Hotsplicer Corporation produces portable molding presses for making 

 vulcanized splices in electrical cables up to 5 inches in diameter. These 

 presses can also be used to re jacket damaged electrical cables. 



Earlier development work on equipment and procedures for jointing 

 polyethylene-insulated submarine cables is described in Reference 8. 



The British^ are using aluminum conductor, aluminum-armored cables 

 for electrical distribution use. The jointing techniques for these 

 cables are similar to those which use copper conductors except that 

 stranded aluminum conductors are not heated by heat guns or gas torches. 

 Instead, these conductors are heated by pouring molten solder (basting) 

 over them until they become hot enough to melt a solid "stick" of solder. 

 Compression jointing is used on large single-core high-tension cables. 



Preventive Maintenance of Cables 



No formalized procedures for the preventive maintenance of submarine 

 cables exist as standard military procedures. 



A routine preventive maintenance program has been proposed. This 

 program would consist of electrical and visual checks. 



Electrical checks are performed to obtain a history of cables condi- 

 tion and to localize faults. Two methods are used: (1) the Wheatstone 

 bridge is used to determine dielectric resistance, conductor resistance, 

 and capacitance between conductors and between conductors and ground; 

 and (2) pulse echo equipment, which provides a quicker and more accurate 

 means of pinpointing the location of minor and major faults but is 

 limited in range. 



Visual checks are performed to obtain a history of cable condition 

 and rate of deterioration. They also include a survey of cable position 

 and inspection to the maximum safe depth for divers. 



Items which need to be included in maintenance programs are: expected 

 lifetime of materials, corrosion prevention systems, inspection routines, 

 cost analyses to determine if repair or replacement is warranted. 



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