Indian Experience with Aluminum Busbars,Links,and Cable Terminations for Use on Low-Voltage Systems up to 1000 v

Aluminum has been in use in india for nearly two decades for busbars and links in factory-built assemblies (FBA´s) and for power cables. Hardly any FBA exists that is manufactured in the country today with copper bosbars and links unless it is for export or for use on a ship. The Indian electrical industry has managed to either solve or find ways to live with some of the common problems associated with the use of aluminum, and today FBA´s with busbar ratings of 3200 A and power cable terminations of 400 mm²are quite common. Common practices regarding ratings, configurations, method of connections, surface preparation, joint lubrication and maintenance during use for busbars and links, practice regarding termination of aluminum cables, and the influence on the design of standard switchgear components that go into FBA´s to make them suitable for accepting aluminum cables are described. Sizes of aluminum cables and links specified by Indian standards on low-voltage switchgear for conducting the temperature-rise test are also given.