Installation and Termination Method of 132 kV Cables and Fiber Optic Cables

The purpose of this document is to specify the procedure for the various activities in the installation of 132 kV cables and fiber optic Cables. The instructions of operation and maintenance manual must be observed for whole of the process for the cable laying installation and termination.

Roles & Responsibilities

Project Manager: Lead all construction activities and enforce strict adherence to all procedures.

Site Manager: Lead the construction activities at site and report to the Project Manager.

Field Engineer: Ensure that all related works are carried out in accordance with the approved drawing and project specification. Report to the site manager.

QA/QC Engineer: Responsible for the necessary quality control implementation by following the customer specification.

Supervisor: Supervise field installations and report to the field engineer.

HSE Officer: Ensure that all the site activities are carried out in accordance with the project health and safety plan.

Necessary Tools and Equipment’s

• Lifting crane
• Lifting tackles
• Cable jack
• Cable Trailer
• Cable winch machine with cable socks
• Cable pusher – which can push the cable where high tension appears in the bend areas
• Cable ladder
• Flags
• Cable Rollers
• Cable roller guide
• Cable pulling grips
• Nylon rope
• Wireless sets
• Cable jack / shaft
• Fork Lift
• Knock- out Punch( for cable entry holes)
• Hydraulic cable cutter
• Heat Blower
• Cleaning agent (CRP)
• Hydraulic crimping tool
• Hand crimping tool
• Cable ties
• Nylon ropes
• Blunt shovels
• Scaffoldings
• Standard electrical tools and accessories for electricians
• Personnel Protective Equipment’s.

Safety and Risk Management

The contractor will be responsible for all necessary safety measures at all times. All related works will be executed in accordance with the project health and safety plan.

The detailed Risk Assessment plans for the transportation, storage, drum handling and installation of 132 kV power cables and FOC is provided.

Safety induction will be conducted at site before the start of the job activities to make all the personnel associated be aware about the necessary safety precautions.

Following risk management is performed in general on the project:

The tools used are suitable and safe to use.

Supervisor shall be present at work site throughout the execution of the work.

Scaffoldings are used in the trenches, transformer side and cable cellars for laying and termination of cables.

Scaffolding when used is confirmed “Tagged for use” by authorized person.

Safety harnesses are being used by personnel working on high-elevated platform.

Precautionary warning signs for this type of work place are visibly kept in place.

Supervisor or Foreman in charge shall ensure the proper equipment for lifting are available with valid test certificates.

Equipment such as the overhead crane and forklift shall be used with a rate capacity suitable to weight of the load to be lifted.

Supervisor or Foreman in charge shall ensure the proper equipment for lifting is available with valid test certificates.

All personnel handling the heavy equipment’s and associated accessories shall be provided with proper type of gloves.

The safety officer shall report any untoward incident and stop any unsafe activity.

The safety officer shall inform the site engineer and the project manager of any violation against HSE manual and report to the HSE manager.

Safety Working Procedures which shall be followed during the cable laying include:

• Cable pulling machines (Winch Machine) cable trailer shall be placed in the correct position which is straight to the trench and properly locked to be intact without movement.
• Check the trench which is safe to access for pulling the sling from the winch machine to the cable trailer.
• Cable socks shall be tied properly with the cable end.
• A signal man shall give signal to the winch operator and the workmen near the drum for giving signal by Red and Green color flags .This is provided to indicate if any problem is found in the trench especially in the bend and duct area.
• Sand bed for 15 cm shall be done before cable laying and any stones or hard substances which can damage the cable will be removed immediately.
• All personnel shall be in proper PPE’s
• Close supervision shall be arranged during the entire activity period.

Installation of 132 KV Cables and Fiber Optic Cables

Before the start of the installation activities, all the approved installation drawings with IFC status shall be available at site for the verification of actual routes and dimensions. The entire work done shall comply with the approved installation drawings.

The contractor shall inspect the site location prior to start of the work.

The contractor shall obey all relevant rules as applied by the Traffic department with reference to the traffic sign, diversions etc. during the performance of the work.

Special care shall be taken to avoid disturbances in the operational areas.

All required tools and Equipment must be available.

Manufacturer’s instructions for safety, transportation and cable laying & installation must be followed. The temporary warning placard shall be displayed at the entrances to ward off unauthorized personnel from entering the work area to avoid any untoward incident.

Tool box talk for daily activity must be arranged.

Power Cable Laying Method

Manufacturer’s instructions for installation have to be followed up.

Loading of cable drum has to be done by using suitable crane. There after it is transported by means of cable trailer/jack. The access up to the trench should be checked before transportation.

Location of cable drum should be planned before transportation of cable drum. (Practically could differ at one or two places for easy installation of cable).

The cable drums shall be inspected for mechanical or physical damages and check the cables to be used at site prior to the start of the installation process. Any sort of damage shall be noted in the damage report.

The whole trench /pit/ cable trough shall be inspected before the cable pulling work begins. CBS / FBS or sand bedding of special thermal backfill for the cables shall be filled in smoothly and any objects as stones /gravels which have fallen from the ground to the surface of the bedding layers shall be removed.

The ducts for the roads crossing shall be checked before the cable pulling works starts to make sure that they are thoroughly cleaned and shall ensure it is free from debris and foreign bodies.

Soil thermal resistivity test shall be conducted and report will be forwarded to the client /consultant for their review.

