Patent Application
20180322987
The present disclosure relates generally to bulk wire cable and insulation, as well as a method of manufacturing the same.
Bulk wire cable is conventionally covered in insulation for protection and performance considerations. Care must be taken to assure that the bulk wire in the cable does not become bent into too tight of a bend radius. Bending the bulk wire too much can crush the dielectric insulation or harm the wiring. Crushed or otherwise deformed dielectric insulation can result in reduced electrical performance, shorts between conductors, overstress on the wire termination, and cable failure. Compounding this problem, some of this damage can be difficult to detect and identify.
According to a particular embodiment, a method includes coating a conductive length with insulating material and forming a plurality of grooves in the insulating material. The grooves may be formed in a single step as the coated conductive wire is extruded.
The method may include forming a plurality of helical grooves. A forming mechanism may be rotated around an outer diameter of the insulating material. A gear may be used to rotate the forming mechanism around the insulating material. The conductive length may be a single wire. The conductive length of another embodiment may include a bundle of wires. The insulating material may include a dielectric material. The method may include determining a desired bend radius. The determination may be based on an outside diameter of the insulating material. A motor may be used to rotate a forming mechanism used to form the plurality of grooves. A ball bearing may be used to support a rotation of a forming mechanism used to form the plurality of grooves. The conductive length may be automatically advanced through a forming mechanism configured to form the plurality of grooves.
According to another particular embodiment, an apparatus may include an extrusion mechanism to apply an insulating jacket to a conductive length. A groove forming mechanism may be used to form a plurality of grooves on a surface of the insulating jacket.
The apparatus may include a groove forming mechanism. The groove forming mechanism may be configured to rotate around an outer diameter of the insulating jacket. The plurality of grooves may be helical. The apparatus may include a plurality of gears.
According to another particular embodiment, an apparatus includes a conductive length and an insulating jacket covering at least a portion of the conductive length. The insulating jacket may include a plurality of helical grooves formed on a surface of the insulating jacket.
The plurality of helical grooves may restrict a bend radius of the conductive length. A number of the plurality of helical grooves may be determined as a product of an outer diameter of the insulating material.
One advantage of the present disclosure is a limiting of the bend radius of a bulk wire by the helical striations. The helical striations, or grooves, may be formed throughout the length of a cable during a single step of the extrusion process. The grooves may not take up additional room or necessitate special tools or other equipment to install the cable. The helical striations may reduce instances when the operator may accidentally bend the cable during installation.
An embodiment of a system and method controls the bend radius of a bulk wire by extruding a bulk wire jacket with helical striations. The helical striations may limit bending. The system may control the cable bend radius over the entire length of the cable (e.g., not just a portion of the cable). The helical striations may also not take up additional room in the side of the rack. Furthermore, an operator may not need special tools or other equipment to install the cable, and the helical striations may reduce instances when the operator accidentally bends the cable during installation.
The striations may be customized to an individual cable and according to desired bend radius specifications. The bend limiting feature may be accomplished during a cable jacketing process as a single step. Performing the jacketing process as a single step (i.e., scoring as part of the extrusion process) may result in a lower cost process and smaller cable bulk wire outside diameter. The system may use tooling configured to perform the jacketing in a single step. An embodiment of a system jackets a bare cable.
An example of a wire 110 may include an individual conductor (e.g. a bare copper wire), bundled cable, fiber optic cable, and coaxial cable, among other conductors. The wire 110 may be coated by the melted jacket material 104 as the wire 110 is advanced (left to right, as designed by the arrow shown in
According to a particular embodiment, the helical forming tool 116 cuts, shapes, or otherwise forms helical grooves in the soft insulated jacket 117 covering the wire 110. The grooved, insulated jacket 118 may then be cooled in water (not shown).
The second gear 304 and the protrusion 310 may rotate as the jacket of the conductor 308 is extruded to form helical grooves on the jacket. While the jacket material of a particular embodiment is soft, the jacket material of another material may be cooled and rigid. Additionally, while helical grooves are shown in
The thickness of the insulated jacket at the bottom of the formed helix may be sufficiently thick to insulate the wire according to meet industry code or customer specifications. A bend radius may be calculated as a product of the outside diameter of the jacket. The inside radius of the jacket becomes smaller and the outside radius of the jacket becomes larger as the insulated wire is bent. According to a particular embodiment, the formed jacket material may include four to seven grooves per inch.
Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, and apparatus (systems according to embodiments of the disclosure). It will be understood that illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-readable program instructions (e.g., software for programming an extruder machine to make grooves having particular spacing, shape, and distance).
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present disclosure have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
Those skilled in the art can make numerous uses and modifications of and departures from the apparatus and techniques disclosed herein without departing from the described concepts. For example, components or features illustrated or described in the present disclosure are not limited to the illustrated or described locations, settings, or contexts. Examples of apparatuses in accordance with the present disclosure can include all, fewer, or different components than those described with reference to one or more of the preceding figures. The present disclosure is therefore not to be limited to specific implementations described herein, but rather is to be accorded the broadest scope possible consistent with the appended claims, and equivalents thereof.
