Tyco Electronics Raychem Nv

Els Timmermans

Valere Buekers

Dirk Roosen

Dirk Deroost

Filip Vandeputte

Thomas E McNeal

Methods for providing a cable closure enclosing a cable splice include wrapping a flexible wrap including a gel layer and a flexible support layer around the cable splice with the gel layer adjacent the cable splice. The gel layer may have an adhesion-reducing substance applied on at least part of a surface of the gel layer facing away from the flexible support layer and a removable cover layer may be applied to a surface of the gel layer facing away from the flexible support layer on which the adhesion-reducing substance is not applied. The wrap is gathered into overlapping wrinkles around at least one longitudinal end of the cable splice without applying heat, other external energy source or catalytic agent to allow the gel layer to seal the at least one longitudinal end of the cable splice.

Methods for cable sealing

A flexible wrap () for enclosing a cable splice () without external heating includes a gel layer () and a support layer (). The wrap has sufficient flexibility to be manually gathered into wrinkles around the smaller parts of the cable-to-splice transition with the gel sealing the resulting enclosure. The support layer (), which is preferably made of low density polyethylene, provides mechanical strength and facilitates the application of the wrap (). A vapour barrier layer (), preferably made of aluminium, may be applied on the support layer (). A protective layer () may be applied on the vapour barrier layer (). An adhesion-reducing substance () may be applied on at least part of the side of the gel layer () facing away from the support layer () to allow adjustment of the wrap () when applied on the cable splice (). Elastic or rubber tape () maybe wound around the applied wrap () to compress the gel. A re-enterable closure having a long sealing length may be obtained.

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Wilsele Putkapel, Belgium

Els Timmermans