ACSR: Typical Uni-Grip deadend assembly as shipped. Each complete assembly includes a pre-filled aluminum body with pre-compressed eye or clevis, a steel core gripping unit and a pre-filled 15° jumper terminal with mounting hardware. The deadend tongue (terminal pad) is angled at 15°, which permits either a 30° or straight jumper take-off. Each fitting is marked with catalog number, conductor size and installation die size.

Economic reality dictates that “most favorable conditions” include lowest installed cost. Engineers seeking to optimize transmission line designs have two good choices when it comes to compression fittings to deadend or splice conductor.

ACSR Conductor
The optimum full-tension compression fitting choice for the industry-standard ACSR conductor is the FARGO UNI-GRIP® deadends. UNI-GRIP deadends arrive on the job partially assembled with the steel deadend factory-crimped into the aluminum body. Both deadend and splice fittings are furnished pre-filled with corrosion inhibitor and require only one compression die setup for installation. Both deadend and splice bodies are made from a relatively hard aluminum alloy to allow full-tension strength rating to be developed in a time-saving, single-die field crimp.

ACSS Conductor
ACSS (a.k.a. SSAC) conductor is similar in construction to ACSR. The difference is in the temper (heat treat) of the aluminum wire strands. The aluminum strands in ACSR are fully work-hardened temper, whereas those in ACSS are fully annealed (softer) temper. These softer aluminum strands provide minimal tensile strength, but can be operated continuously at 200° C, giving the ACSS conductor double the ampacity of an equivalent (same kcmil) ACSR conductor.

The optimum full-tension compression choice for ACSS conductor is the FARGO conventional (two-die) compression line. Made from a relatively soft-temper alloy, the conventional aluminum deadend and splice bodies are compatible with ACSS. Both the deadend and splice bodies are extra-length to dissipate the heat from the conductor, when it is operated at its 200° C continuous limit; and to allow for the extra crimps needed to hold the softer aluminum strands.

ACSS: Typical conventional deadend assembly components for use on ACSS conductor. Each deadend assembly consists of an aluminum body, a steel eye or clevis deadend, and a 15° jumper terminal with mounting hardware. The aluminum deadend terminal pad is angled at 15°, as is the pad on the jumper terminal. This permits either a 30° or straight jumper loop take-off, depending on how the fittings are bolted together. Each fitting is marked with catalog number, conductor size and installation die size.

The physical differences described are summarized in the table below.

Transmission Compression Fitting Comparison
ACSR & ACSS (SSAC) Conductors

Conclusion
Optimize your ACSR conductor compression connections by specifying the single-die, FARGO UNI-GRIP deadends and splices.

Optimize the heat/strength balance of ACSS conductor applications with our two-die, high-temperature line of conventional fittings.

For more information, contact your Hubbell Power Systems representative, fax 573-682-8714 or email hpsliterature@hps.hubbell.com