Electric cable wear control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9488688-B2
Application number	US-201414302721-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2014
Priority date	Jun 14, 2013
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

A system including: a cable including: a core capable of transporting at least one useful electric signal; a sheath surrounding said core; at least one conductive wear detection strand embedded in the sheath and substantially extending along the entire length of the cable; and at least one reference conductive element which is not connected to said at least one wear detection strand and substantially extends along the entire cable length; and a control unit capable of measuring the capacitance or the resistance formed between said at least one strand and the reference conductive element.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ) comprising: a core ( 101 ) capable of transporting at least one useful electric signal; a sheath ( 103 ) surrounding said core; at least one conductive wear detection strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) embedded in the sheath and substantially extending along the entire length of the cable; and at least one reference conductive element which is not connected to said at least one wear detection strand and substantially extends along the entire cable length; and
a control unit ( 150 ) capable of measuring the capacitance or the resistance formed between the wear detection strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) and the reference conductive element.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit ( 150 ) is connected to said at least one wear detection strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) and to said at least one reference conductive element only at one of the ends of the cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ).

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit ( 150 ) is capable of deducing from said capacitance or resistance measurement the presence or the absence of a breakage of said at least one wear detection strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ).

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the control unit ( 150 ) is further capable of deducing from said measurement the location of said breakage with respect to the control unit ( 150 ).

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ) comprises a plurality of conductive wear detection strands ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) embedded in the sheath ( 103 ), and wherein said reference conductive element comprises one or a plurality of said wear detection strands.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the core ( 101 ) of the cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ) comprises one or a plurality of conductive strands capable of transporting useful electric signals, and wherein said reference conductive element comprises one or a plurality of said strands of the core ( 101 ) of the cable.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wear detections strand ( 105 ; 305 ) is substantially parallel to the core ( 101 ) of the cable ( 100 ; 300 ).

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wear detections strand ( 205 ) is twisted around the core ( 101 ) of the cable ( 200 ).

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cable ( 300 ) comprises a plurality of wear detection strands ( 305 ) arranged at a plurality of different depths in the sheath ( 103 ).

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit ( 150 ) comprises a microcontroller.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit ( 150 ) is connected to the cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ) via connection capacitors.

12. A method of detecting the wearing of a cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ) comprising: a core ( 101 ) capable of transporting at least one useful electric signal; a sheath ( 103 ) surrounding said core; at least one conductive wear detection strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) embedded in the sheath and substantially extending along the entire length of the cable; and at least one reference conductive element which is not connected to said at least one wear detection strand and substantially extends along the entire cable length, the method comprising a step of measuring the capacitance or the resistance formed between said at least one strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) and said at least one reference conductive element.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said measurement step is implemented by a control unit ( 150 ) connected to said at least one wear detection strand ( 105 ; 205 ; 305 ) and to said at least one reference conductive element only at one of the ends of the cable ( 100 ; 200 ; 300 ).

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique
• Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives

Inventors

• Despesse Ghislain
• Carmona Mikael
• Leger Jean-Michel
• Paleologue Alexandre

Classifications

• G01R31/58

  Testing of lines, cables or conductors (testing of electric windings G01R31/72) · CPC title

• H04B3/46

  Monitoring; Testing · CPC title

• G05B23/0283

  Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] (preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06) · CPC title

• G01R31/083 Primary

  in cables, e.g. underground · CPC title

• G01R27/02

  Measuring real or complex resistance, reactance, impedance, or other two-pole characteristics derived therefrom, e.g. time constant (by measuring phase angle only G01R25/00) · CPC title