The temperature characteristics and current conducting ability of horizontally curved conductors

According to experimental results, the temperature on a horizontally curved conductor proved to be higher than that on a straight conductor. The temperature deviation increased with the current ratio I/I/sub cr/ increasing or the curved angle /spl alpha/ and curved radius R/sub 0/ decreasing, where I/sub cr/ is the critical melting current. In a previous paper, the critical melting current I/sub cr/ of horizontal, straight copper conductors in the air can be expressed by the following equation: I/sub cr/ = 2.21 /spl times/ 10/sup 3/ D/sup 1.505/ (A) (1) (70 A /spl les/ I/sub cr/ /spl les/ 2500 A, 0.1 cm /spl les/ D /spl les/ 1 cm, D-diameter). Therefore, if the maximum surface temperature is settled for conductors of the same diameter and manufactured of the same material, the current conducted by a curved conductor was smaller than that conducted by a straight one. When the curved angle /spl alpha/ was /spl ang/45/spl deg/ and current ratio I/I/sub cr/ was 38.5%, the current decrease deviation was approximately 10%.