Contents
Introduction - Oman Cables Industry (SAOG)........................................................................................... 3
Quality Standards................................................................................................................................. 3
Instrumentation Cables......................................................................................................................... 3
Mutipair Instrumentation Cables ............................................................................................................... 4
BS5308 Part 1 Polyethylene Insulated ................................................................................................. 4
Construction ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Electrical Characteristics .................................................................................................................. 5
BS5308 Part 1 – Collectively Screened, Unarmored Type-1 Cables................................................. 6
BS5308 Part 1 – Collectively Screened, Armored Type–2 Cables. ................................................... 7
BS5308 Part 1 – Individually & Collectively Screened, Unarmored Type – 1 Cables. ....................... 8
BS5308 Part 1 – Individually & Collectively Screened, Armored Type – 2 Cables. ........................... 9
Multicore Instrumentation Cables ........................................................................................................... 10
BS5308 Part 2 PVC Insulated (300/500V) .......................................................................................... 10
Construction ................................................................................................................................... 10
Electrical Characteristics ................................................................................................................ 10
BS5308 Part 2 – Collectively Screened, Unarmored Type –1 Cables ............................................. 11
BS5308 Part 2 – Collectively Screened, Armored Type–2 Cables .................................................. 12
BS5308 Part 2 – Individually & Collectively Screened, Unarmored Type – 1 Cables ...................... 13
BS5308 Part 1 – Individually & Collectively Screened, Armored Type – 2 Cables .......................... 14
BS5308 Part 2 – Collectively screened Unarmoured – Type 1 Cables............................................ 15
BS5308 Part 2 – Collectively screened Armoured – Type 2 Cables................................................ 16
Cable Construction and Characteristics.................................................................................................. 17
Insulation Materials ............................................................................................................................ 17
Core/Pair Identification ....................................................................................................................... 17
Multipair Cables.............................................................................................................................. 17
Cable Assembly ................................................................................................................................. 17
Communications Core or Pair............................................................................................................. 18
Electrical Screening............................................................................................................................ 18
Armouring/Mechanical Protection....................................................................................................... 18
Galvanised Steel Wire Armour........................................................................................................ 18
Non-Metallic Sheaths ......................................................................................................................... 18
Inner Sheath/Bedding..................................................................................................................... 18
Outer Sheath .................................................................................................................................. 18
Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Colour Coding .................................................................................................................................... 20
As per BS 5308 Part 1.................................................................................................................... 20
Colour Coding .................................................................................................................................... 21
As per BS5308 Part 2..................................................................................................................... 21
Located in Rusayl, the Sultanates largest industrial complex, the company has grown by turnover into
one of the top ten industrial companies in Oman. Starting with a modest number of 10 employees,
Oman Cables has now over 300 dedicated personnel.
Oman Cables has won His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’s Trophy for best industry 4 times in 1991, 1992,1996
and 1997. The company is judged on many criteria including quality, Omanisation, exports, training,
safety, use of local materials, sales turnover, financial strength and other important factors.
In September 1997, Oman Cables attracted the attention of Draka Holding N.V. of the Netherlands and
became an affiliated member of the Draka Holding group following a 34% financial participation by
Draka. As an affiliate of the Draka Holding organization with operations in Europe, the United States and
the Far East, OCI is ideally positioned to service customers on both a national and a global scale. The
OCI offer combines unrivaled experience and a vast product range, developed organically at the leading
edge of technology, with the support, strength and the resources of one of the worlds most significant
cable companies.
OCI is driven by a central philosophy based upon three key issues - PARTNERSHIP, INNOVATION and
QUALITY. OCI aims at a maximum understanding of customer requirements for technical specifications
through to service and reliability.
Quality Standards
OCI holds several important international approvals and manufactures it's products in accordance with
the relevant IEC, CENELEC and British Standards specifications. The OCI quality system is approved by
TUV of Germany to ISO 9001.
