US 12,316,087 B2
Sheath-bonding link box
Stephen Burks, Creemore (CA); Gregory Lee, Toronto (CA); Jake Gelhard, Hamilton (CA); William Kevin Jones, Lindsay (CA); and Kathryn Klement, Toronto (CA)
Assigned to hvGrid-Tech Inc., Newmarket (CA)
Appl. No. 17/600,941
Filed by hvGrid-Tech Inc., Newmarket (CA)
PCT Filed Apr. 3, 2020, PCT No. PCT/CA2020/050444
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 1, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/198875, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 8, 2020.
Application 17/600,941 is a continuation in part of application No. 16/376,787, filed on Apr. 5, 2019, granted, now 10,686,308, issued on Jun. 16, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0166199 A1, May 26, 2022
Int. Cl. H02G 3/08 (2006.01); H01R 9/22 (2006.01); H01R 9/24 (2006.01)
CPC H02G 3/088 (2013.01) [H01R 9/223 (2013.01); H01R 9/2458 (2013.01); H02G 3/081 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A sheath-bonding link box, comprising:
a housing forming an enclosure defining a watertight sealed interior space;
a plurality of conductor receiving ports disposed in a wall of the housing and configured to receive conductor members electrically connected to cable sheaths, wherein each conductor member has an external connecting portion for electrical connection to a cable sheath extending outward from the interior space and an internal connecting portion extending into the interior space;
a plurality of functional links disposed in the interior space of the housing, a respective functional link being electrically connectable to the internal connection portion of at least one respective conductor member so as to be electrically connectable to a cable sheath;
at least one sensor disposed within the interior space of the housing and operable to produce sensor data as a function of conditions within the link box or electrical parameters of at least one or more sheath-bonding leads, and
a control module disposed within the interior space of the housing and operable to receive the sensor data from the at least one sensor and to transmit the sensor data to a location external to the link box so as to enable remote monitoring of the sensed conditions.