EoW September 2013

Technical article

Automatic precision winding with RobCoil™ By Christensen Holm, Allan Nielsen and Jesper Joergensen – Roblon Industry, Roblon A/S

Winding products on flange reels may make heavy demands on the winding quality in terms of positioning the product accurately, layer by layer. The precision winding technology has been available as an integral part of high-end take-ups, but as something new a stand-alone machine has now been developed which can be installed in front of the take-up and replace the manual guiding.

Advantages of perfect winding

High quality winding is demanded for a number of different reasons, most importantly to prevent damage of the product. Maximising the product length per reel may be another requirement, and a reel with product positioned perfectly side-by-side from start to finish will

▲ ▲ Precision take-up unit

Products/materials High quality winding will be beneficial to a range of products such as cables, plastic tubes, pipes, wires and thin steel tubes. It is possible to wind different shapes of products including round, square and figure-8. Some features ease the automatic guiding of a product, for example it is easier to wind a less flexible or stiff product with a smooth surface. The product must be able to withstand the amount of tension needed to position it on the reel. However, when manually guiding a product it is also necessary to apply a certain tension. Using the precision guiding unit would most likely minimise the tension as the positioning of the product happens very close to the reel. Reduced tension on the product means less pressure on the inner layers and thus the risk of damage to the product is eliminated.

give you the best utilisation of the reel capacity. If the product is to be used in a subsequent manufacturing or installation process, the perfectly wound product is likely to increase productivity, as these processes can happen at higher speed and with improved safety. An example could be fibre optic cables where it is crucial that the cable does not cross during winding, as this would squeeze cable and make it difficult to install later, eg by blowing it into tight ducts. Attenuation of the signal is another risk of bad winding. When winding steel wires that are used in subsequent production processes, it is important that there is no loose wire on the reel, which could cross when being wound off and potentially cause the reel to lock and thereby break the wire. Finally, perfectly wound reels also present themselves as nicer to the end-user, a fact which should not be neglected.

▼ ▼ Precision rewinding unit

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September 2013