METHOD OF JOINTING AND TERMINATING ELECTRIC CABLES

摘要

Electric cables having at least one conductor in the form of a strand through the interstices of which liquid impregnant for the cable dielectric can pass are jointed or terminated by forming a heat sink surrounding the end of the stranded conductor and bonding the stranded conductor to a terminal or to another conductor by the application in the molten state of an adherent body of metal to substantially the whole of the cut end face of the stranded conductor or between the cut end face of the stranded conductor and the end of the terminal or of the other conductor. During bonding, liquid impregnant is removed from the interstices between the wires of the stranded conductor in the region of a cut end thereof by applying vacuum to the stranded conductor. The bonding process is preferably a welding process, suitably MIG welding, comprising a first stage in which the end of the stranded conductor is sealed by a layer of weld metal and a second stage in which the connection is completed.