News
Corporate
November 2014
28
The wire and cable industry has, for
many years, referred to the limiting
oxygen index test (LOI) as a screening
tool for materials intended not to support
combustion.
The LOI provides a widely accepted
indication of the flammability properties
of compounds. The LOI values of cable
insulation
and
sheathing
materials
range somewhere between 18 and
45. Melos and Inhol claim they can
boost the flame retardant properties
of cable construction considerably, by
recommending FM bedding compounds
having LOI values up to 80. These types of
bedding compounds can be considered
as a protective fire barrier within the cable
construction.
Fire prevention and health issues have
become a main concern in the cable
industry worldwide. An increased use
of HFFR bedding compounds in new
cable constructions will result in a safer
world. Halogen-free, low smoke bedding
compounds might offer an economic
solution by acting as a fire fighter from
the inside of the cable.
Specific FM bedding compounds will form
a tough fire resistant layer underneath
the jacket and all around the cores simply
because these multi-functional bedding
compounds offer a high LOI.
If used in combination with halogen-free
low smoke sheathing and insulation
compounds, it will contribute to more
safety as well as cost reduction for power,
instrumentation, telecommunication and
data cables.
Several approaches can be taken in
product selection to improve the
overall safety performance of HFFR
cable constructions by using economic
materials to obtain an increased overall
performance.
It is even possible to use favourably priced
non-flame retardant insulation materials
like polyethylene and still improve the
total performance of a cable construction
by applying HFFR bedding materials. In
other words, a bedding compound should
be considered as a fundamental part of
smart cable construction.
As a result the toxicity of smoke will no
longer be the highest concern, especially
within enclosed spaces where means of
escape by persons are limited. Examples
of enclosed spaces include mass transit
rail cars, ships, and offshore oil and gas
platforms. Favourable pricing may remove
the barriers for the industry to go along
the safe halogen-free and low smoke way
in cable design.
Melos and Inhol can advise on how
to
improve
the
performance
of
non-corrosive halogen-free cable sys-
tems by using high performance HFFR
compounds and bedding systems.
Melos GmbH – Germany
Website
:
Inhol BV – The Netherlands
Website
:
The Roblon precision coiling unit offers automatic precision winding at high
speed. This system will be on show at this year’s IWCS on Booth 509.
The controlled positioning of products such as cables, wires and plastic tubes
provides a uniform winding pattern with no major gaps, which virtually
eliminates product crossings in the take-up process.
Sensors detect the flanges of the reel and when the product reaches the
flanges the traversing direction reverses.
By use of advanced controlling the Roblon precision coiling unit controls
and monitors the tension by which the product is being placed on top of the
previous product layer and also the tension by which the product is being
placed evenly side by side during the take-up process.
The uniform positioning of the product means longer lengths per reel and the
possibility for higher pay-off speed during installation and use.
The Roblon precision coiling unit eliminates very important safety issues in the
take-up process, because manual guiding of the cable while winding it onto
the reel is no longer necessary. As the unit is 100 per cent automatic, there is
no need to spend resources on monitoring the winding quality of the reel.
The unit is designed as a stand-alone unit for easy integration with take-ups in
new or existing production lines. Typical application areas are:
•
OFC SZ stranding lines, to ensure the quality of the unprotected FO-centre
•
sheathing lines, for perfect reel finish in in-line production
•
wire lines or rope twisting lines, for perfect reel finish in in-line production
•
rewinding lines, for perfect reel finish
Roblon A/S – Denmark
Website
:
Boosting fire protection
▲
▲
Fire protection from the inside
Automatic precision at high speed
3D views and simulation
OMCG has been manufacturing CNC and
mechanical wire bending machines since 1963
with products to work a range of wire sizes
from 1 to 18mm and from 2 to 6 bending radii.
Programming is extremely simple with
Easy Programming 3 software which offers
various programming modes, 3D views,
3D simulation, collision checks, production
times, real-time adjustments and many more.
Model SM05 is the latest product launch for
coils up to 1,200kg (2,650lb) and features a
dancer arm with adjustable leaf spring for
balancing of wire tension with different wire
sizes and tensile strength, making it a good
solution from low carbon wire to spring steel.
SM05 is fully electrical and can be used
in combination with CNC or mechanical
wire forming or spring machines with no
requirements for additional connections
(air flow etc), and offers selectable direction
(clockwise/counterclockwise), fine tuning
of the pay-off rate, long dancer stroke,
adjustable acceleration/deceleration with
inverter control, long-life industrial lubricated
gear box, and uniform wire tension.
OMCG Srl – Italy
Website
:
