Patent Application
20200303090
The present invention relates to electrical cables, more particularly to THEN electrical cables, and even more particularly to methods for reducing the surface coefficient of friction and required installation pulling force thereof, as well as preferred pulling lubricant compositions for effecting such reductions.
Electrical cables include a conductor core and typically include an outer jacket or sheath. The term “sheath,” as used herein and throughout the specification and claims, is defined to mean the outermost protective jacket or covering surrounding a conductor core, whether of a single type material or multiple layers of the same or different material. The conductor core may typically be, for example, a single metal wire, multiple small wires twisted together to make a “stranded” cable, or multiple insulated wires or other type electrical conductors acting together to serve a particular function (e.g., three-phase connection). The sheath may comprise one or more layers of polymeric or other material to provide physical, mechanical, electrical insulating and/or chemical protection for the underlying cable components. For the purpose of type THHN cable of the present invention, the exterior portion of the sheath is of nylon. Specifically, type THHN cable comprises a conductor core of a single solid or stranded conductor, surrounded by a layer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) electrical insulation, covered by an outer layer of nylon.
Installation of electrical cable often requires that it be pulled through tight spaces or small openings in, and in engagement with, narrow conduits, raceways, cabletrays, or passageways in rafters or joists. This becomes problematic since the exterior surface of the cable sheath normally has a high coefficient of friction, therefore requiring a large pulling force. Moreover, installation parameters include maximum allowable cable pulling tension and/or sidewall pressure limits. Exceeding these limits can result in degradation of the cable, physical damage and inferior installation.
To overcome this problem, the general industry practice has been to coat the exterior surface of the cable sheath with a pulling lubricant at the job site in order to reduce the coefficient of friction between this surface and the conduit walls or like surfaces, typically using vaselines or lubricants produced specifically, and well known in the industry for such purpose, such as Yellow 77® (hereinafter, “Y 77”). The term “pulling lubricant,” as used herein and throughout the specification and claims, is defined to mean lubricating material which sufficiently reduces the coefficient of friction of the exterior surface of the sheath of the cable to facilitate the pulling of the cable.
The aforementioned industry practice of applying a pulling lubricant like Y 77 to the finished cable at the job site poses problems, principally due to the additional time, expense and manpower required to lubricate the finished cable surface at the job site as well as to clean up after the lubricating process is completed. Alternative solutions have been tried but are generally unsuccessful, including the extrusion of a lubricant layer over the extruded polymeric sheath during the manufacturing of the cable, or the application of granules of material to the still-hot sheath during the extrusion process, which granules are designed to become detached when the cable is pulled through the duct. However, these solutions not only require major alterations of the manufacturing line, but result in a loss in manufacturing time, increased economic costs, and undesirable fluctuations in the geometrical dimensions of the cable sheaths.
It is also important to an understanding of the present invention to know the difference between what are referred to as “pulling lubricants” and what are “processing lubricants.” A pulling lubricant is a lubricant that appears at the outside surface of the sheath of the cable and is effective to lower the surface coefficient of friction such as to reduce the force necessary to pull the cable along or through building surfaces or enclosures. A processing lubricant is lubricating material that is used to facilitate the cable manufacturing process, such as the flow of polymer chains during any polymer compounding as well as during the extrusion processes while the polymer is in its molten or melt phase. Cable manufacturers have long used processing lubricants, such as stearic acid or ethylene bis-stearamide wax, as a minor component of the polymeric compound from which the cable sheath is formed. Because a processing lubricant is normally not effective except when the polymer is in this melt phase, the effect of a processing lubricant is essentially non-existent in the final hardened polymer sheath of the cable. Even where there may be an excessive amount of the processing lubricant, a separate pulling lubricant would still be required to sufficiently reduce the cable sheaths' exterior surface coefficient of friction in order to minimize the pulling force necessary to install the cable.
Accordingly, there has been a long-felt need for an effective method of providing a pulling lubricant at the exterior surface of the finished cable, and particularly the finished THEN cable, which is effective to reduce the cable surface coefficient of friction and minimize the required installation pulling force, without incurring the inconvenience and time-consuming operation and expense associated with the application of the pulling lubricant at the installation site, nor significantly increasing the complexity and cost of the manufacturing process, nor undesirably altering the geometrical characteristics of the cable sheaths.
The process of the present invention accomplishes these objectives for THHN cable by a cable manufacturing process in which a particular pulling lubricant, of optimum weight percentage or quantity, is introduced into the manufacturing process at a particular stage of manufacture, which results in the pulling lubricant being present in the outer sheath, so that it is available to reduce the coefficient of friction of the exterior sheath surface when the cable is to be installed. Depending upon the material of the sheath and the type of lubricant, this may be as a consequence of the migration, or delayed migration or “blooming,” of the pulling lubricant to the sheath surface; or alternatively, due to the permeation of the pulling lubricant throughout the sheath. Under these circumstances, the pulling lubricant is effective to lower the surface coefficient of friction below that of the inherent coefficient of friction of the material from which the outer layer of the THHN sheath is formed, thereby reducing the required installation pulling force.
