At the forefront of all things cable

 

Today, the essential electrical cables that carry power and data to our homes, businesses and industry are rarely seen but are everywhere. Indeed, such is our dependence on electricity that the cable systems that circle our world are at the very heart of



Cables are everywhere, carrying data, communications and electrical energy. Without transcontinental, national and urban cabled infrastructures, cities would be dark, isolated places devoid of all modern comfort and convenience. Cables are equally omnipresent in countless products in use everyday that are taken for granted, from ultra-fine wires used in wristwatches to cables in electric motors and transformers, from domestic appliances to cars, boats, trains and planes.

These cable systems are equally vital for the successful operation of many different industries: power generation, the petrochemical industry, shipbuilding and motor manufacture, the railways, telecommunications etc. All of these industries rely on a vast range of wires and cables for their controls, applications and data transmission. One company that is a global leader in most of these cable disciplines and sectors is Nexans, which has its HQ in Paris.

Nexans, which had total sales in 2003 of 4.046bn euros and 17,000 employees worldwide, offers a wide range of energy and telecom cable solutions using copper and optical fibre cables for the infrastructure, industrial and construction markets.

The company's markets include energy networks, aerospace, construction, auto-motive, the oil industry, railways, telecommunications and medical applications.
Nexans is a global expert in cables and cable systems for the infrastructure, industrial and construction markets, including construction, oil, wind power, rail transport, shipbuilding and automotive.

Nexans facilities can be found in many locations around the world, including manufacturing facilities in 28 countries, marketing operations in 65 countries, 17,150 local experts, a major international research centre in Lyon, 10 competence centres for operational research, and 450 researchers, engineers and technicians.

Nexans, which has its HQ in Paris, was established in 1897 as the Société Française de Câbles Electriques and after a change in name and solid evolution, in 1986, it became become Alcatel Câble. In 1996 Alcatel Câble merged with Alcatel and the company known today as Nexans came into being in 2000. In 2001, Nexans was floated on the stock market (Euronext-Paris).

Nexans Activities:

By activity, Nexans' sales are as follows: energy - 55%; electrical wires - 24%; telecom - 14%; and distribution and others - 7%. In terms of geographical area, the company's sales are: Europe - 75%; North America - 17%; Asia - 5%; and the rest of the world - 3%.

Nexans considers its strengths to be essentially based upon its sheer size and global expertise in the cables segment, and the company controls the entire chain of production. In terms of products, a full range of copper cables is offered to the highest voltages, as well as optical fibre cables. The company also provides global services, from design and conception through to production, installation, and maintenance.

A full range of copper and optical fibre cables:

Nexans says that its product range 'is an international standard used by all wire and cable manufacturers around the world'. Moreover, the company has total control of its production chain, from the copper ore stage right down to the finished product - energy or telecom cables. Today, Nexans production plants process 49 tonnes of copper per hour, and the company also plays a major role in the development of new international standards.

Nexans has joined the 'Fibre-To-The-Home' Council in order to promote the extension of fibre access in Europe. Comprising over 25 European and global broadband industry leaders, and with a Board consisting of Alcatel, Cisco, Corning, ECI, Emtelle, Ericsson and OFS, the FTTH Council intends to offer its wealth of practical experience to government policy makers, network owners and potential FTTH operators to respond to the developing needs and demands of Broadband Europe.

As examples of Nexan's expertise and state-of-the-art technologies, it boast the following:

• The deepest undersea cable - 2,300m water depth.
• The longest single length of cable - 125 km.
• The most highly rated cable - 550,000V.
• The thinnest cable - only 12 microns diameter.
• The most heat resistant cable - up to 1,000°C for several minutes.
• The heaviest cable - 123kg/m.

With high, medium and low voltage cables, aerial and underground lines, submarine and special cables, accessories and superconductors, the Energy activities alone account for over half of Nexans' total sales. The company says that it can meet the demand for cables and cable systems for power transmission and distribution in any infrastructures, industries and buildings.

In terms of high voltage cables, since generation facilities are often remote, long-distance HV capacity is needed to serve the great urban conglomerations, whatever the natural barriers: mountains, deserts or deep seas. Nexans can offer aerial, underground and submarine solutions in response to these demands.

Where MV and LV cables are concerned, such as those up to up to 60 kV used in increasingly standardised and complex distribution networks take electricity from high voltage transformer stations to towns and remote areas, Nexans supplies cables and accessories designed for power distribution to consumers.

Major advance in overhead line technology:

Conventional twisted conductors are prone to instability through vibration. A typical example is the complex effects of 'galloping' over long spans, even in light winds. To combat problems like this, Nexans has developed and introduced its AERO-Z conductors. These will withstand wind vibration because of their improved damping characteristics and greatly reduced drag coefficient. Moreover, these conductors are very compact, allowing them to transmit higher voltage levels with the same diameter. The 'Z' section is also used in optical terrestrial cables (OPGW-Z), while a new generation of AERO-Z-HC will soon offer enhanced conductivity.

Submarine cables:

The company also claims to be a global leader in the manufacture and laying of submarine cables and in equipment for oil and gas platforms (umbilical cables). The HV submarine market is a major issue at a time when very large projects are back on the agenda, such as underwater links between Morocco and Spain, Norway and the British Isles, and Australia and Tasmania.

The technical demands in this field are very high, given that submarine cables must be capable of resisting corrosion and withstanding both extreme pressures and great mechanical strain during laying.

