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“We have developed several new solutions, which can provide clear weight and cost saving opportunities to manufacturers of such commercial vehicles as  trucks, buses as well as agricultural, industrial and construction equipment”, stated Dr Andreas Brand, member of Leoni AG’s Management Board with responsibility for the Wiring Systems Division. “We are confident that we will grow our business with the CV industry by more than five per cent per year until 2025.”Alternative conductors save weight and costIn terms of weight optimisation, Leoni can reduce the harnesses’ weight by replacing conventional wires. Alongside copper wires with smaller cross-sections, the Company provides the CV market with a range of wires made of aluminium for the power segment, i.e. with a cross-section between 10 mm2 and 110 mm2 and even larger. Although the aluminium conductors have a larger cross-section in order to deliver the same electrical conductivity, aluminium technology results in a noticeable weight reduction. On its booth, Leoni will show its busbar, a solid aluminium conductor, which can be bent in three dimensions and weighs only about half as much as the conventional copper component.Leoni will also show various conductor solutions based on copper. These can be used where mechanical strength as well as electrical conductivity is required. For example, a copper wire with a cross-section of 0.75 mm² could potentially be replaced by a smaller wire cross section, such as a 0.50 mm² or a 0.35 mm². Thanks to the use of less conductor material, Leoni’s customers can not just reduce the weight of their vehicles, but also benefit in terms of cost savings.

Resulting from a five-year development programme involving Nexans’ technology centres in France and Belgium, this innovative overhead line technology consists in a thermal resistant aluminium conductor wrapped around a composite carbon core. Compared with a traditional ACSR (Aluminium Conductor Steel Reinforced) which uses steel core, the composite carbon core of the same diameter is much lighter and 50 percent stronger. Most importantly, the carbon core’s coefficient of thermal expansion is roughly one tenth of that of steel, so it expands (and ‘sags’) much less when heated by the high current flowing in the conductor, enabling the vital safety clearances to be maintained between the conductor and the ground, even at high operating temperatures.

Developed by Prysmian's R&D Headquarters in Italy, P-Laser technology is eco-sustainable. The HPTE insulating system of P-Laser cables uses thermoplastic materials unlike traditional XLPE cables with cross-linked polyethylene insulation.The metal used for the conductor and the outer cable screens under the protective sheath is also recyclable, making the cable 100% eco-friendly.From the efficiency point of view, P-Laser technology allows grid operators to work at temperatures above the typical 90°C as usual with XLPE traditional technology. This higher thermal performance allows them to increase the powertransmission for the same conductor section, or a longer cable life at the same temperature, but above all it allows higher capability. This is particularly important in the event of emergencies, grid congestion and "N-1" conditions(disconnection because of malfunction or maintenance of an adjacent line).

Corrosion can affect the weight and strength of conductor materials. Tests performed recently on samples of ACCR conductor strung in late 2002 showed no appreciable loss of either tensile strength or weight. Tensile strength remained between 105 and 107 percent of rated breaking strength. Examination of core wires with both optical and scanning electron microscopes showed no indications of corrosion or pitting.

This manuscript reports on the recent progress and the remaining materials challenges in the development of coated conductors (CCs) for power applications and magnets, with a particular emphasis on the different initiatives being active at present in Europe. We first summarize the scientific and technological scope where CCs have been raised as a complex technology product and then we show that there exists still much room for performance improvement. The objectives and CC architectures being explored in the scope of the European project EUROTAPES are widely described and their potential in generating novel breakthroughs emphasized. The overall goal of this project is to create synergy among academic and industrial partners to go well beyond the state of the art in several scientific issues related to CCs' enhanced performances and to develop nanoengineered CCs with reduced costs, using high throughput manufacturing processes which incorporate quality control tools and so lead to higher yields. Three general application targets are considered which will require different conductor architectures and performances and so the strategy is to combine vacuum and chemical solution deposition approaches to achieve the targeted goals. A few examples of such approaches are described related to defining new conductor architectures and shapes, as well as vortex pinning enhancement through novel paths towards nanostructure generation. Particular emphasis is made on solution chemistry approaches. We also describe the efforts being made in transforming the CCs into assembled conductors and cables which achieve appealing mechanical and electromagnetic performances for power systems. Finally, we briefly mention some outstanding superconducting power application projects being active at present, in Europe and worldwide, to exemplify the strong advances in reaching the demands to integrate them in a new electrical engineering paradigm.

Copper ranks second to silver as an electrical conductor. The copper cladding of LEONI Histral® H16 ensures a good electrical conductivity whenever mechanical properties do not play a primary role.

