WCA MAY 2015

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34 Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2015
Technologynews
FOR many wire and cable products,
such as power cable conductors,
production starts with the rod wire
drawing process. As the products have
to meet continuously increasing
demands, wire and cable
manufacturers need machinery which
enables an energy, raw materials and
cost-effective manufacturing process.
Furthermore, the machines must be
flexibly adaptable to new production
requirements. The machinery designed
for wire drawing and wire processing
developed and built by
Maschinenfabrik Niehoff meets all
these requirements.
Niehoff is one of the pioneers of rod
breakdown technology with 60 years
of experience. The most recent
innovation in the field of its MSM rod
breakdown technology initially
launched in 1998 is the completely
new developed type MSM 86 rod
breakdown machine with electronic
controls.
The machine, which was introduced at
an in-house exhibition in Spring 2014,
is designed for wires made of copper,
aluminium, aluminium alloys, copper
alloys and special materials. Being of
modular design, the MSM 86 offers
users more options in terms of process
technology. The controls allow drawing
and annealing with minimised slip,
resulting in high quality wire surfaces,
low energy consumption and a long
operational life of the drawing tools.
It is also possible to work with different
wire elongations for each draft
according to the wires’ material,
properties and shapes. The optimised
wire path, innovative high pressure
cooling of the drawing die holders and
the optimised reliable fully submerged
drawing basin for lubricant cooling all
contribute to the high wire surface
quality.
Design changes have been made to
reduce maintenance requirements and
improve access to the different
operation and maintenance areas. A
quick drawing die change system
reduces downtime when changing the
machine setup for different dimensions
and enhances productivity.
The drawing machine also features a
highly reliable drawing emulsion and
gear oil separation system using
mechanical sealing. Capstans which
are not in use are switched off. The
result is an ergonomic, user-friendly
system which is easy to maintain and
requires less frequent maintenance.
The MSM 86 rod break down line is
operated by means of the new NMI
(Niehoff Machine Interface) colour
touch-screen display with colour user
interface and simplified navigation
structure. The NMI includes the display
of information such as production
parameters, maintenance instructions,
diagnostic functions, trends charting,
recipe data management, and
message archive.
The NMI requires only minimum
training for application and enables an
easy intuitive and quick operation.
All in all, the total energy consumption
of the new MSM 86 machines is up to
ten per cent lower than of its
predecessor model MSM 85 and 20
per cent lower than of conventional rod
breakdown machines.
The MSM 86 is designed to be
combined with the new R 502
continuous resistance annealer. With
an annealing power of 600kW, the
R 502 is the most powerful annealer
made by Niehoff to date. Power
consumption is reduced by 20 per cent
compared to state-of-the-art DC
annealers due to the newly developed
voltage control system NAC (Niehoff
Annealing Controller) and the AC
annealing principle. Homogeneous
wire annealing is guaranteed from zero
to full speed operation.
The MSM 86 + R 502 drawing line can
be combined with several new
spooling systems.
Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH –
Germany
Website:
Flexible and adaptable
❍ Homogeneous wire annealing is
guaranteed from zero to full speed
operation