Metal sheathed cable assembly
View Patent ↗An AC cable that includes at a plurality of conductor assemblies within a metal armored sheath. Each conductor assembly has an electrical conductor, an insulation layer extending around and along the length of each of the electrical conductors, a jacket layer disposed around the insulating layer and a polymeric protective layer disposed around the jacket layer along the length of each of the electrical conductors. A bonding strip is disposed within the metal sheath and is in contact with the interior surface of the metal sheath to provide an electrical low-impedance fault return path for the AC cable.
1. An AC cable comprising:
a plurality of conductor assemblies, each of said conductor assemblies having an electrical conductor, a layer of polyvinylchloride insulation extending around and along the length of each of said electrical conductors, and a polymeric protective layer disposed around said insulation layer along the length of each of said electrical conductors, said protective layer made from a material that is different from said layer of insulation;
a nylon jacket layer disposed between said polyvinylchloride insulation layer and said protective layer for each of said plurality of conductor assemblies;
a metal sheath disposed over said plurality of conductor assemblies; and
a bonding strip disposed within said metal sheath and in intimate contact with an interior surface of said metal sheath.
2. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein said plurality of conductor assemblies are twisted in a cabled relationship.
3. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of conductor assemblies is a grounding conductor.
4. The AC cable of claim 3 wherein said plurality of conductor assemblies are twisted in a cabled relationship.
5. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein said metal sheath and said bonding strip define a low-impedance fault return path for said cable.
6. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein said metal sheath comprises a metal strip that is helically wound such that edges of said metal strip interlock around said plurality of conductor assemblies.
7. The AC cable of claim 6 wherein said helically wound metal strip forms a series of crowns and troughs, said bonding strip being in contact with the interior surface of said troughs.
8. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein said polymeric layer is adapted for extrusion about the insulation layer.
9. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein said protective layer is adapted for extrusion about said jacket layer along the length of each of said conductor assemblies.
10. The AC cable of claim 1 , wherein said protective layer is made from a material that is different from said nylon jacket layer to enable a user to remove said protective layer from said jacket layer during installation of said AC cable.
11. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein the protective layer includes gas pockets.
12. The AC cable of claim 11 , wherein the gas pockets include an inert gas.
13. The AC cable of claim 11 , wherein the protective layer is a foamed polymeric material.
14. The AC cable of claim 1 wherein the protective layer is pliable to provide a conforming surface to that of the inside of the metal sheath.