High-frequency (HF) technology In HF technology the so-called „skin effect“ ensures that the current flow is restricted to a very thin layer situated on the surface of the conductor and that the overall resistance in the conductor is reduced. LEONI Histral® H16 has copper, which features good electrical, in the cladding only. The additional galvanic plating of the surface causes the skin effect to be optimized. Aeronautics and automotive technology Weight is of major importance for the construction of airplanes and automobiles. LEONI Histral® H16 is particularly suited for larger cross-sections here that can be employed for the transmission of power, where there is a significant weight reduction potential. Shielding braids LEONI Histral® H16 features a resistivity lending itself well to shielding braids because high coverage can be achieved at a comparatively low weight. The fact that aluminum suffers from the drawback of having a poor contact resistance is largely offset by the copper cladding. Heating applications The combination of a relatively good resistance value with a rather low mechanical resilience suggest that LEONI Histral® H16 may well be used in all kinds of heating applications that are not exposed to a permanently varying level of stress.

The line between Jandira and Cotia is the world’s first commercial installation of Lo-Sag conductors that use a carbon fiber composite core to save weight and double capacity.

Myth No. 1: Copper is the only conductor material for use in wind turbines. Reality: Traditionally, cable and wire manufacturers have used copper as the conductor material of choice for cables used throughout wind turbines. However, with copper prices being extremely volatile due to varying degrees of demand, cable research and development engineers use alternative conductor materials or copper alloys that perform comparably to pure copper when they can to combat the effects of copper’s changing price in order to keep turbine costs under budget. Reality: Traditionally, cable and wire manufacturers have used copper as the conductor material of choice for cables used throughout wind turbines. However, with copper prices being extremely volatile due to varying degrees of demand, cable research and development engineers use alternative conductor materials or copper alloys that perform comparably to pure copper when they can to combat the effects of copper’s changing price in order to keep turbine costs under budget.

This technology is now moving towards the pre-commercial stage through already announced or under discussion multi-hectometre cable projects. However, these multi-filamentary wires are expected to be replaced in the near future by a generation of cheaper HTS tapes, the Coated conductors (CC). According to their final report, SUPER3C is one of the first cables in the world using second generation (2G) HTS tapes as current carrying elements. The 2G-hybrid conductor utilises the advantages of both superconductivity and copper, enabling it to work and interconnect smoothly with conventional network components.

As cable harnesses are already among the most complex and heaviest components used in vehicles, any possibility for weight savings is an attractive proposition. A model calculation of realistic weight-saving potential was analyzed in an average mid-size car with a cable harness weighing just under 30 kilograms. For the substitution of Al wire for Cu conductors, exclusively larger cross-sections (>0.75 mm²) were analyzed, excluding the fine-signal conductors. Al conductors with the next-highest cross-section replaced the affected Cu conductors. Under these conditions, a purely computational weight savings of around 7kg was initially achieved. However, for the last decade in Germany, the solid battery terminals were already made of Al, so the actual potential for savings in this particular case study is 2-3kg per cable harness.

For all these applications, the same challenges requiring solutions arise. To begin with, rising raw material prices have been triggering a strong trend towards cutting down the material input as far as possible throughout the entire manufacturing process. In addition, with space being a restriction, the allowable amount and volume of conductors to be incorporated in any of the above devices is limited. At the same time, the processes, which are controlled by means of electric signals, are growing more and more diverse so that an increasing number of functions has to be taken care of by each conductor. In particular when it comes to building automobiles, aircraft or aerospace vehicles, exceptional weight efficiency is requested nowadays in order to minimize fuel consumption. The flexibility of a strand constitutes another property that can only be accomplished by increasing the number of single wires used. Just take the following example: A strand composed of 19 wires with a diameter of 0.20 mm each will end up having the same cross-section (0.6 mm²) as another strand made up of 850 wires with a diameter of 0.03 mm each, with the flexibility of the latter being significantly higher.

The patented treatment process enables any design of conductor – such as round or Aero-Z™ wires - to be produced in virtually any color.

Practical conductors require acceptance of less than perfect superconducting behaviour because such conductors actually operate continuously in a slightly resistive mode

Utilities looking for greater flexibility, reliability and single-failure tolerance for critical transmission lines now have an affordable carbon-fiber option in the new Southwire C7 Overhead Conductor. The multi-stranded composite core using advanced polymers, resins and thermoplastics from Celanese delivers increased performance and a service life in excess of 40 years.