Telecoms cables:

Nexans supplies two main families of products for the telecom sector - network cables and cable systems. These allow creation of installations that are increasingly easy to expand combined with products that are increasingly compatible and simple.

The company offers a wide range of copper and optical fibre solutions (telecom network cables, interconnection systems and data transmission cables) that meet the needs of LAN, access, long distance and metropolitan networks.

As regards data transmission cables, there is a huge range of products. These include switching cables, coaxial and multi-coaxial cables, multi-pair cables for analog or digital signals and electronic cables that have applications in a wide variety of fields, including aerospace, automotive, microcomputing, medical sector), railways and shipboard, and the military.

All these cable products are available with external protection to meet the challenge of changing environmental conditions, such as humidity, rodents, chemicals etc. The cables are supplied with the appropriate connection accessories.

Electrical wires:

• Nexans has a leading position in wire rods, bare wires and winding wires.
• The group produces around 800,000 tonnes of wires at 15 plants.

Wire rods are semi-finished products used for bare wires. This is an intermediate solid wrought product with a roughly circular cross-section over its entire length (with a maximum cross-sectional dimension of over 6 mm), and is supplied in coils.

Bare wires carry electricity, and have applications in cables, winding wires and railways. They are primarily copper and aluminium (and their respective alloys), sometimes with a tin or silver coating to enhance the material's performance, and are used in the manufacture of electrical wires. Bare wires are also used in non-electrical industries and businesses, such as jewellery, plastics technology, welding etc.

Winding wires are used as magnetic components in motors and the processing industries. Such wires are ideal for use in the manufacture of domestic appliance and automotive components such as relays and small motors, timers, solenoid valves and small transformers.

Ultra-fine copper winding wires are used in all kinds of applications that rely on miniature winding techniques, particularly in the field of clock and watchmaking, relays and transponders etc.

The main issues for the cable industry today:

According to Nexans, and in answer to demands from its clients, the company
is developing to challenges such as deregulation, consolidation and business revival. Other such challenges include protecting the environment. The latter requirement is addressed by the use of non-polluting materials and components, component longevity, and resistance to extreme installation and operating conditions (great depths, difficult climate conditions, humidity, high temperatures, salt, chemicals etc). In addition, Nexans says that it is an expert in burying HV lines so that the countryside is unspoilt. Nexans also claims to be 'committed to renewable energy sources' and is mindful of the need to recycle equipment and installations.

Safety:

In terms of safety, Nexans' halogen-free fire resistant (HFFR) cables are used in construction, modern ships, tunnels, power stations, oil-processing plants etc. to provide enhanced safety for both personnel and property, as well as optimum reliability.

Continuity of operation is highly important. One of the company's main objectives in cruise ships, for example, is to continuously improve the performance of HFFR cables so as to eliminate any risk of short-circuiting and to supply cables that can operate even at temperatures over 1000°C.

Nexans is also currently investing in, and concentrating its efforts on, the development of equipment for other sources of energy. For many years now, Nexans' R & D teams have been developing technologies and products capable of meeting the needs of new companies that are generating and distributing energy. Wind power is one of the possible alternatives. The market for windmills is expanding rapidly. In Europe, the renewable energy directive is promoting the growth of a large number of programmes, and 10,000 windmills have already been installed in Germany, producing 6,000MW or 2.5 % of the country's total output.
Denmark is a pioneering country in this respect, and plans to generate 12.5 % of its electricity from wind farms by the year 2030. The Brussels directive calls for 12% of renewable energy over the coming years. By 2020, 12% of the world's energy will be produced by wind. Over the next five years Nexans plans to win 25 % of a market that is currently estimated to be worth 200m euros.

A windfarm's turbines are all interconnected to create a single homogeneous network within a wind farm, and the total electrical output is then routed by MV cables to the public grid. Nexans is equipping the world's largest off-shore
wind farm at Horns Rev in Denmark. This farm has 80 windmills requiring 63 km of cable.

Research and development:

In 2002, Nexans invested over 47m euros in research and development. Inventing new products and processes, monitoring emergent technologies, protecting innovations by patents, anticipating the needs of clients - these are the main thrusts of the company's R & D strategy. The fields covered include materials, processes and technologies for very high voltage AC and DC currents, in the fire resistant properties of equipment cables and in the development of new polymers and high temperature superconductors.

One result of this R & D has been Nexans' development of superconductor cable. This has already had its first application, for US Department of Energy's $30m high temperature superconductor (HTS) power transmission cable project in the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) transmission grid project on Long Island. The 610m segment is the world's first installation of a superconductor cable in a live transmission grid.

Nexans fabricates the superconductor cable using HTS wire manufactured by American Superconductor (AMSC), a leading electricity solutions company. A Nexans CRYOFLEX vacuum-insulated flexible cryogenic envelope provides the thermal insulation required to maintain the cable core at its operating temperature of about -200°C. The 610m transmission circuit, capable of powering 300,000 homes, is located underground in an existing right of way. With a capacity of 600MW, the 138 kV superconductor cable system is an integral part of the LIPA grid and is expected to be installed and operating by the end of 2005.

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Contact: Mike Holmes
Nexans UK Ltd.,
Tandy House, Felixstowe Road,
Abbey Wood, London SE2 0AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1689 887 673
Web: www.nexans.com

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