For more than two decades, utilities around the world have turned to ACCC® Conductor to increase transmission capacity, reduce line losses, improve thermal performance, and accelerate grid modernization efforts without the enormous cost and complexity associated with building entirely new transmission corridors.
The performance advantages of advanced conductors are now widely understood throughout the transmission industry. Higher ampacity, reduced sag, improved efficiency, and greater capacity utilization have made high-performance conductors an increasingly important tool for utilities facing unprecedented grid demands.
Yet despite these advantages, some transmission engineers have continued to approach composite-core conductors with understandable caution.
One question has consistently surfaced during utility evaluations and project discussions:
“How can we confidently verify the integrity of the composite core during installation and throughout the life of the conductor?”
CTC Global developed the InfoCore® System specifically to answer that question.
Rather than relying on assumptions, visual inspections, or simplistic continuity testing methods, the ACCC InfoCore® System provides utilities and contractors with a highly accurate, field-proven solution for confirming composite core integrity during handling, installation, and even years after the conductor has been energized and placed into service.
In many ways, the InfoCore® System represents a major advancement in how utilities approach transmission asset verification. It replaces uncertainty with confirmation, and assumptions with documented evidence.
Why Composite Core Verification Matters
For decades, the transmission industry relied primarily on steel-core conductors such as ACSR and ACSS. Utilities became comfortable with traditional installation practices, visual inspection techniques, and the handling characteristics of steel-reinforced conductors.
Composite-core conductors introduced an entirely different category of engineered material.
The carbon and glass fiber composite core used in ACCC® Conductor delivers enormous advantages in strength-to-weight ratio, thermal expansion performance, and conductor efficiency. However, like any advanced engineered material, it also requires inspection and verification methods specifically designed for its unique characteristics.
Visual inspections alone cannot reliably identify internal core damage caused by excessive bending, improper handling, crush events, or installation-related stresses.
This has long been one of the lingering concerns among engineers unfamiliar with composite-core technology.
The reality is straightforward: utilities do not simply need confirmation that a conductor was installed. They need confidence that the conductor’s structural integrity has been maintained throughout the installation process.
The InfoCore® System was developed precisely for that purpose.
Beyond Simplistic Continuity Testing
Over the years, several simplified approaches have emerged attempting to address composite core verification.
One approach involves sending an electrical pulse through the carbon core to determine whether electrical continuity still exists.
While this technique may detect a completely severed core, it has important limitations.
Most significantly, electrical continuity alone cannot reliably determine whether the composite core has experienced substantial mechanical damage due to excessive bending or improper handling. A core may still conduct electricity while having sustained internal structural degradation that could compromise long-term performance.
From an engineering perspective, this distinction matters.
Utilities are not merely looking for proof that the core remains electrically connected. They need meaningful assurance that the conductor’s mechanical integrity remains intact.
The InfoCore® System was engineered to provide that higher level of confidence.
Unlike simplistic continuity-testing approaches, the InfoCore® System was developed over several years through extensive engineering validation, laboratory testing, and field deployment focused specifically on real-world transmission installation conditions.
The system was designed not as a reactive solution, but as a robust verification platform capable of supporting utility-grade installation assurance and long-term asset documentation.
Embedded Optical Fibers Enable Highly Accurate Verification
At the heart of the InfoCore® System is one of its most important differentiators: embedded optical fibers integrated directly within the composite core during manufacturing.
This distinction is significant.
Some alternative approaches attempt to place optical strands along the surface of the conductor core. However, surface-mounted optical elements may not accurately reflect the true structural condition of the internal composite material.
The InfoCore® System takes a fundamentally different and patented approach.
The optical fibers are strategically embedded within the ACCC® composite core itself during the manufacturing process. Because the fibers are fully integrated into the structural core, they experience the same mechanical stresses, bending events, and installation conditions as the core material.
This enables a far more accurate and representative verification methodology.
The embedded optical fibers serve as direct confirmation pathways inside the conductor core, allowing the system to evaluate whether the core has maintained integrity throughout handling and installation.
The system utilizes four embedded optical fibers, creating multiple independent optical paths within the conductor.
Light travels through these embedded fibers during the confirmation process.
The system uses a straightforward pass/inconclusive logic:
- Three intact optical paths indicate the conductor is approved.
- Fewer than three paths may indicate potential core damage and require further evaluation.
This approach enables rapid, non-destructive confirmation of conductor integrity in the field.
More importantly, it allows utilities to identify issues associated with crush damage, compression breaks, excessive bending, or improper handling before those issues become operational concerns.
Developed for Real-World Transmission Construction
One of the defining strengths of the InfoCore® System is that it was engineered specifically for actual utility construction environments.
Transmission line construction is rarely simple.
Conductors may be subjected to complex pulling operations, steep terrain transitions, multiple sheave configurations, long-span installations, varying tensions, weather exposure, and numerous contractor handling conditions.
The InfoCore® System was extensively tested to validate performance under these types of real-world scenarios.
