Assembly and method for sealing a bundle of wires

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11257612-B2
Application number	US-201816046577-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2018
Priority date	Jul 26, 2018
Publication date	Feb 22, 2022
Grant date	Feb 22, 2022

Abstract

A method for sealing a bundle of wires includes providing an adhesive material having a viscosity of less than about 300 Pa·s at the installation temperature. The method further includes forming a structure from the adhesive and inserting a plurality of wires into the structure. A first amount of heat is applied to the structure in a first heating operation. The first amount of heat being higher than an ambient temperature and lower than a softening temperature of the structure. Subsequently, a second amount of heat is applied in a second heating operation to the adhesive structure to thereby fully melt the adhesive structure and cause the adhesive of the structure to fill voids between the plurality of wires to thereby seal the wires. Application of the first amount of heat during the first operation to the structure facilitates improved melt uniformity of the structure during the second heating operation.

First claim

We claim:

1. A structure for creating a sealed wire bundle comprising:
a generally planar strip having a first and a second end section formed of a first adhesive material having a first viscosity and a center section therebetween formed of a second adhesive material having a second viscosity that is less than the first viscosity at a melt temperature;
a heat-shrinkable tubing disposed around the strip such that the first and second end sections of the strip are arranged towards first and second ends of the heat-shrinkable material, respectively;
wherein the first viscosity is greater than 1000 Pa·s at an installation temperature and the second viscosity is less than 300 Pa·s at the installation temperature.

2. The structure according claim 1 , wherein the adhesive material is 40%-95% ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) or polyolefin (PO) by weight.

3. The structure according claim 1 , wherein the adhesive material is 40%-95% polyamide by weight.

4. The structure according claim 1 , wherein the strip is disposed on one side of an interior surface of the heat-shrinkable tubing.

5. The structure according claim 1 , further comprising a second strip with a same configuration at the first strip disposed on a side of the interior surface of the heat-shrinkable tubing opposite the side on which the first strip is disposed.

Assignees

• Te Connectivity Corp
• TE Connectivity Services Gmbh

Inventors

• Sethi Sunny
• Daga Vijay
• Bharadwaj Kavitha
• Gao Ting

Classifications

• H01B13/0016 Primary

  for heat treatment · CPC title

• H02G15/013 Primary

  Sealing means for cable inlets (inlets for cables filled with, or surrounded by, gas or oil H02G15/32) · CPC title

• H01B7/285

  by completely or partially filling interstices in the cable · CPC title

• H01B13/0013

  for embedding wires in plastic layers · CPC title

• H01B3/441

  from alkenes · CPC title