DOUBLESEAL® and SUPERDRI™ URD Cables

DOUBLESEAL® and SUPERDRI™ URD Cables
Product description

Ensuring the reliability of cables is crucial in today’s medium-voltage underground market. Prysmian is dedicated to meeting and exceeding the industry's reliability standards through extensive research and development. Because water and moisture significantly reduce cable service life, Prysmian focuses on preventing water ingress during cable design. 

To enhance standard underground residential distribution (URD) cables, Prysmian has developed DOUBLESEAL™ and SUPERDRI™ cables. These designs effectively prevent water and moisture migration within stranded conductors by using the STRANDSEAL® conductor filling compound. This compound withstands over 15 psi of water pressure when tested in accordance with ICEA T-31-610, Longitudinal Water Penetration Resistance.

  • DOUBLESEAL™ Cable: DOUBLESEAL cables enhance standard URD cables by incorporating extra water-blocking agents over the insulation shield and around the concentric neutral wires. The design of DOUBLESEAL cables allows them to withstand water pressure of 15 psi across the entire cable cross-section, far surpassing the ICEA T-34-664 requirement of 5 psi.
  • SUPERDRI™ Cable: SUPERDRI cables enhance underground residential distribution (URD) cable designs with a unique sleeved jacket construction. This design features water-blocking agents in powder form placed over the insulation shield and around the concentric neutral wires, along with water-swellable tape. SUPERDRI cables can withstand water pressure of up to 5 psi throughout their cross-section, improving flexibility and including rip cords for easy jacket removal.

 

Performance

The results of the industry-standard Accelerated Water Treeing Test (AWTT) have been compared with those of a modified AWTT in which the cable designs incorporated water-blocking agents. The top three cables, which featured these water-blocking agents and jackets (indicated by #), all outperformed the cables that did not use these enhancements.

 

Installations

DOUBLESEAL and SUPERDRI cables are available for an operating range of 5-46 kV. They are suitable for installation in conduits, direct burial, and isolated in free air. Both cable types are designed for use in wet or dry locations and come with sunlight-resistant LLDPE jackets.

 

Water Blocking

Underground cables can operate in wet conditions; however, water can degrade insulation by forming water trees, which can shorten the cable's service life. To prevent the formation of water trees, it is essential to use effective water-blocking agents. It's important to note that not all water-blocking agents are the same. Prysmian’s STRANDSEAL conductor filling compound has several notable capabilities:

Highly adherent to conductor wires

  • Excellent low-temperature performance
  • High viscosity at emergency temperatures
  • Exceptional thermal aging properties
  • Exceeds industry standards (5 psi) by three times
  • Compatible with conductor metals, conductor shield materials, and conductor connectors 

When STRANDSEAL is combined with water-swellable agents around the concentric neutral wires, the resulting cable can withstand a water pressure of 5 psi with SUPERDRI and 15 psi with DOUBLESEAL.

 

Key Design Features

  • Aluminum or Copper Conductor
  • Prysmian Strandseal Filling Compound
  • EPR (Ethylene Propylene Rubber) or TRXLPE (Cross-Linked Polyethylene) Insulation
  • Water-Swellable Agents
  • Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) Jacket 

 

Compliances

  • AEIC CS8
  • ICEA S-94-649, T-31-610, T-34-664

 

Optional Manufacturing Capabilities

  • Black LLDPE jacket without stripes
  • Multiplex cables
  • Compact stranded conductors
  • Super smooth conductor shield (TRXLPE only)
  • Tinned round and flat strap neutrals
  • UL (MV90) Rating, if required
  • REA/RUS U-1 certification, where applicable
Product datasheet