Technical problem to be solved

Dry design cables (HV/EHV submarine cables) need to be designed with a metallic barrier over the outer semiconducting layer. This metallic barrier is protected by a plastic sheath of a few mm. thick. When placing various sensors (eg temperature) on the cable layers it is necessary to cut into the protective plastic sheath. This is conventionally done by cutting with various knives. This may lead to damage to the metallic sheath.

The solution

A heated tool was developed to thermally penetrate the plastic sheath without damaging the underlying lead sheath. Since the plastic sheath has a lower melting temperature than the lead sheath, the tool can melt through the plastic layer down to the lead interface without causing damage to the lead. This removes the need for knives and chisels during sensor installation and thereby reduces the risk of damaging the product.