UNDERWATER ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR

摘要

In electrical connectors for use in a hostile environment it is usually important to exclude the ambient fluid from the region of the conductors and terminals where these are exposed within the connector. This exclusion is difficult to achieve satisfactorily in connectors which are to be submerged in water because the hydrostatic pressure urges water into the connector by way of leakage paths that inevitably exist between the mating parts of the connector and at glands where the insulated conductors enter each part of the connector. A connector for joining electrical conductors is disclosed, comprising separable mating first and second body parts respectively having co-operative plug and socket terminals, the body parts when united together defining a closed cavity housing the terminals and a container for pressurised insulant, and means effective to release the pressurised insulant from said container into said cavity after mating of the body parts and closure of the cavity. The insulant may be a fluid such as air or oil, or it may be a semi-solid or pasty material such as a plastic mastic. Conveniently, the container is a capsule housed in a recess in one body part of the connector and the means to release the pressurised insulant can be a pointed cutter affixed to the other body part of the connector so as to pierce the capsule when the two body parts of the connector are mated.