Traceable power cable and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10559404-B2
Application number	US-201716307234-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2017
Priority date	Jun 8, 2016
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

It is disclosed a power cable comprising at least one conductor and a hollow tube at least partially filled with a traceable material. The traceable material comprises a tracer associated with a uniquely identifiable code and is in a liquid or gel form. The tracer may comprise one or more of: coded synthetic DNA particles, a fingerprint of one or more trace materials, microdots containing a code written thereon. The tracer may also comprise radio-frequency identification, RFID, tags.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power cable comprising at least one conductor and a hollow tube at least partially filled with a traceable material, wherein said traceable material comprises a tracer associated with a uniquely identifiable code and wherein said traceable material is in a liquid or gel form wherein said hollow tube is an independent element.

2. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said tracer comprises one or more of: coded synthetic DNA particles, a fingerprint of one or more trace materials, microdots containing a code written thereon.

3. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said tracer comprises radio-frequency identification, RFID, tags.

4. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said hollow tube has an inner diameter comprised between about 1 mm and about 10 mm.

5. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said hollow tube has an outer diameter substantially corresponding to a dimension of an element of said power cable.

6. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein the total conductor cross section is equal to or greater than 120 mm 2 .

7. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said hollow tube is an independent element in between said at least one conductor of the cable.

8. The power cable according to claims 1 , wherein said outer diameter substantially corresponds to a diameter of a cross section of said at least one conductor.

9. The power cable according to any of claim 1 , wherein said at least one conductor is a multiwire conductor and said hollow tube is part of said multiwire conductor.

10. The power cable according to claim 9 , wherein the cross section of said at least one conductor is equal to or greater than 120 mm 2 .

11. The power cable according to claim 9 wherein said outer diameter substantially corresponds to a diameter of a wire or a bunch of wires of said multiwire conductor.

12. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said hollow tube is obtained by extrusion.

13. The power cable according to claim 1 , wherein said hollow tube is made of PVC.

14. A method for providing a traceable power cable comprising providing at least one conductor and a hollow tube within the cable, and filling the hollow tube with a traceable material, wherein said traceable material comprises a tracer associated with a uniquely identifiable code and wherein said traceable material is in a liquid or gel form, wherein said filling the hollow tube with a traceable material having a tracer comprises filling an independent element of the power cable.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said filling is performed at an installation site.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said filling the hollow tube with a traceable material having a tracer comprises filling the hollow tube with a traceable material comprising one or more of: coded synthetic DNA particles, a fingerprint of one or more trace materials, microdots containing a code written thereon.

17. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said filling the hollow tube with a traceable material having a tracer comprises filling the hollow tube with a traceable material comprising radio-frequency identification, RFID, tags.

Assignees

• Prysmian Spa

Inventors

• Neumann Andreas
• Lübbe Frank

Classifications

• H01B7/366 Primary

  being a tape, thread or wire extending the full length of the conductor or cable · CPC title

• H01B13/345 Primary

  by spraying, ejecting or dispensing marking fluid · CPC title