Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
However, AWG is dissimilar to IEC 60228, the metric wire-size standard used in most parts of the world, based directly on the wire cross-section area (in square millimetres, mm 2). The AWG tables are for a single, solid and round conductor. The AWG of a stranded wire is determined by the cross-sectional area of the equivalent solid conductor.
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 ...
In some applications wire sizes are specified as the cross sectional area of the wire, usually in mm 2. Advantages of this system include the ability to readily calculate the physical dimensions or weight of wire, ability to take account of non-circular wire, and ease of calculation of electrical properties.
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 ...
Some tables give conversions to circular millimetres (cmm). [3] [4] The area in cmm is defined as the square of the wire diameter in mm. However, this unit is rarely used in practice. One of the few examples is in a patent for a bariatric weight loss device. [5]
For wire sizes smaller than AWG No. 2 (33.6 mm 2, 0.0521 sq in), this term is also generally regarded as insignificant. R c , a {\textstyle R_{c,a}} is the effective thermal resistance between the conductor and the ambient conditions, which can require significant empirical or theoretical effort to estimate.
Because multiple conductors bundled in a cable cannot dissipate heat as easily as single insulated conductors, those circuits are always rated at a lower ampacity. Tables in electrical safety codes give the maximum allowable current based on size of conductor, voltage potential, insulation type and thickness, and the temperature rating of the ...
This heat is proportional to the square of the allowable current (ampacity) and inversely proportional to the square of the diameter; so the ampacity is proportional to the 1.5 power of the diameter. If the diameter doubles (approximately) every 6 wire sizes, the ampacity then doubles every 4 wire sizes.