Connector and method of sealing electrical wire against fluid leakage

Abstract

To seal an electrical wire and prevent fluid flow therethrough, individual strands of the wire are deformed and bonded together to provide a short segment of essentially solid wire without any gaps or flow paths through this segment. Desirably, the solid wire segment may be provided at the point in the wire where the wire passes through a wall of a sealed container, such as a fuel tank, to prevent fluid leakage out of the fuel tank through the wire. In the preferred embodiment, the individual strands of the wire are deformed and bonded together by ultrasonic welding of a section of the wire having its insulation removed. Other methods, such as coining, and laser or electron beam welding can be used to provide the essentially solid wire segment which prevents fluid leakage through the wire. Desirably, the method can be carried out by simply stripping the insulation from the desired wire segment and then performing the desired method of deforming and bonding the strands together, without having to separate the individual strands of wire and provide solder between them, and is therefore less time consuming and less costly to perform.