WCA November 2013

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2007 55
ire & Cable ASIA –November/Decem 13
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 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 the 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.
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.
Automatic precision
winding with RobCoil™
By Christensen Holm, Allan Nielsen and Jesper Joergensen – Roblon Industry, Roblon A/S
❍
❍ Precision rewinding unit
❍
❍ Precision take-up unit