March 4, 2009 -- Champlain Cable Corporation (Colchester, VT) has entered the renewable energy industry with two new cable products for photovoltaic arrays. The Exar 150PV and the Exar 180PV are both UL rated photovoltaic wires and are the latest products to be released by the company.
According to the company, due to the extreme environmental conditions photovoltaic panels are subjected to, most standard solar panel wires are unable to last as long as typical PV panel warranty periods. There are multiple factors that cause ordinary wires to degrade; one of these factors is the extremes in temperature.
Photovoltaic panels also are exposed to high amounts of UV radiation, which cause a quick degradation of insulation on standard wiring. Another damaging condition to photovoltaic components is the exposure to water and steam, which can damage the insulation and ultimately cause the cable to fail. For these reasons, the Exar 150PV and 180PV were designed to handle such extreme environmental conditions.
The Exar 150PV has a 90 deg C wet rating; the 180PV has a 100 deg C wet rating, which makes them suitable for the environmental extremes encountered by PV array components. Both wires are made out of a robust irradiation cross-linked fluoropolymer-based material, which handles temperature extremes to 180 deg C.
Champlain Cable's PV products are formulated to naturally resist UV exposure, and do not require specific color concentrates to block UV radiation. The company claims the new cables will last more then ten times longer than the standard THHN, XHHW, SEW-2, and other similar XLPE or rubber-based wires used today.
The higher performing lead wire will be of interest to many panel manufacturers and installers due to reduced life cycle costs and higher reliability, maintains the company. Further, the Exar PV products are relatively thin and have high temperature resistance, which ultimately allows for downsizing of the conductor, thus creating opportunity to save more space and cost.
Champlain Cable says it is currently developing a third photovoltaic cable product, expected to be on the market later this year.
On the Web:
www.champcable.com
