WCA November 2008

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2008 38
Puller range with
extra-heavy duty
caterpillar haul-offs
Gillard has enlarged its range of precision caterpillar
haul-off/take-off machines with extra long belt versions
of its ‘work-horse’ range. The extended belts are
available in lengths of either 1,500mm or 1,800mm, in
widths of either 225mm or 300mm.
Gillard claims that these longer belts enable higher
tractive efforts to be achieved with considerably less
clamping pressure on the extruded products. This avoids
distortion and damage, particularly to thin-wall products.
The new caterpillars also feature an updated drive
package with direct drive AC servomotors to power the
belts. Two digital servo drives are used in a master/slave
configuration for optimum speed control.
The machines are fully guarded to the latest CE
standards and Gillard offers a wide range of options to
enable users to customise their machine to their needs.
Peter Gillard & Co Ltd – UK
Fax: +44 1684 290330
Email :
Website :
Absolute cleanliness is essential in high-voltage cable
production. With super clean PE-material, higher voltage
insulation strength with identifiable wall thicknesses and
no defect charges can be achieved. With the CSS 2 for
real time control and detection of contamination in
XLPE-materials, Sikora believes it offers the technology to
guarantee process stability and product quality.
Contamination can be caused by material handling.
Shavings can be created by wear of the extruder screw, or
the cleaning of the extruder screw can leave dust particles.
Contamination in the form of combustion particles such as
amber and scorches are also a risk.
The flow channel between the extruder and crosshead has
sight glasses and an optical CCD-camera system, which
transilluminates the insulation material. The high-resolution
CCD-colour camera detects particles of 20 µm in the
PE-melt and the identified constituents are classified
according to size. Particles that exceed the specified
tolerance value are analysed and the results displayed.
Besides the graphical display of the detected particles,
monitor pictures show a live image of the complete
material flow – even if the selected tolerance level is not
exceeded – and a trend curve of particles per litre. The
system informs the operator when production can start
and shows when contaminations exceed the tolerance
value and operator intervention is needed.
In contrast to granulate control the system actually detects
contamination in the material before the cable is
produced.
Sikora AG – Germany
Fax: +49 421 489 0090
Email:
Website:
CSS 2 detects contamination in XLPE-materials m m
Cleanliness in high-voltage cable
production