Engineering360: "Efficient conductors for greener electricity grids"

This sounds like a variation on the ACCC type cables currently being sold and used by many utilities. They use a composite carbon core wrapped with lower tensile strength soft aluminum conductors in a typical compressed shape (instead of the round shape in ACSR cables. At the traditional operating temperatures they have somewhat greater current carrying capacity, significantly less sag, and lower weight. They can also be operated at much higher temperatures (up to 180°C instead of the 75°C for ACSR)--this allows the much greater current carrying capacity.

This article is just a press release for the funding of the company, and gives essentially NO information I would want to see. The biggest difference from ACCC appears to be the aluminum portion, pictured as if it is a solid tube instead of separate strands. More data would be worth reading.

--JMM