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Topic: Sizing multi - conductor cable

User: ZMIKE123, Location: Los Angeles, Ca

Asked on: Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 10:57 pm EDT
Answered on: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 3:41 am EDT

Question: IF i have a 3/c#12 cable for example :1. what is the the diam. and area of the 3 individual conductors ?2. what is the total diam. and area of the cable including insulation ?

1. Diameter and Area of Individual Conductors

Assuming the cable is stranded (made up of multiple smaller conductors), the diameter and area of each conductor can be estimated using the following formulas:

Diameter

Diameter = (Area / π)^(1/2)


Area

Area = (Diameter^2 π) / 4Since we don't have the exact specifications of the conductors, we can use a typical value of AWG 12, which has a diameter of approximately 2.05 mm.Therefore, the

diameter of each conductor
is approximately 2.05 mm.And the area of each conductor is approximately:

Area = (2.05 mm^2  π) / 4 ≈ 3.31 mm^2
2. Total Diameter and Area of the Cable

The total diameter and area of the cable will depend on the thickness of the insulation surrounding the conductors. Without knowing the exact insulation thickness, we can estimate it based on typical values.Assuming the cable has 0.5 mm of insulation thickness on each conductor:

Total Diameter

Total Diameter = 3
(Conductor Diameter + 2 Insulation Thickness) = 3 (2.05 mm + 2 0.5 mm) ≈ 7.2 mm

Total Area:
Total Area = π (Total Diameter / 2)^2 = π (7.2 mm / 2)^2 ≈ 40.7 mm^2 Flag for review

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