Presentation of a swivel cover joint for Epsilon advanced conductors
Epsilon Cable and Tesmec introduced during CIGRE Paris 2024 an innovative swivel cover joint designed to enable the safe use of midspan joints with pulleys during stringing.
This stringing equipment effectively minimizes bending of the conductor at a sharp angle on both side of a mid-span joint, to avoid any potential damage to the composite core.
It will save a lot of time during conductor’s installation since it will make it possible to install midspan joint directly after the tensioner, before pulling the conductor through the pulleys.
More specifically, field tests demonstrated the use of the swivel cover joint saved approximately 1h per mid span joint.
The new patented swivel joint was introduced by Tesmec and Epsilon on their respective booths during CIGRE, and presented during a panel session dedicated to advanced conductor installation. The introduction of this equipment follows an already well-established partnership between two innovative family-owned companies.
On the picture below, the swivel cover joint can be seen going through a pulley without swivel on the left side (which causes a sharp angle on the conductor) and with a swivel on the right side (which allows a much lower bending radius).
Associated resource: stringing equipment catalog for Epsilon Advanced Conductors, by Tesmec and Epsilon Cable.