In accordance with the process of the invention, and as described below in greater detail, the pulling lubricant is selectively chosen to provide the optimum results with respect to the particular nylon sheath material, and may alternately be introduced into the THHN cable manufacturing process at various stages, ranging from the initial compounding of the lubricant with the polymeric nylon material to form lubricated pellets from which the sheath is to be formed, to mixing the lubricant with the nylon sheath material before introduction of the mixture into the extrusion process, to its introduction into the sheath extrusion process while the nylon sheath forming material is in its molten state.
These and other details and aspects of the invention, as well as the advantages thereof, will be more readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring initially to
As is therefore evident, the pulling lubricant can be mixed with the material from which the outer sheath is to be extruded prior to extrusion or, alternatively, introduced into the extruding head for subsequent mixing with the molten extrusion material as the sheath is being formed. As a further alternative, the pulling lubricant can be initially compounded with the polymeric material of the pellets themselves in a process upstream of that depicted in
Polymeric materials that can be used for an insulating layer or outer sheath of different type of cable include polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, organic polymeric thermosetting and thermoplastic resins and elastomers, polyolefins, copolymers, vinyls, olefin-vinyl copolymers, polyamides, acrylics, polyesters, fluorocarbons, and the like. As previously described, for the THEN cable of the present invention, the conductor core of a single solid or stranded conductor is surrounded by an insulating layer of PVC covered by an outer sheath of a polyamide (e.g., nylon).
In accordance with the testing subsequently described, it has been determined that, for THHN cable, silicone oil is the preferred pulling lubricant. For small gauge THEN wire, erucamide is an alternative preferred pulling lubricant, to be incorporated in the nylon sheath.
The efficacy of these pulling lubricants for the nylon sheath, and specifically an optimum range for the quantity of such lubricants, in accordance with the invention, has been proven by the use of various tests. Prior to discussing the results of such tests, these test methods and their equipment are described as follows:
Coefficient of Friction Test
Referring now to
The overall setup used a pulling rope threaded through ˜40′ of PVC conduit (appropriately sized for the cable being pulled) with two 90° bends. Three 100′ pieces of THHN cable were cut and laid out parallel to one another in line with the first straight section of conduit, and the rope connected to them using industry-standard practice. The other end of the THHN cable was attached to a metal cable which was wrapped around a cylinder with an air brake to allow the application of constant back tension on the setup.
The metal cable was threaded through a load cell so that it could be monitored in real-time, and continuously logged. The pulling rope was similarly threaded through a load cell and constantly monitored and logged. Values for both back tension and pulling tension were logged for the time it took to pull cable through the conduit run. These values were then averaged and used in the PolyWater program to calculate coefficient of friction.
Specific Type THHN Tests
Initial tests of small gauge Type THHN wire were performed using the small-scale tension tester shown in
Using the data obtained from the small scale pull test of
Next, large gauge Type THEN cable was tested. Using the coefficient of friction test of
In accordance with an advantage of the present invention, the pulling lubricant that is incorporated in the sheath is present at the outer surface of the sheath when the cable engages, or in response to the cable's engagement with, the duct or other structure through which the cable is to be pulled. For the THHN cable of the present invention, where the outer sheath is of nylon and the preferred pulling lubricant is high molecular weight silicone oil, this silicon-based lubricant permeates the entire nylon sheath portion and is, in effect, continuously squeezed to the sheath surface in what is referred to as the “sponge effect,” when the cable is pulled through the duct.
Compounding with Pulling Lubricant
As previously described, the pulling lubricant may be incorporated into the extruded sheath (or the outer layer of the cable sheath if the sheath is of multiple layers) by initially compounding the lubricant with the (outer) sheath material to be extruded. To prepare the lubricated blend of the present invention, the resin and additional components, including the pulling lubricant, are fed into any one of a number of commonly used compounding machines, such as a twin-screw compounding extruder, Buss kneader, Banbury mixer, two-roll mill, or other heated shear-type mixer. The melted, homogeneous blend is then extruded into strands or cut into strips that may be subsequently chopped into easily handled pellets. The so-prepared lubricated pellets are then fed into the extruder for forming the outer sheath.
