wiredInUSA November 2020

High-tech rewind Windak has supplied its latest rewind line, OW26T-UW26T, to a major fiber optic cable manufacturer in the USA. The unit’s main feature is the integrated SafeWind unit, which enhances the laying quality and ensures safety during the winding process. The laying unit has adjustable guide rollers for the correct cable width and it is driven by a motion control drive and AC motor. Laying pitch is set on the main panel and turning points are set and controlled by a recipe memory. All manual functions - including turn point while running in automatic pitch - can be fine-tuned by remote control during the winding operation. The laying unit is traversed to the side for loading and unloading of the reels and has 16-inch vertical adjustment to have the cable come straighter to the reel. Maximum reel size is 2.59m, and maximum weight is 7,250kg. Maximum achievable line speed is 200mpm in “speed” mode. An integrated laying unit is mounted on the take-up.

Wear your heart rate on your sleeve? Portland-based Liquid Wire produces advanced fluid circuits on both plastic and textile substrates using a metal gel based on a patented non-toxic gallium alloy modified with proprietary additives. The resulting circuit consists of fluid interconnects trapped in soft elastic materials, duplicating the mechanical behavior of a moving human body. This flexible circuitry allows sophisticated sensing and data processing functions to be directly integrated into form-fitting garments for medical wearables, safety clothing, or for non-wearable applications such as in robotics or aerospace. Performance garments, however, need regular laundering, subjecting them to heat and abrasion conditions that few electronics can withstand. In October the company announced that its stretchable circuitry had passed a stringent wash test regimen required by performance apparel makers. Jorge Carbo, innovation director of Liquid Wire, said: “Through a third-party validated wash test program with the textile experts at Hohenstein, we are pleased to have delivered on this promise of making our invisibly integrated electronics something

39

wiredInUSA November 2020