, they are not the most cost effective since they have a relatively short service life.

Solid copper and stainless steel rods have a long service life. However, they are considerably more expensive than galvanised steel rods. In addition to this, solid copper rods are not suited to deep driving into hard ground due to the likelihood of bending.

The copper bonded earth rod offers a compromise between the two. It has an electrolytic coating of copper deposited over a layer of nickel. This process helps ensure a long lasting, molecular bond between the copper layer and steel core. We recommend copper bonded ground rods over copper clad electrodes because the copper coating will not slip or tear when driven nor will it crack if the rod is bent.

Copper bonded earth rods feature high resistance to corrosion, provide a low resistance path to ground and have good characteristics for deep driving.

The Stainless Steel Option

It is important to note that certain soils and land fill areas may not be compatible with copper. In these situations, stainless steel represents a better option.

Stainless steel earth rods may also be an alternative, where structures or components, such as steel towers, poles or lead sheathed cables are in close proximity to an array of ground electrodes.

In these circumstances, consideration must be given to the consequence of galvanic corrosion. The high cost of stainless steel rods prohibits their widespread use. As shown in the following graphs:

Earth Rod Life Expectancy By Material

Earth rod life expectancy material

Earth Rod Comparative Costs By Material

Earth rod material costs

For more information on our copper earthing rods and electrodes, as well as the rest of our earthing and lightning protection products, please contact our Sales Team.

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Ellis Centaur Cable Saddles Installed In National Grid Power Tunnels

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Centaur cable accessories and saddles manufactured by Ellis have begun to be installed in National Grid’s London Power Tunnels project.

The cable saddles, which are being used to secure high voltage (HV) cables throughout 32km of tunnels under London, were specified in 2012 in a record £1.5million order for the Yorkshire-based cable cleat manufacturer.

Richard Shaw, managing director of Ellis, said: “While it’s always great to secure a new specification, especially such a large one, it’s even more rewarding seeing the product installed and being used for the purpose for which it was designed.”

In the case of the London Power Tunnels, Ellis secured the specification from Südkabel – the German manufacturers of the cables being installed in the National Grid tunnels – as a result of a design that saw them deliver a product that overcame a serious safety issue surrounding the restraint of HV cables up to 400kV with a diameter range of 100 to 160mm.

HV Cleating Standards

“At the time we designed Centaur neither the British nor European Standards took into account cleats on HV cables of this size,” explained Richard. “This meant those specifying for such jobs were very much in the hands of the manufacturers, who in most cases simply provided warranties for their products.”

“The problem with this was that none of the products available had been short circuit tested, and so the warranties were based purely on calculations and mechanical tests. As such there was no proof the saddle cleats being used would withstand the most testing elements of the job they’d been specified for.”

Rigorous Testing

Before launch, Ellis put its new heavy-duty extruded aluminium product through the most rigorous of testing procedures. Using cable manufactured by ABB in Sweden, the company shipped the Centaur cable saddles and ABB cable to the Netherlands where they were tested to 163 kA peak and 63 kA RMS for one second, in both 3 phase and phase to phase fault scenarios.

“We invested well over £100,000 in designing, developing, testing and bringing Centaur to market,” added Richard. “At the time this was the largest amount we’d ever invested in one new product, but we did so with confidence that it had the potential to solve a major safety issue and fill a gap in a growing market sector – a confidence that was quickly proven to be well-placed.”

ETS Cable Components are UK distributors of Ellis cable cleats, for more information on the Centaur range or to place a quote, please contact our Sales Team.

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E.T.S. (Portsmouth) Limited T/A ETS Cable Components
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Leatherhead Road, Chessington
Surrey, KT9 2NY
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