EuroWire November 2014

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Boosting fire protection

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 : www.melos-gmbh.com Inhol BV – The Netherlands Website : www.inhol.com 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 : www.omcg.com

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

▲ ▲ Fire protection from the inside

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.

Automatic precision at high speed

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 : www.roblon.com

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November 2014