Cold shrinkable technology for medium voltage cable accessory

A description of the new “cold shrink” technology is presented. The paper is focused on the cold shrink joint, describing from concept to fabrication the main orientations chosen to warranty the reliability of product in service. Some results concerning the product (short and long duration tests) are presented and main advantages given to the user are pointed out. A pre-fabricated one piece product has been developed to limit as much as possible the operations in the field. The concept is based on a plastic support tube wrapped in a thin film of very low coefficient of friction for easy sliding. On that film, various types of material such as mastics, metal braids and rubbers under stretched conditions are placed. This allows pre-installation on support of all functions required for cable accessories (e.g. field control, scaling, and protective functions)