Power cord 15amp and 20amp

The 15 amp cord will have a NEMA 5-15P plug on one end and a IEC 15 amp receptacle on the other end.
The nema 5-15P plug will plug into a 15 or 20 receptacle. The 15 amp IEC receptacle will only plug into a 15 amp IEC plug on a piece of equipment. The wire in the cord usually is 14 awg.

The 20 amp cord will have a NEMA 5-20P plug on one end and a 20 amp IEC receptacle on the other end. The awg wire size will be #12.
The NEMA 5-20P plug will only plug into a 20 amp receptacle (5-20R).
(The Neutral blade is at a right angle to the Hot blade of the plug)
The IEC connector on the other end will be a 20 amp receptacle and will only plug into a 20 amp IEC plug on the equipment.

Below is a link for picture purposes only. Check out picture numbers 4, 5, and 6
http://www.jenatek.com/pages/powercords.html

>>"Quite often, cords are described as "20 amp" cords even though they have 15 amp hardware (plugs). This is because the wire conductors themselves are 20 amp capacity. The only reason I can think that cords are sometimes described this way is to indicate that they are capable of powering high loads (like big amplifiers.)"<<
[Nsgarch]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Neil, although a manufacture might say his cord is rated at 20 amp because it uses #12 awg wire, the Nema 5-15P plug and the 15 amp IEC receptacle, UL dictates the rating shall be 15 amp. Because of the connectors the max continuous load would be 12 amps. A power cord with 20 amp connectors max continuous connected load of 16 amps.
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>>> "It's all about energy transfer."<<< --
[Jim Aud, Purist Audio Design]

That says it all, even though a power cord may be rated at 15 amp with #12, or larger, awg wire it is capable of handling quick fluctuating peaks of current with out any sag in voltage.
Jim

Neil, if the PC also has an equipment grounding conductor does UL still require the shield to be grounded on both ends? It would fly in the face of the way a shield works would it not. I was always taught to ground the shield at one end only and that being the end closest to the direction of earth ground, in this case the NEMA male plug.

If on the other hand a manufacture did not also include a separate equipment grounding conductor in the cord and only relied on the shield for the equipment grounding conductor then I could see where the manufacture would have to connect the shield also at the IEC connector end of the PC.

The manufacture of equipment can control whether they want to use the equipment grounding conductor of a power cord.
My Arcam Alpha 9 CDP has an IEC male connector and the connector does not have the equipment ground blade. The CDP does have a metal case, a Farady cage. They must build it insulated such that there is no chance of the case coming into contact with any power conductors.