Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Making electrical conductors of indefinite length
Patent
1995-10-05
1998-04-07
Ball, Michael W.
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Making electrical conductors of indefinite length
156229, 156230, 156294, 29859, 29450, H02G 1518
Patent
active
057359814
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to the covering of substrates, and particularly though not exclusively to the covering of elongate substrates such as the termination or joint region of an electrical power or communications cable for example. The invention is however applicable to the covering of any, preferably elongate, substrate, including pipes and rods.
Heat-recoverable articles, such as tubings, are well-known for such applications, but in some instances it may not be desirable or possible safely to apply heat to effect recovery of the article into conformity with an underlying substrate--for example in the presence of explosive gases such as can be found in mines. EP-A-0 210 807, EP-A-0 281 353 and WO/92 02754 disclose articles that can be used to enclose the joint or termination of power cables for example, in which a dual-walled tubular sleeve that has a lubricant retained between its walls, is revolved along the cable into the desired position. The polymeric material of which the sleeve is formed can be arranged to have desired insulating, conductive or stress grading properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,570 discloses a tubular member that is closed at one end so as to form a cap for sealing a free end of a cable. The closed end is urged against the cable end, and the remainder of the tubular member is pushed over the closed end and along the extremity adjacent the cable free end. WO 86/01047 discloses a hollow sleeve that is open at each end. One end of the sleeve is inverted back into itself and abutted against the free end of a cable, and the remainder of the length of the sleeve is progressively inverted on to the adjacent portion of the cable end. With each of these arrangements, however, significant fictional forces have to be overcome in order to dispose the sleeve on the cable, such forces being larger the greater the expansion of the sleeve that is needed for it to fit on to the cable and the longer the length of the sleeve. For this reason the range-taking ability is limited, and often several sleeves of different relaxed diameters are needed in order to be able to cover a range of cable diameters. A lubricant such as a grease may be applied to the substrate prior to application of the elastic tube, but this can be messy, attract unwanted contaminants, and, especially in electrical environments, be otherwise undesirable.
Some of the above-mentioned disadvantages are overcome using the concept of a pre-installed tube to hold out the covering sleeve until it is positioned over the substrate, the hold out tube then being removed or the sleeve otherwise released therefrom in order finally to position the sleeve on the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,940, for example, discloses an arrangement in which a multi-layer sleeve is mounted on a tubular support in a radially stretched condition. After positioning over a cable joint region the sleeve is axially slid off the support, which then has to be removed. GB-B-2 099 638 shows an arrangement in which an elastic sleeve is rolled up at each end on to a relatively short tubular carrier that has a line of weakness circumferentially therearound at its middle. After positioning around the joint region the carrier is broken into two portions and successively removed, the sleeve ends then being unrolled into conformity with the cable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,480 discloses an applicator for an elastic cover in which an elastic sleeve is folded back on itself with a lubricant between the overlapping portions thereof, and held in a radially-stretched configuration on a support. After positioning as required over the substrate, the overlapping portion of the sleeve is slid over the underlying portion on to the substrate, with the support ultimately being removed. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,746, a stretched elastomeric sleeve is held in a radially-expanded condition by being bonded to the inside of a tubular member. When in position, the bond is weakened by the application of a solvent thereto, and the hold out tube is subsequently broken to enable it to be removed.
The tub
REFERENCES:
patent: 3946480 (1976-03-01), Dienes
patent: 3992570 (1976-11-01), Beinhaur
patent: 4367105 (1983-01-01), Rosier
patent: 4431861 (1984-02-01), Clabburn et al.
patent: 4651505 (1987-03-01), Gropper
patent: 5171940 (1992-12-01), Vallauri
patent: 5495650 (1996-03-01), Crepel et al.
Search Report.
Ions David
Winfield Philip Roland
Ball Michael W.
Burkard Herbert G.
Chao Yuan
Novack Sheri M.
Raychem Limited
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