Methods of Evaluating Cable Heating for PoE Applications

Abstract: Evaluating the anticipated temperature rise of cables or bundles of cables in a Power over Ethernet (PoE) application is necessary for the cable designer and ultimately the end user. The cable designer will need to make decisions on the choice of raw material with confidence that the materials will not degrade over the life of the cable. The end user will need to be aware of the possible temperature rise so that installation conditions and cooling can be provisioned for accordingly. This presentation reviews two methods of characterizing the temperature rise so as to establish the accuracy of both methods. A strategy to reduce the number of measurements required to adequately characterize a type of cable is suggested as a beneficial outcome of this study.