The wind power cable is an important component of a fan for power transmission, and its safety and reliability directly determine the operating life of a fan. The rapid development of offshore wind power contributes to an increasing turbine capacity, causing higher risks of conventional low voltage transmission methods. To be specific, the sharp increase in the number of cables, the unbearable heat, and the heavier weight of the cables have all brought great potential risks to the safe operation of the cables.
In 2019, Far East Cable Co., Ltd. followed the mainstream developmental trend of wind power in overseas markets, and set up a project to develop the 8MW Offshore Wind Power key component - the Medium Voltage Torsion Resistant Cable. Compared with other application scenarios of wind power, the offshore wind power operation faces a harsher environment. Although the offshore wind power resources are abundant, with smooth changes of wind directions and annual effective generation time of 3000h that can reach 20% by full-load power generation, longer working hours and full-load working conditions are more likely to cause accelerated cable aging, which requires the cable to work stably under high load for a long time. Moreover, the ocean environment of high humidity, heavy salt mist, high heat, and high ozone concentration requires stronger anti-aging property of cables. Also, maintenance at sea is difficult, so that higher reliability and longer life of cables are required. In order to meet the requirements of special operating conditions for offshore wind power, this medium-voltage cable developed by Far East must ensure that the cable has properties such as torsion resistance, flame resistance, cold resistance, oil resistance, heat resistance, salt mist resistance, and ozone resistance, and should be able to work under -40 ~ 90 ℃ temperature.
In order to meet its strict design requirements, the 8MW Medium Voltage Torsion Resistant Cable developed by Far East Cable has adopted a special structural design to improve its overall roundness and compactness, which can reduce the interference between cable cores in twist, so that to avoid deformation of the insulating layer and sliding between the cores that could lead to the destruction of insulation.
Far East Cable uses self-developed insulation materials, which greatly improves the insulation of electricity and low temperature, better guaranteeing the good electrical performance of the cable with higher safety during operation. The cable has a compact structure, a smaller outer diameter, lighter weight, and more convenient installation and laying.
Furthermore, Far East Cable ’s self-developed sheath material has greatly improved its resistance to salt mist, ozone, bad weather, tear, flame, low temperature and heat, and better protects the cable from external effects. Due to the excellent performance indicators, this product has passed the inspection of China National Center for Quality Supervision and Test of Electric Wire and Cable once only. The successful development of this product is a new achievement under Far East's strategic goal of "To be Second to None", and it also adds new cases to Far East's brand concept of "Excellent Products and Services".
Far East has 34 years’ experience in research, development, and manufacturing of wire and cable, and 16 years’ experience in wire harness design and development. Its products are used by 67,000 fans worldwide. Since taking the lead in entering the wind power cable market in 2003, Far East Cable has established good cooperative relationships with large fan manufacturers such as Goldwind Technology, Sinovel Wind Power, Shanghai Electric, Yunda Wind Power, Envision, ACCIONA Wind Power, Siemens, and General Motors, etc., each provided with customized design and services.
With the development of fans to large scale and high efficiency, the wind turbines have continued to be innovated. Combined with the market and customer needs, Far East Cable has achieved fruitful results and impressive performance in the development of wind power, and has won unanimous praise from customers.
At present, Far East Cable has formed a leading market position in the global wind power industry, not only ranking first in the field of wind power cables in China, but also joining Top 3 in the global wind power cable market.
