Recap 2016: Aluminium is booming in the electrical sector

Aluminium has been used as a conductor material in electrical applications since long. Yet, its use never really took off on a commercial scale until 1960s and 1970s when sudden price rise of copper forced people to replace it with aluminium on an experimental basis.

Today, aluminium and aluminium alloys are used in a large number of electrical applications. It has replaced copper in high-voltage transmission, and stands as the most economical way of transmitting electric power all over the world. Let’s recapitulate some of the top aluminium news from the electrical end use sector in our recap 2016 write up.


The major areas of application include electrolytic capacitors, heating elements, and heat sinks in industrial segment, and electric light bulbs, television antennae, and satellite dishes in the domestic segment.

Lighter and Economical aluminium conductors

Aluminium for electrical conductors has been introduced after the growth of the rolling of aluminium rod.  Aluminium scores over copper for being almost three times lighter. Plus, the metal is highly ductile, non-magnetic, and cheaper. Aluminium alloys too have fairly high structural strength and acceptable levels of conductivity.


1. Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc., a global leader in the design and manufacture of semiconductor, LED and electronic assembly equipment, announced the introduction of a comprehensive solution dedicated for Fine Aluminum (Wedge-to-Wedge) Wire Bonding in the month of March.

2. POWER Engineers Inc. has helped American Electric Power successfully complete the longest replacement of energized conductor (with aluminium composite core) in the United States and bring more reliable power to the residents of South Texas. Now that landmark project has earned AEP the electric power industry’s most prestigious honor, the Edison Award.

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3. Statnett, Norway’s state owned power system operator, has energised 68 km of Nexans’ green coloured aluminium conductors on its new overhead transmission line connecting central Norway to western Norway. Nexans’ coloured conductors have been used on 8.5 km of the line that run through a protected nature reserve, allowing the cables to blend in with the environment.

4. Jiangsu Longzhe Technology and Trade Development Co Ltd have offered to invest $125 million (about INR 825 crore) in Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd, the Indian electrical-equipment maker said. The investment will be subject to the approval of a debt restructuring process by lenders to the company, Diamond Power said in a stock-exchange filing.

Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitors
 
A recently published study by WISE GUY Reports has forecasted the global HVDC capacitor market to grow at 15.19% CAGR and reach $4.36 billion by 2020. The report says that the rising demand for electricity has put the current power generation infrastructure under pressure. Besides, demand and supply imbalance has caused enormous transmission losses in the existing AC transmission.


1. Vishay has announced the launch of five new series of aluminium capacitors, delivering increased vibration capabilities over standard devices which would provide high stability and reliability in automotive and industrial applications.

2. Panasonic Automotive & Industrial Systems Europe has released two new ranges of aluminium electrolytic capacitors to meet recent market demands for higher ripple current handling.
 
3. Leading electronic components distributor Rutronik has introduced high endurance aluminium electrolytic capacitors from Panasonic’s all new V-FT series to the market. The aluminium capacitors come with very high capacitance and strikingly low ESR values.

4. Panasonic has developed ‘Conductive Polymer Hybrid Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitors’, said to feature large capacitance and large current in compact size, suited for automotive ECUs, power supply circuits of HEV, EV and gasoline-powered vehicles.

Aluminium wiring and its resistance to corrosion

Aluminium has been slowly substituting copper as a material of choice for wiring over the last two decades primarily because it offers twice the conductivity per weight at almost half the cost.
 
1. Nasdaq listed Encore Wire Corporation announced the earnings results for Second Quarter and Fiscal Year 2016. The company reported revenue of $238.83 million. Analysts estimated revenue of $241.88 million.

2. National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) researchers’ latest invention, of aluminium bonding wires used in semiconductor packaging, is poised to revolutionize the industry by providing a cheaper alternative to gold, silver and copper, materials science professors Hung Fei-yi and Lui Truan-sheng said.


3. NanoAl is developing castable, heat-treatable alloys for high-performance wire and cable in collaboration with General Cable Corp. These alloys have up to three times the fatigue performance, 10,000 times better creep resistance, and twice the use temperature (425C) compared to traditional aluminium wires. These NanoAl's T Series aluminium alloys are redesigned at the nanoscale and microscale with reinforcements and precipitates.

Other applications of aluminium in electrical

1. Larson Electronics, a leading industrial lighting company has announced the release of a ten outlet explosion proof portable spider box that allows operators to safely operate up to 4,000 watts of lighting and electrical equipment within Class 1 Division 1 zones.

2. Electricfor launches new range of aluminium radiators with an electric heating element.  The radiators have aluminium emitters injected with thermal heat transfer oil and enough aluminium elements so that the surface temperature is appropriate. The heat emission is achieved due to the inclusion of an electric heating element with a stainless steel tube.

3. Rayming Technology started to use aluminium as base material for manufacturing LED PCB.Aluminium base LED PCB, also referred as MCPCB, has more efficient thermal transfer capability compared to rigid PCB, hence considered an ideal material for LED manufacturing.

The global busbar market is estimated to be worth US$16.55 billion growing at a 5+% CAGR between 2016 and 2021, reveals data published in a recent market report. Driven by tremendous growth in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa regions, the demand for aluminium will increase significantly during the forecast period.
 
Electrical sector is the largest consumer of aluminium semis in India. With developing nations announcing plans to overhaul their infrastructure new impetus for growth can be expected for this segment. The demand for aluminium wire rods and extrusions will also rise riding the infrastructure boom in the next one decade. Indian electrical sector is expected to drive huge demand for aluminium wires and cables with rapid urbanization and coming up of projects like smart cities.

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