Mineral insulated cables - copper core with mineral insulation and metallic sheaths such as copper etc.

Mineral Insulated Cables, a kind of cables with copper sheath wrapped around a copper conductor core and magnesium oxide powder as an inorganic insulating material to isolate the conductor from the sheath, the outermost layer of which can be selected with appropriate protective sheaths as required. Commonly known as MICC or MI cable. There is a similar cable with metal instead of copper sheath wrapped core and insulation, called mineral insulated metal sheathed cable.

MI cable originated in Switzerland in 1896, spread to France in 1934, and began to develop in the UK and the US in 1936. Widely used due to its excellent fire characteristics, including a variety of domestic mineral cable testing standards BS6387, is also used in the United Kingdom.

According to the structure can be divided into rigid and flexible. According to the standard can be divided into national standard cable (rigid) and enterprise standard cable (flexible). Rigid mineral cable has the old national standard, as the name suggests, extremely difficult to bend, transport and installation have great limitations.

As all the materials of this cable are made of inorganic materials, so it has some advantages that other cables may not have.

1、Fire-resistant

In the mineral insulated cable in the application of the two materials copper and mineral insulation is inorganic. This kind of cable will not burn, will not help to ignite, in close proximity to the flame conditions can still continue to operate. The copper sheath melts at 1083℃.

2, high operating temperature

Mineral insulated cables can withstand continuous operating temperatures up to 250 ℃. And, in case of emergency, the cable can be close to the melting point of the copper sheath temperature, in a short period of time to continue to operate.

3、Long life

Inorganic materials applied in mineral insulated cables can ensure that the cable has stability, long life and fire resistance.

4、Explosion-proof

Highly compacted insulating materials in mineral insulated cables prevent vapours, gases and flames from passing between the parts of the equipment connected to the cable.

5、Small outer diameter

The diameter of mineral insulated cables is smaller than other cables with the same rated current.

6、Waterproof

If the mineral insulated cable is completely immersed in water, with the help of its seamless metal sheath, the mineral insulated cable can continue to operate.

7、High mechanical strength

Mineral insulated cables are robust and can withstand severe mechanical damage without compromising their electrical properties.

8、High current-carrying capacity

For the same cable with the same cross-section, mineral insulated cables transmit higher currents than other types of cables. At the same time, mineral insulated cables can also withstand considerable overload.

9, short-circuit fault rating

At the same temperature, the short-circuit fault rating of mineral-insulated cables is significantly higher than that of other types of cables.

10, grounding

For mineral insulated cables, a separate grounding conductor is not required, because the copper sheath used in this cable has played the role of the grounding conductor, which can provide a good low grounding resistance. In the case of earthed sheath circuit (ESR) cabling, the outer copper sheath can be used as the earth and neutral conductor in MEN (Multi Earth Neutral) systems.

11, high corrosion resistance

Mineral insulated cable copper sheath has high corrosion resistance, for most installations, it does not need to take additional protective measures. In the copper sheath of the cable is susceptible to chemical corrosion or industrial staining of serious places, should be used to protect the mineral insulated cable wrapped in plastic outer sheath.