Trough shall be filled with dual sand before and after cable laying. Concrete block shall be placed over the trough before backfilling the trench.

The pulling winch machine shall be set firmly and its variable pulling speed is set in the range of zero (0) to ten (10) meters per minute. Pulling winch machine should be equipped with a tension gauge so it is possible to control the cable pulling tension.

The winch machine shall be fitted with over load cut – out chart recorders. Chart records will be used to record the pulling tension and the drum of cable pulling wire should be appropriately positioned in order to roll up the rope easily.

Cable rollers shall be positioned properly in to the cable trench. The intervals for the rollers are to be kept approximately two meters.

The rollers shall be maintaining its smooth rotation. If the cable will run through the curves and edges the, curve rollers should be used at the proper position in order to keeps a safe cable bending. Usage of bell mouths will guide rollers and shall be installed at duct in the road crossing or other service crossings. Key rollers shall be secured and tightened by using braces supported to the trench walls.

Communication tools / equipment’s shall be arranged after the facilities and the equipment’s were properly set. The major communication tools will be the wireless radio and shall be located on the drum side, leading end of the cable and the winch side. They are utilized to control the cable pulling speed and other required communication.

Approved drawing or a sketch of the each pulling section which is showing clearly the position of winch, cable drum, calculated pulling forces and side wall pressure at each stage.

The required cable pulling speed and tension requirement shall be maintained according to the manufacturer’s specification. If any problem arises during the pulling, the proceedings shall be stopped immediately and restarted only after the problem has been cleared.

The pulling speed shall be controlled during the cable pulling and it will be assured by observing the indication of the tension meter.

Surplus materials are to be organized by suitable methods and transposition of the phases shall be arranged as\s per the specifications. Colored tapes (red, yellow and blue) shall be wrapped around the cables for the phase identification at both ends of the cables.

Cables shall be arranged in the joint bay and protect it by covering with sand bags/ plywood. If required, cables will be cut and the ends will be protected using heat shrinkable caps to prevent ingress of moisture. Keep the cable ends pointing upwards as an additional safety precaution against the ingress of moisture in case of heavy rain or flooding.

After the cable laying the trench shall be filled by stabilized materials with self compaction by watering. While passing the cables through the ducts or pipes or NDRC, bentonite filling shall be adopted.

The necessary sheath testing shall be conducted by the approved / competent testing engineers.

The high voltage indication or necessary warning tapes shall be fixed along the cable route and required compaction procedures shall be followed as per the manufacturer’s recommendations (see attachment-1). The route markers shall be fixed on regular intervals or as required.

The final survey shall be conducted for the additional details and information needed to prepare the as built drawings.

Cable pulling shall be done under strict supervision during the entire period of operation. Safety norms shall be observed and shall stick to the standard requirements of the client and contractor.

Method for Laying of Fiber Optic cables

Manufacturer’s instructions for installation have to be followed up.

Loading of cable drum has to be done by using suitable crane. There after it is transported by means of cable trailer/jack. The access up to the trench should be checked before transportation.

Location of cable drum should be planned before transportation of cable drum. (Practically could differ at one or two places for easy installation of cable).

The cable drums shall be inspected for mechanical or physical damages and check the cables to be used at site prior to the start of the installation process. Any sort of damage shall be noted in the damage report.

The whole trench /pit/ shall be inspected before the laying of 4” uPVC pipes.

Nylon ropes shall be pulled inside the uPVC pipes using duct cycle.

The pipes shall be checked for straightness before filling the dune sand.

Fiber Optic cable drum shall be kept at the middle of the span (i.e. equidistant from both the terminals) and cables shall be pulled towards one end manually inside the uPVC pipes using the Nylon ropes.

The backfilled trenches are excavated at intervals of every 300m and also at each bend to act as Fiber Optic cable pulling draw pits.

Once the cable reaches the terminal end, the remaining cable in the drum shall be looped and coiled in the form of “8”

After looping the remaining cables in the drum, pulling of the optical fiber cable inside the uPVC ducts, as before shall be carried out towards the other terminal end.

After pulling of all the Fiber Optic cables, the draw pits are backfilled according to the backfilling procedure

The final survey shall be conducted for the additional details and information needed to prepare the as built drawings.

Cable pulling shall be done under strict supervision during the entire period of operation. Safety norms shall be observed and shall stick to the standard requirements of client.

Cable Termination Procedure

Al the necessary materials like the joint kits, long barrel ferrule etc. for the jointing shall be used as per the approved specifications.

The cable termination shall be undertaken only by competent cable jointer from the factory of the manufacturer, approved by the client.

Cable termination will be carried out as per the recommendation by the cable manufacturers.

Unless and other wise permitted the cable terminations shall be carried out only in the presence of the Client/ Consultant representative and a fire warden with extinguisher from the contractor side shall be available throughout the cable termination works.

Auxiliary erection structures like tarpaulin tents, free standing structure and LPG cylinder shall be provided. Precautionary measures shall be taken in wet conditions to prevent moisture from getting into the cables during the work.

Each cable termination work shall be started and finished on the same day. Phase identification shall be ensured before the commencement of the termination work.

The cables shall be tested for moisture, phasing and insulation resistance measurements before the commencement of the cable termination.

Deployment of manpower will be as per site requirements practically it can vary. Work will be accomplished keeping in view all the project safety requirements.