What are the Differences Between Armored Cables and Unarmoured Cables?

What is an armored cable and what is an unarmored cable? The following is a detailed introduction to armored cables and unarmoured cables, and the differences between the two.

Armored cable

Armored cables are made of different material conductors packed in metal sleeves with insulating materials and processed into a bendable solid assembly. Armored cables include armored thermocouples, armored thermal resistors, armored heaters and armored leads. They are mainly used for temperature measurement, signal transmission and special heating in chemical industry, metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, power generation and scientific experiments. The largest amount is armored thermocouple cables.

Unarmored cable

Unarmoured cables refer to cables without steel armor protection. The quality of the cable insulation performance is very important to ensure the safe operation of the power supply system, so how to detect the insulation performance of the cable and find the potential defects of the cable as early as possible is very necessary. Most of the current research focuses on armored cables, but few people study the insulation performance testing methods of unarmored cables. The insulation detection methods used mainly include partial discharge method, optical fiber temperature measurement method, leakage current method and so on.

The difference between armored cable and non-armored cable

1. The structure of the two is different. Compared with the unarmored cable, the armored cable has an additional metal reinforcement layer on the surface.

2. The scope of application of the two is different. The armored cable has a reinforced layer on the surface, which is suitable for use when buried underground, while the non-armored cable has no reinforced layer on the surface, so it generally cannot be buried underground, but in other cases, non-armoured cables are generally used.

3. The uses of the two are different. Armored cables are used when buried underground. In direct burial and laying, armored cables will be required. Non-armoured cables cannot be used when buried, and non-armored cables are used in other cases.

Advantages of armored cables

1. The armored cable mechanical protection layer can be added to any structure of the cable to increase the mechanical strength of the cable and improve the corrosion resistance. Specifically designed for areas prone to mechanical damage and highly susceptible to erosion. It can be laid in any way, and the steel tape armored cable is usually laid straight and can bear the external force in the horizontal direction. Steel wire armored cables are mostly used in shafts and other places that require vertical installation.

2. The cable has an armor layer, which can also enhance mechanical protection such as tensile and compressive resistance, and prolong the service life.

3. The armored cable has a certain resistance to external force, and can also prevent rats from biting, and will not cause power transmission problems through the armor. The bending radius of the armor should be large, and the armor layer can directly protect the cable.