3М GTS-F (General Toolless Splice - Flexible)

2021: Testing in the independent laboratory of NINITZ in Tomsk

On August 3, 2021, the Russian office of 3M announced that it was continuing to develop the technology for repairing the 3M GTS-F flexible mining and mine cable, developed in 2018 by company engineers Nikolai Danilov and Konstantin Yurov. This technology, which was tested at the independent NINITZ laboratory in Tomsk in June 2021, implements a combination of compression of a flexible polymer inside the repair zone with longitudinal reinforcement of a damaged section of the cable.

First of all, the technology is designed to repair the last types of flexible cable, in the design of which there is the possibility of making an advance shutdown when it is crushed: a double shell, flexible armor and organizing a two-circuit protective shutdown. This requirement is relevant for cable supplying electrical installations operated in hazardous areas of underground mines and mines. In the near future, the use of such structures will be fixed at the legislative level in the countries of the Customs Union.

3M repair kits, implemented on the basis of 3M GTS-F technology and used in the repair of flexible cable, allow you to correctly restore the full architecture of the power cable. At the same time, the repair line itself has high mechanical strength and wear resistance, and its outer diameter corresponds to the thickness of the original cable. This is particularly critical for repairing the cable that is used in the cable laying of mobile mining equipment.

The 3M GTS-F is most suitable for repairing the cable used in the penetrating, treatment and bottomhole areas of coal mines in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 417 of the Federal Regulations and Regulations "Safety Rules in Coal Mines."

The application of this technology allows to ensure the principle of advance disconnection in case of cable damage in any section laid down in the requirements of the Safety Rules. The solution is suitable for use on a flexible shaft cable of any architecture, including with a double shell, flexible armor, anti-torsion wire, centering core and others.

Repair couplings based on the 3M GTS-F were tested under the same conditions as the original cable. The check was based on 11 mechanical, climatic and electrical parameters, including torsion, bending, crushing, sunlight, heating, cold, open flame, dielectric strength of insulation and others.

3M GTS-F technology is relatively easy to use and lacks the disadvantages of previous generation repair technologies. It more than 90% meets the needs of users. As of August 2021, this is almost the only way to repair a flexible power cable that has undergone such deep research.

2019: Announcement of flexible cable repair technology

On April 15, 2019, 3M introduced the technology for repairing the 3M GTS-F flexible cable (General Toolless Splice - Flexible) - a universal clutch mounted without special tools, fire and heating. The technology is designed for flexible cable.

According to the company, due to the tightening of safety rules for underground work by Rostekhnadzor in 2016, a type of flexible cable with improved characteristics that meet updated requirements was released to the market. Flexible cable designed to power mobile consumers is actively used in electric transport, in crane farming, in feeding industrial conveyors, mining equipment, electric excavators, etc. In case of damage, such a cable should be repaired, during which it is necessary to restore all its architecture: double shells, flexible armor, reinforcing ropes, antitrust weaves, complex elements of control and control circuits, etc. At the same time, the dimensions of the repair site should be close to the original ones, and also the requirements for its flexibility should be met.

The specifics of repairing the 3M GTS-F flexible cable is to restore the outer cover of the cable by creating over it a fill-in pod made of gauze-type mesh tape and stretch film. A flexible compound is poured into the mold, which is evenly distributed throughout the volume, fills the entire space and displaces the air. As a result, the size of the repaired section corresponds to the original diameter of the cable and has high flexibility. This approach allows the restoration of the outer shell in the geometrical dimensions closest to the original ones, and the combination of the frozen compound and gauze tape gives a longitudinal reinforcement to the repair site, which contributes to increased wear resistance and durability. Thanks to this technology, the cable can be started up immediately after repair, which reduces costs due to equipment downtime and uninterrupted power supply.

GTS-F technology is the most versatile of the 3M flexible cable repair solutions introduced in April 2019. It included all the best properties of the basic technologies that we offered earlier - heat shrinkable, fill, cold shrinkage - and at the same time it is eliminated from their main shortcomings. It can be used to connect the cable and repair damage of any type - shell, main insulation. Konstantin Belousov, Director of the Electronics and Energy 3M business group in Russia and the CIS