Conducrete: a high performance conductive concrete / cement.

Conducrete

The effectiveness of earthing / grounding systems is usually a critical performance value on light rail applications, which can consequently result in strict pass / fail criteria which will ultimately determine the success of a project. With such considerable importance placed upon earthing / grounding systems project engineers need to be confident that their provision will perform throughout the lifetime of the system. Traditional earthing / grounding methods tend to involve the usage of copperbonded (which means a steel cored, electrolytically bonded with copper) earth rods, cable and other items. There are a number of potential issues facing the use of these products, such as potentially corrosive ground, problems with deep level driving of earth rods or earthing measures, and interfacing issues.

Fortunately there are other options. Conducrete is an electrically conductive concrete which can substantially improve the performance of an earthing system and it has been used to safeguard performance on a number of tram applications. The product can be used to encase conductive items, such as copper plates, lattice mats, bare cable, earth rods, which will protect the encased item from corrosive ground conditions. However, the process of encasing earthing system elements in Conducrete provides another, more important, contribution. As Conducrete is a conductive concrete it essentially increases the size of whatever conductor it encases to the size of the space occupied by the Conducrete. For example if one were to install a 16mm diameter 3m long earth rod in the ground that would be the size of the conductor (it would also be an easy target for thieves); however if we were to put a 16mm diameter 3m long earth rod in a 200mm diameter 3m deep borehole, then the size of the conductor would increase to those parameters. To achieve a similar size of conductor with metallic components would be prohibitively expensive irrespective of any kind of budget, so when this can be created using a relatively inexpensive material it makes sense to pursue this product solution.

• Rail systems are impacted upon frequently by thieves who seek to steal cable, or conductors for their scrap value. As rail systems, by their very nature, include large expanses of track thieves may exploit this by attacking remote or largely unmanned areas. Operational downtime caused by theft or sabotage is an incredibly costly problem faced by rail operators in elements, such as earthing systems, where this can be protected against by specifying and installing Conducrete it is clear that installation teams should seek to avail themselves of the product.
• The attributes of Conducrete make it ideal for rail applications. As it does not have intrinsic value as a product after usage it will not fall victim to thieves. Also as Conducrete is a conductive concrete it can encase any valuable metallic conductors, which are so common on rail projects, thus protecting those components from thieves. Even when Conducrete is being used as a theft deterrent it will continue to provide a superior level of earthing performance.
• Possessing low impedence and high capacitance results in Conducrete having superior conductivity and when this is matched with its theft resistance Conducrete swiftly becomes the ideal product for earthing systems on rail projects.




Electrical safety products for railways


Heat Shrink
One of the defining characteristics of professionally manufactured cable bonds of any sort is the presence of heat shrink at joins and connections.

SPD
Surge Protection Devices are used to protect equipment from the threats of fault current, which helps keep the valuable item working and railway lines running.