THHN Cable
THHN and THWN-2 are types of insulated electrical conductors that cover a broad range of wire sizes and applications. THHN or THWN-2 conductors are typically 600 volt copper conductors with a sheath comprising an outer layer of nylon surrounding a layer of thermoplastic insulation and are heat, moisture, oil, and gasoline resistant. THEN cable is primarily used in conduit and cable trays for services, feeders, and branch circuits in commercial or industrial applications as specified in the National Electrical Code and is suitable for use in dry locations at temperatures not to exceed 90° C. Type THWN-2 cable is suitable for use in wet or dry locations at temperatures not to exceed 90° C. or not to exceed 75° C. when exposed to oil or coolant. Type THHN or THWN-2 conductors are usually annealed (soft) copper, insulated with a tough, heat and moisture resistant polyvinylchloride (PVC), over which a polyamide layer, specifically nylon, is applied. Many cables, including those addressed by the present invention, can be “multi-rated,” simultaneously qualifying for rating as THHN or THWN-2.
Referring now to
Two industry-standard processes can be used to produce this product, the so called co-extrusion method and the tandem extrusion method. In both processes, the conductor, either solid or stranded, is first introduced into the extrusion head where the heated, melted PVC insulation compound is introduced and applied to the circumference of the conductor. In the co-extrusion process, the melted nylon compound is introduced into the same extrusion head and applied together with the PVC to the conductor, in a two-layer orientation. In the tandem process the PVC-coated conductor leaves the first extrusion head and is introduced into a second, separate extrusion head where the melted nylon is applied to the surface. In both cases, the final product is then introduced into a cooling water bath and ultimately the cooled product is wound onto reels. In either case, the nylon material is preferably initially compounded with the pulling lubricant to provide the so-lubricated extrusion pellets.
As shown in
To understand the effects of the jacket lubricant system on the ease of pull, variations of the UL (Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.) joist pull test were utilized.
The joist pull test outlined in UL719 Section 23 establishes the integrity of the outer PVC jacket of Type NM-B constructions when subjected to pulling through angled holes drilled through wood blocks.
The first variation of the test apparatus (see
Pulling wire through the wood blocks provides a more direct correlation of the amount of force required to pull NM-B in during installation. Because of this relationship, the joist-pull test is initially the basis for which ease of pulling is measured, but a test for quantifying this “ease” into quantifiable data had to be established.
Accordingly, and as shown in
Data recorded proved that NM-B constructions having surface lubricates reduced pulling forces.
A 12-V constant speed winch having a steel cable and turning sheave was employed; the turning sheave maintains a 45 degree pulling angle and provides a half-speed to slow the rate of the pulling so that more data points could be obtained. Holes were drilled in rafters whereby specimens could be pulled by the winch.
It was found using this method that lubricated specimens yielded approximately a 50% reduction in pulling force when compared to standard, non-lubricated NM-B specimens. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2 wherein the data was recorded at five second intervals.
Test in Table 1 performed at a constant speed with winch using ½ speed pulley
Test in Table 2 performed on cable with 5# weight suspended at building entry
Std. Prod.
Although the aforementioned description references specific embodiments and processing techniques of the invention, it is to be understood that these are only illustrative. For example, although the description has been with respect to electrical cable, it is also applicable to other types of non-electrical cable such as, for example, fiber optic cable. Additional modifications may be made to the described embodiments and techniques without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined solely by the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/015,688, filed Jun. 22, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/590,881, filed May 9, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/858,872, filed Sep. 18, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/144,150, filed Dec. 30, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,142,336 on Sep. 22, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/774,677, filed Feb. 22, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,616,918, issued Dec. 31, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/274,052, filed Oct. 14, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,382,518, issued Feb. 26, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/787,877, filed May 26, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,043,119, issued Oct. 25, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/675,441, filed Feb. 15, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,749,024, issued Jul. 6, 2010, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/120,487, filed May 3, 2005, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/952,294, filed Sep. 28, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,411,129, issued Aug. 12, 2008. Each patent and patent application identified above is incorporated here by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16015688 | Jun 2018 | US |
| Child | 16895580 | US | |
| Parent | 15590881 | May 2017 | US |
| Child | 16015688 | US | |
| Parent | 14858872 | Sep 2015 | US |
| Child | 15590881 | US | |
| Parent | 14144150 | Dec 2013 | US |
| Child | 14858872 | US | |
| Parent | 13774677 | Feb 2013 | US |
| Child | 14144150 | US | |
| Parent | 13274052 | Oct 2011 | US |
| Child | 13774677 | US | |
| Parent | 12787877 | May 2010 | US |
| Child | 13274052 | US | |
| Parent | 11675441 | Feb 2007 | US |
| Child | 12787877 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11120487 | May 2005 | US |
| Child | 11675441 | US | |
| Parent | 10952294 | Sep 2004 | US |
| Child | 11120487 | US |
