EW January 2011

Stranding, twisting, bundling & bunching

Niehoff’s new generation double-twist bunchers and stranders

Maschinenfabrik Niehoff, one of the leading manufacturers of machinery for the wire and cable industry, is continuously improving its bunching and stranding equipment in order to meet the growing requirements of its customers. Precision, energy efficiency, material savings, flexibility, ecological and economical aspects are criteria that play an increasingly important role in cable making and design. Niehoff’s D-series of double-twist bunching machines is now comprised of six sizes covering a wide strand cross section range (0.013mm² – 50mm²). The characteristics of these machines include the single bow design, non-contact data transfer inside the machine, and infinitely variable tension control using closed loop load cell. With this full product line, it is now possible to manufacture strands with 7 x 0.05mm (44 AWG) construction as smallest strand variant, as well as large wire rope lay strands and battery cables of copper and aluminium (on the largest D model). During the wire 2010 show, Niehoff introduced a new energy-saving ECO-BOW which was specially developed for these bunchers. When equipped with this bow, energy consumption of the D-series bunchers is reduced by more than 60%, and noise emission is reduced considerably in comparison to the two-bow conventional bunching machines.

Data cable stranding line consisting of a DSI 631 double-twist stranding machine with backtwist pay-off ARD 630 and a longitudinal tape payoff ALB ▲ ▲

Another important feature of the D series machines is that they can be equipped with the “Niehoff Bunching Automatic Traverse” (NBAT) system, which automatically detects spool flanges and also controls the wire laying process. This improved spooling quality means that strands can be paid off in downstream processes, they are tangle-free and without wire damage and at higher speeds.

The successful concept of the D-series bunchers has led to the design of the DSI 631 and DSI 1001 double-twist stranding machines. These machines are designed to strand insulated conductors into pairs or quads or to strand conductor pairs into LAN cables and other special cables at high speeds with highest quality. The stranders are built for a wide conductor cross section range and a maximum stranding diameter of 8mm or 15mm and can be combined with numerous other production equipment, such as wire payoffs and longitudinal tape payoffs. The DSI systems allow data cables, special cables, bus cables and LAN cables of all categories to be produced efficiently, with extreme precision and highest quality standards. The new D and DSI machines are equipped with electronically controlled Class IE2 energy-efficient AC motors and energy optimised components, meeting the current safety regulations of the machinery directive RL 2006/42/EG and they also feature a completely new and functionally optimised machine design. Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co KG – Germany Fax : +49 9122 977 155 Email : info@niehoff.de Website : www.niehoff.de

Detail of a D type double twist ▲ ▲ bunching machine with the new energy-saving ECO-BOW

Nova’s role in stranding and bunching Nova Srl specialises in the design and manufacture of machines and systems for wire and cable industries. The company’s production range includes take-up and payoff systems of any type and class. These include the double-twist bunching machine, double-twist stranding machine, single- twist stranding machine, rigid-cage stranding machine, tubular machine, drum twister line, armouring line, rewinding line and taping line. Nova’s production has always been characterised by manufacturing quality, with the use of high quality parts and components. Its machines are manufactured exclusively in Italy in at its two plants. Nova Srl – Italy Fax : +39 39 6985321 Email : nova@novait.it Website : www.novait.it

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EuroWire – January 2011