High Voltage Current Clamp for Variable Cable Diameters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing high-voltage current clamps are limited in their ability to connect power line cables with different diameters, requiring multiple types and increasing labor and parts needed for connections, and are not optimized to avoid corona phenomena effectively.
Innovation Solution
The design features clamping halves with adjustable openings and a tiltable clamping mechanism that allows for wider sector angle coverage of cables, with screw openings of varying widths to accommodate different cable diameters and an electrically conductive pressure plate for torque distribution, ensuring the clamps follow a semi-circular or semi-elliptical curve to minimize corona discharges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple types of current clamps are used to connect cables with different diameters, then the adaptability to different cable sizes is improved, but the device complexity and quantity of parts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The current clamp is designed with a universal structure that can accommodate cables of different diameters. The clamp half features a longitudinal groove with a U-shaped cross-section that can receive cables of various sizes, and the clamping force is adjusted by tightening screws rather than using different clamp types. This single clamp design replaces what would traditionally require multiple specialized clamps for different cable diameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamp incorporates adjustable elements including screws that can be tightened to different degrees and a tiltable clamp half that can be inclined at various angles. This dynamic adjustment capability allows the same clamp structure to adapt to different cable diameters and installation configurations, eliminating the need for multiple fixed-size clamp types.
2Reliability
If the longitudinal grooves enclose cables by almost 180° to avoid corona discharges, then the reliability against corona phenomena is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and material usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring the longitudinal grooves to enclose the cables by almost 180°, the invention achieves sufficient corona discharge protection with a smaller enclosure angle. The U-shaped cross-section provides adequate coverage while using less material and simplifying the manufacturing process, demonstrating that excessive enclosure is not necessary for effective corona protection.
3Ease of manufacture
If symmetric openings are used for screws in both clamp halves, then the manufacturing simplicity is improved, but the ease of operation for different cable sizes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The clamp halves feature asymmetric opening designs where one clamp half has a larger opening than the other. This asymmetry allows the screws to be positioned at different locations relative to the cable, enabling adjustment for different cable diameters. The larger opening provides flexibility for accommodating thicker cables while the smaller opening maintains structural integrity, and this asymmetric design is simple to manufacture.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~6
Figure 7~10D
AI summary
A high-voltage current clamp for applications from 60 kV upwards has two elongated clamping halves (1, 2) arranged approximately as mirror images of each other, each of which has two parallel longitudinal grooves (3, 4) for receiving the end sections of two parallel power line cables (5, 6) to be joined. The longitudinal grooves (3, 4) have semicircular cross-sections. The two clamping halves (1, 2) can be clamped against each other by means of several, preferably three, screws (7) arranged one behind the other in the direction of the longitudinal grooves (3, 4) and conductor cables (5, 6), which pass through openings (8, 9) of the two clamping halves (1, 2) arranged in the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the clamping halves (1, 2) and whose end sections are completely in recesses (10, 11 or 10, 11') on the sides of the clamping halves (1, 2) opposite the longitudinal grooves (3, 4) within a curve (12 or 13) that closely circumscribes the outer contour of the current clamp, approximately semicircular or semi-elliptical.13) are arranged.