WCA November 2009

news

Large-sized planetary stranders SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH offers a broad range of cage-type stranding machines for producing both cable and steel wire ropes with and without back twist.

Owing to increased demand for cage stranders for the production of submarine power cables, as well as for long and heavy steel ropes, SKET has specialised in this particular field of machinery and has supplied several large-sized stranders of this type. At the end of 2008, the company supplied what is thought to be the world’s largest cage-type stranding machine for the production of power cables. The MKVD machine is suitable for stranding cores with a 1,200mm² cross-sectional area into cables with a maximum diameter of 240mm and can be operated either with or without back twist. The full bobbins in the stranding cages weigh 20 or 50 tons, some of them having flange diameters of more than 4,000mm. Early in 2009, SKET supplied another two planetary stranders for armouring cables with steel wire. One of these MKRD type machines with two cages can be operated in both the single (72 bobbins) and tandem (138 bobbins) mode, whereas the other consists of an 88-bobbin cage, each bobbin having a

flange diameter of 800mm, and stranding steel wires of up to 10mm diameter. The maximum finished diameter of the cables armoured on this machine exceeds 250mm. The line, including the stranding cage and all associated assemblies delivered by SKET, has an overall length of more than 90m and weighs 250 tons. SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH – Germany The world’s largest cage-type stranding m m machine for power cables

Fax : +49 391 40558 37 Email : info@sketvmb.de Website : www.sketvmb.de

Dosing units and mixing stations

An increasing number of cable producers are using Plasticolor volumetric mixing stations. These units work independently from the speed of the extrusion line, almost eliminating entirely the commonly experienced colour variations that occur when ramping the extruder up or down. A mixing station is always preparing identical and homogeneous mixtures of materials and thus the amount of scrap production is drastically minimised. Calculations by cable manufacturers suggest that a return on investment may be possible in less than two years. An additional advantage is the reduced consumption of masterbatch. Simple controls make it easy for operators to reduce the amount of colourant used, which reduces material costs. The design of Plasticolor equipment offers easy cleaning of the auger feeders, volumetric and gravimetric mixing stations. The modular principle of the Plasticolor system allows the user to start with the basic single dosing auger feeder and to upgrade it to a mixing station at a later date. The basic components of the dosing system are utilised in the upgrade sequence. Woywod Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH & Co Vertriebs-KG offers a range of single dosing units, volumetric and gravimetric mixing stations, as well as gravimetric throughput measurement systems, hopper loaders and dryers. Woywod Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH & Co Vertriebs-KG – Germany Fax : +49 89 854 13 36 Email : info@plasticolor.de Website : www.plasticolor.de

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2009