CTC Global’s testing program included:
- Continuity testing under tensile and mechanical loading conditions
- Bending-induced failure detection
- Simulated installation and operational conditions
- Validation of damage detection accuracy
- False indication elimination
- Independent third-party verification
- Validation that embedded optical fibers do not alter the conductor’s mechanical, thermal, or chemical properties
The system was specifically engineered to detect meaningful structural concerns caused by excessive bending and installation stresses while avoiding false positives that could unnecessarily disrupt field operations.
This level of development and validation is particularly important for utilities deploying advanced conductors across critical transmission infrastructure.
Fast, Simple, and Field Practical
The InfoCore® System was designed to fit seamlessly into transmission construction workflows.
The confirmation kit includes transmitting and receiving devices, a control pad, and specialized cut-and-polish tools that allow trained personnel to perform verification testing quickly and efficiently in the field.
One of the major advantages of the system is speed.
Field confirmations can typically be completed within minutes, making the system highly practical for active construction environments where schedule pressure and operational efficiency are critical.
The InfoCore® System allows verification testing at multiple stages of the conductor lifecycle, including:
- After core manufacturing
- Upon arrival at the conductor manufacturing facility
- Prior to shipment
- Upon arrival at the project site
- After stringing operations
- After dead-ending and sagging
- And, with the latest iteration, years after the conductor was initially installed.
This staged verification approach creates a documented chain of integrity confirmation throughout the installation process.
Documentation and Traceability Are Becoming Increasingly Important
Utilities today operate in a far different environment than they did even a decade ago.
Transmission owners face growing pressure to improve reliability, reduce wildfire risks, support renewable integration, expand grid capacity, and document asset conditions with increasing precision.
As infrastructure becomes more critical and regulatory scrutiny increases, documentation and traceability are becoming just as important as physical performance.
The InfoCore® Cloud platform helps support this evolving operational reality.
The cloud-based platform allows utilities and project teams to:
- View confirmation data by project
- Access installation verification records
- Generate reports remotely
- Maintain long-term traceability
- Support asset management activities
- Store historical confirmation results
This creates a valuable digital record of conductor verification activities that can support engineering reviews, contractor accountability, maintenance planning, and long-term asset management.
In many ways, the system transforms conductor integrity confirmation from a temporary installation activity into a documented lifecycle asset management capability.
Verification Beyond Installation
Perhaps one of the most important advancements in newer versions of the InfoCore® System is the ability to re-check conductor integrity years after installation.
This significantly expands the long-term value of the technology.
Utilities are no longer limited to commissioning-stage verification.
Operators may now confirm conductor integrity following:
- Severe weather events
- Suspected mechanical incidents
- Maintenance activities
- Emergency restoration efforts
- Wildfire-related inspections
- Prior to system uprating projects
- Long-term asset condition assessments
This represents a major shift in how advanced conductors can be managed throughout their operational life.
Rather than relying solely on historical installation records, utilities gain the ability to reassess conductor integrity long after the original project has been completed.
That capability provides a powerful additional layer of engineering confidence.
Proven Worldwide
The InfoCore® System is not an experimental concept.
It is a widely deployed and field-proven solution used across transmission projects worldwide.
To date, the system has been deployed on more than 150 projects spanning over 20,000 kilometers in 30 countries.
One notable deployment involved Elia’s major upgrade of the Massenhoven–Meerhout–Van Eyck 380 kV transmission line in Belgium.
The ACCC InfoCore® System was used to confirm conductor core integrity across the entire 92-kilometer transmission corridor connecting Belgium and the Netherlands.
According to Jean Francois Goffinet, Senior Expert at Elia:
“We have tested InfoCore many times over the last two years, and we are seeing real-world results that indicate this solution is quick and reliable.”
The ability to complete confirmations in only a few minutes proved especially valuable within the fast-moving construction environment associated with a major high-voltage transmission upgrade.
Building Confidence in Advanced Conductors
The transmission industry is entering a period of unprecedented infrastructure demand.
Utilities around the world are under enormous pressure to increase transmission capacity quickly and cost-effectively to support electrification, renewable integration, industrial expansion, AI-driven data center growth, and rising electricity demand.
Advanced conductors such as ACCC® Conductor are increasingly recognized as one of the fastest and most economical ways to expand transmission capacity without requiring entirely new rights-of-way.
Yet large-scale infrastructure adoption depends not only on performance, but also on confidence.
The InfoCore® System directly addresses one of the final psychological and operational barriers some engineers may still have regarding composite-core conductors.
It helps replace uncertainty with verification.
It helps replace assumptions with documented evidence.
And perhaps most importantly, it gives utilities a practical, technically credible, and field-proven way to confirm that conductor integrity has been maintained – not only during installation, but throughout the operational life of the asset.
As utilities continue modernizing the grid and deploying higher-performance transmission technologies, systems that improve verification, traceability, and long-term engineering confidence will become increasingly important.
The InfoCore® System was developed precisely with that objective in mind.
