Welded Pothead Connection for Aluminum Cables

The use of compression and soldering methods for applying pothead connectors to aluminum cable conductors has not been widely accepted. This paper describes the development of a simple technique by which an aluminum pothead connector was applied to 3000-kcmil, 15-kV, PILC, single-core (1/c) segmental aluminum cable by the metal inert gas (MIG) arc-welding process. The problems encountered in the development and their solutions are recorded and the welding operation is fully described.