Instrumentation Cables
The variety of Instrumentation cables is vast with very few countries having national Standards covering
this area. The uk is one exception where the British Standard BS5308 Parts 1 and 2 cover the
requirements for muliticore and multipair instrumentation cables with PVC or polyethylene insulation and
with various forms of mechanical protection. Even with the existence of a National Standard, our
experience is that customers still require variants from the use of different core identification schemes to
intermediate pair configurations to materials with enhanced characteristics for a particular environment.
OCI prides itself on its ability to offer products to each customer’s specific needs quickly, efficiently and
with an assurance of product quality. The standard range includes multicore and multipair copper
conductor instrumentation cables.
Construction
Pairing Two insulated conductors uniformly twisted together with a lay length not
exceeding 100mm
Pair identification COLLECTIVELY SCREENED CABLES - Colour coded in accordance with Appendix 1
or by numbered tape.
Individual Pair Screened
Cables
One blue core and one black core in each pair. Pairs are identified by a
numbered pair screen isolation tape or colour coded as per appendix-1.
Pair Screens An aluminum / polyester tape applied with a metallic side down in continuous
electrical conduct with a 0.5mm2 tinned copper drain wire. An isolation tape is
applied over the screen tape.
Cable Assembly Pairs are assembled in concentric layers using the reciprocating lay technique
Binder A non-hygroscopic binder tape is applied over the final lair of pairs.
Collective Screen An aluminum / polyester tape is applied with the metallic side down in
continuous electrical conduct with a 0.5mm2 tinned copper drain wire over the
binder tape.
IMPORTANT NOTICE. THESE CABLES ARE NOT FOR DIRECT CONNECTION TO THE PUBLIC MAINS
ELECTRICAL SUPPLY
Electrical Characteristics
Unit of
2 2 2 2
measure 0.5mm 0.5mm 1.00mm 1.5mm
Conductor Size ment 1/0.8mm 16/0.2mm 1/1.13mm 7/0.53mm
a. Cables with only collective
screen (excl. one pair and two pF/m 75 75 75 85
pair [quad])
b. One pair and two pair cables
with collective screened and
pF/m 115 115 115 115
all cables with individually
screened pairs
L/R ratio (max) mH/ohm 25 25 25 40
Combiline machine
Construction
Conductors Plain annealed copper conductors complying with BS6360
Pairing Two insulated conductors uniformly twisted together with a lay length not
exceeding 100 mm.
Pair identification
COLLECTIVELY
SCREENED CABLES
Colour coded in accordance with appendix 2 or by number of tapes
Cable Assembly Pairs are assembled in concentric layers using the reciprocating lay
technique.
Binder A non-hygroscopic binder tape is applied over the final layer of pairs.
Collective Screen An aluminum / polyester tape is applied with the metallic side down in
continuous contact with a 0.5mm2 tinned copper drain wire over the
binder tape.
Electrical Characteristics
2 2 2
Unit of 0.5 mm 1.00 mm 1.5 mm
Conductor Size
Measurement (16/0.2) (24/0.2) (7/0.53)
Mutual capacitance core to core (max) pF/m 250 250 250
L/R ratio (max) mH/ohm 25 25 40
o
Conductor Resistance Resistance at 20 C Ohms 39.7 26.5 12.3
Insulation resistance
Core –core/ Screen/Armour for 1 hr at 20ºC M.ohms 25 25 25
Screen to screen for 1 hr at 20ºC M.ohms 1 1 1
Rated voltage 300/500 volt test voltage 1000 volt for 1 min.
