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Comparison of SWG (red), AWG (blue) and IEC 60228 (black) wire gauge sizes from 0.03 to 200 mm² to scale on a 1 mm grid – in the SVG file, hover over a size to highlight it. In engineering applications, it is often most convenient to describe a wire in terms of its cross-section area, rather than its diameter, because the cross section is directly proportional to its strength and weight ...
By estimating the temperature of the cables, the safe long-term current-carrying capacity of the cables can be calculated. J. H. Neher and M. H. McGrath were two electrical engineers who wrote a paper in 1957 about how to calculate the capacity of current (ampacity) of cables. [ 1 ]
For example, the United States National Electrical Code, Table 310.15(B)(16), specifies that up to three 8 AWG copper wires having a common insulating material (THWN) in a raceway, cable, or direct burial has an ampacity of 50 A when the ambient air is 30 °C, the conductor surface temperature allowed to be 75 °C. A single insulated conductor ...
Electrical length is defined for conductors carrying alternating current (AC) at a single frequency or narrow band of frequencies. An alternating electric current of a single frequency f {\displaystyle f} is an oscillating sine wave which repeats with a period of T = 1 / f {\displaystyle T=1/f} . [ 5 ]
One important property of the insulation which affects the current-carrying capacity of the wire is the maximum conductor temperature. This, in combination with the ambient temperature and ability of the environment to absorb heat, determines the amount of tolerable copper loss in the wire, and therefore its size in relation to the load current ...
A wire or cable has a voltage (to neutral) rating and a maximum conductor surface temperature rating. The amount of current a cable or wire can safely carry depends on the installation conditions. The international standard wire sizes are given in the IEC 60228 standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission.
Accordingly, one pound of aluminum has the same current carrying capacity as two pounds of copper. [3] Since copper costs about four times as much as aluminum by weight (roughly US$4 /lb [5] vs. US$1 /lb [6] as of 2024), aluminum wires are one-eighth the cost of copper wire of the same conductivity.
Thou (length) Square mil; IEC 60228, the metric wire-size standard used in most parts of the world. American Wire Gauge (AWG), used primarily in the US and Canada; Standard Wire Gauge (SWG), the British imperial standard BS3737, superseded by the metric. Stubs Iron Wire Gauge; Jewelry wire gauge; Body jewelry sizes; Electrical wiring