How to skillfully use aluminum alloy cable in photovoltaic system?

The cost of control system is very important in the era of photovoltaic affordable Internet access. Over the past decade, the price of modules and inverters has decreased by 90%, which has made a great contribution to the overall cost reduction of photovoltaic system, but the cost of cables has not decreased. In large projects, the proportion of cables in the system reaches 10%, which is higher than that of inverters. In fact, as long as the design and installation are proper, on the premise of ensuring the normal operation and safety of the system, some AC cables adopt aluminum alloy cables, which can reduce some costs.
The cables of photovoltaic power station are divided into DC cables and AC cables. The DC cables between components and between components and inverter are generally required to use photovoltaic special DC cables, while the cables from inverter to AC distribution cabinet and from distribution cabinet to transformer are not required to use any ACSR Cables.


What is aluminum alloy cable: aluminum alloy cable is a new material power cable with aa8030 series aluminum alloy material as conductor. The resistivity of aluminum alloy is between aluminum and copper, higher than copper and slightly lower than aluminum. Under the premise of the same current carrying capacity, the weight of aluminum alloy conductor with the same length is only half of that of copper.
When the cross-sectional area of aluminum alloy conductor is 1.5 times that of copper, aluminum alloy ACSR Cable and copper cable achieve the same current carrying capacity, resistance and line loss.
Service life: different metal oxides are formed after the metal surface reacts with oxygen. Aluminum oxide can form a dense surface protective film with a certain hardness. Copper oxide, commonly known as copper green, is a toxic substance between the above two.
Economically, this is the most important aspect. The cost of aluminum alloy cable is about 25% ~ 50% of that of copper core cable. The cost advantage of aluminum alloy cable is relatively large. We can make a comparison. In a 400KW village level poverty alleviation power station, the distance from the AC distribution cabinet to the step-up transformer is 1500 meters, and the maximum output current of the 400KW power station is 580A. If copper cables are used, two 150 square meters are required for each phase and six for three phases, with a total length of 9000 meters and a price of 864000; If you use two 240 square meters of aluminum alloy, the total length is 9000 meters, and the price is 450000 yuan, 414000 yuan can be saved, and the loss of 240 square meters of aluminum wire is lower than that of 150 square meters of copper wire.


There is also a rare earth aluminum alloy cable, which is made of high elongation aluminum alloy material. By adding rare earth trace element materials such as boron to pure aluminum and treated by rolling technology and special annealing process, the cable has good flexibility. When its surface is in contact with air, it can form a thin and firm oxide layer, which can withstand all kinds of corrosion. Even when overloaded or overheated for a long time, it can ensure the stability of the connection, and the cost is about 10% higher than that of ordinary aluminum alloy cable.
Application scope of aluminum cable: aluminum cable can be considered for long-distance overhead line, underground cable trench with large space and places with reliable fixed bridge.
Precautions for use of aluminum cable:
The melting point of copper is 1080 ℃, while that of aluminum and aluminum alloy is 660 ℃, so copper conductor is a better choice for fire-resistant cable. At present, some aluminum alloy AAC Cable manufacturers claim that they can produce fire-resistant aluminum alloy cables and have passed the relevant national standard tests, but there is no difference between aluminum alloy cables and aluminum cables. If they are in the fire center, that is, when the temperature is higher than the melting point of aluminum alloy and aluminum cables, no matter what heat insulation measures are taken, the cables will melt in a very short time and lose their conductive function, Therefore, aluminum alloy should not be used as fire-resistant cable conductor, nor in densely populated urban distribution network, buildings, factories and mines.


Compared with aluminum core cable, the copper core is flexible, the allowable bending radius is small, and it is not easy to break after repeated bending. Therefore, aluminum cable should not be used when there are many bends, many pipes or complex lines.
As the terminals of electrical switchgear are made of copper, copper and aluminum are directly connected, and the chemical reaction of primary battery will occur after power on: aluminum with higher activity will accelerate oxidation, resulting in higher resistance and lower current carrying capacity at the joint. Therefore, some measures need to be taken when copper and aluminum are connected, such as using copper aluminum transition terminal or copper aluminum transition terminal block, Eliminate electrochemical reaction.