mm² mm mm
0.50 2 0.8 7.0
( 16/ 0.2)
3 0.8 7.3
4 0.8 7.9
6 0.9 9.3
10 1.1 11.9
20 1.2 14.9
40 1.3 20.1
80 1.5 26.3
0.75 2 0.8 7.3
(24/0.2)
3 0.8 7.7
4 0.8 8.3
6 0.9 9.9
10 1.1 12.7
20 1.2 16.0
40 1.3 21.7
80 1.5 28.5
1.5 2 0.8 8.3
(7/0.53)
3 0.9 8.9
4 0.9 9.7
6 1.1 11.7
10 1.2 14.7
20 1.3 18.7
40 1.5 24.6
80 1.7 33.6
mm² mm mm mm mm
0.50 2 0.8 0.9 1.3 11.4
( 16/ 0.2)
3 0.8 0.9 1.3 11.7
4 0.8 0.9 1.3 12.3
6 0.9 0.9 1.4 13.9
10 1.1 0.9 1.5 16.7
20 1.2 1.3 1.6 19.6
40 1.3 1.6 1.7 26.7
80 1.5 1.6 1.9 33.3
0.75 2 0.8 0.9 1.3 11.7
(24/0.2)
3 0.8 0.9 1.3 12.1
4 0.8 0.9 1.4 12.9
6 0.9 0.9 1.4 14.5
10 1.1 0.9 1.5 17.5
20 1.2 1.25 1.6 21.7
40 1.3 1.6 1.8 28.5
80 1.5 1.6 2.0 35.7
1.5 2 0.8 0.9 1.4 12.9
(7/0.53)
3 0.9 0.9 1.4 13.5
4 0.9 0.9 1.4 14.3
6 1.1 0.9 1.4 16.3
10 1.2 1.25 1.6 20.4
20 1.3 1.6 1.7 25.3
40 1.5 1.6 1.9 31.6
80 1.7 2.0 2.1 41.8
Insulation Materials
Two types of insulating materials are used in the manufacture of Instrumentation cables PVC or
polyethylene.
The choice of insulation material to be used for any application is dependant on:
• Conductor temperature
• Electrical characteristics required
• Flexibility
• Compatibility
These are the most common types of extruded material used in the manufacture of Instrumentation
cables.
Polyethylene
BS 6234 03 65 °C Telecommunications and data cables
Core/Pair Identification
Multipair Cables
The cores within a pair are identified by one of the following methods:
A. By printing a reference code on one insulated conductor, or both of them, that indicates the number
of that single pair.
Cable Assembly
Elements from the cable (cores or pairs) are assembled to form the cable. A non-hygroscopic binder tape
is usually applied over the final layer.
Electrical Screening
In addition to using twisted pairs to reduce crosstalk, the screening of the cables or an element of the
cable, is often required to protect signals from outside electromagnetic, electrostatic and radio frequency
interference. Further consideration could be the protection of electronic equipment in the locality from
emission from the cable itself, or the prevention of an antennae effect from the cable into electronic
equipment.
Armouring/Mechanical Protection
This type of armouring is very common in the Middle East. Steel wire armoured cables are suitable for
direct burial. One or more copper wires can be incorporated in the armour to increase the conductivity of
the armour where it is being used as an earth return.
Non-Metallic Sheaths
Inner Sheath/Bedding
An inner sheath or bedding is normally applied between the screened cable assembly and the metallic
sheath or armour. Materials commonly used by Oman Cables are PVC or Polyethylene compounds.
Where the inner sheath is primarily for mechanical purposes the materials may have no specific
requirements.
Outer Sheath
Most of the commonly used sheathing materials comply with International (IEC), or British Standards.
o Temperature
o Flexibility
o Electrical characteristics
o Smoke and acid gas emission limitations
o Resistance to chemicals
o Water resistance
o Exposure to UV
Max. operating
Specifications Designation temperature Application
PVC
BS 7655 Section 4.1 TM1 70ºC General Purpose
BS 7655 Section 4.1 TM2 70ºC General Purpose – flexible
BS 7655 Section 4.1 TM4 70ºC Low Temperature
Wire Drawing
Appendix 1
Colour Coding
As per BS 5308 Part 1
Two-pair unscreened cables are cabled in quad formation and colour coded in clockwise order of
rotation, Black, Blue, Green, Brown.
Colour Coding
As per BS5308 Part 2
Identification of pairs
Two-pair unscreened or collectively screened cables are quad formation and colour coded in clockwise
order of rotation, Blue, Green, Orange, Brown.
NOTE
Except in the case of bi-colour extrusion the colour indicated in block letters is known as the base colour & is
a) the extruded colour and
b) the colour with the greater area if exposure on the finished wire.