Analyses Of High Voltage Transmission Cables In South Western Nigeria

Abstract

This paper presents the report of an investigation of the electrical and structural integrity of overhead and underground electrical cables in the south western part of Nigeria. Overhead and underground transmission cables were collected around the Obafemi Awolowo University environment, melted and cast into cylindrical shapes for electrical, structural as well as mechanical analyses to determine their adequacy as transmission cables. Results obtained indicate that while the load bearing capability (in terms of breaking load per unit diameter) of the analysed underground cable is good compared with the standard conductor, the overhead cable has a poor load bearing capability. SEM and EDX analyses show that both the underground and the overhead cables contain impurities that are deleterious to the structure and their functional properties. More importantly, the electrical resistivity measurement showed that the tested underground and the overhead cables are respectively 4 and 10 times higher in resistivity than the standard conductors. The implications of these results in respect of the high power transmission losses in Nigeria are discussed.

IFE Journal of Science Vol. 9 (1) 2007 pp. 63-70