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AssigneeAlcatel Cable
InventorLouis Le Davay
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The method and the corresponding installation detect sealing faults in metal protective tubes for protecting cables having electrical and/or optical conductors, referred to as "protected components", embedded in a sealing material filling the tube. The method consists in priming said sealing material with a detectable "test" gas either prior to or during injection of said material into said tube in a first station for enclosing the protected components inside the tube, and in causing said tube, filled in this way and optionally heated, to advance continuously past a detector, or inside a detection chamber of a second station containing the detector, either directly after the tube has been filled or at a subsequent stage. Application: land or under-sea cables, in particular for monitoring fluid-tight protective microtubes for protecting optical fibers.
A method of detecting sealing faults in a metal protective tube for protecting an electrical and/or optical cable having electrical conductors and/or optical fibers constituting protected components, embedded in a sealing material filling said tube, said method comprising priming said sealing material with a detectable test gas in a first step, filling said tube with the resulting processed sealing material primed with said test gas in a second step, and advancing said tube filled with said processed sealing material past a detection head for detecting said test gas in a third step.
An installation for detecting sealing faults in a metal protective tube for protecting an electrical and/or optical cable having electrical conductors and/or optical fibers constituting protected components, embedded in a sealing material filling said tube, said installation comprising a first station including means for enclosing said components inside a tube, means coupling said first station to feed and injection means for supplying said sealing material and injecting it into said tube at said first station, a test gas storage cylinder coupled to said feed and injection means for supplying said processed material and injecting it into said tube, a second station separate from said first station, a detection head at said second station for sensing said test gas and mounted in a detection chamber, means for advancing said tube filled with said processed material and said test gas through said detection chamber and proximate to said detection head, and a control circuit coupled to said detection head capable of providing instructions for said installation when a sealing fault is detected in said tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.