Reinforced ground-check conductors for safer mining

Breaking the vicious circuit

To ensure the safe operation of feeding cranes, shovels and dredging machines, newer and tougher insulated ground-check conductors are bundled within SHD-GC power cables to “check” that equipment is fully-grounded. If the ground-check cable or the regular ground/earth cable breaks, the machine stops.

Core of strength

Subjected to excessive stretching, bending and impact in mines, long power cables often failed because the ground-check conductor itself was damaged. This new design uses an aramid core as a central member which has a breaking strength of about 3900 N, protecting the flexible stranded copper bunch which carries the one amp security circuit.

 
Longer lifespan

This solution will increase the lifespan of ground-check cables by 50% which in turn protects the power cable. Mine operators will appreciate added safety (machinery fully-grounded), fewer stoppages, longer cable life, and lower maintenance, repair and replacement costs.

Quite a yarn

Nexans was approached by the Codelco Chuquicamata copper mine to increase the strength of ground-check conductors without sacrificing flexibility. They proposed a steel core, but we remarked that this would greatly compromise flexibility. Our suggestion was extra-strength yarn, and the customer agreed. An aramid supplier was contacted, and within three weeks, tests were evaluated in our laboratory in Santiago. Next, the NRC-Lyon was involved, since they had a long experience with BUFLEX® for both mining and material handling applications. A prototype is now being evaluated by the customer.

Other applications

Although especially developed for mining, this cable could be used wherever heavy electrical machinery is operated at a distance from the power station.