Nexans Cable
Nexans Cable
Nexans Cable
General
The specifications for high voltage cable
require a special cable design. The cable
core of such cables, i.e. inner conductor
with insulation, can be provided with a metallic sheath. The used material (aluminium,
copper, steel and even their alloys) has a
very high stability and does not tend to intercrystalline corrosion.
Nexans UNIWEMA machines are available in various sizes, for cable core diameters of around 50 mm to more than
300 mm. For sheathing of High Voltage
Cables the UNIWEMA 200 is best suitable, as core diameters range from around
50 mm to 200 mm. The sheath can be
applied continuously with, for instance,
aluminium of approx. 0.5 mm to 2.5 mm
Conductor Screen
Insulation
Conductor
Insulation Screen
PE Sheath
Metallic Sheath
Forming table
edges at the welding point. They must exactly meet each other with a minimum gap.
With the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding
method the two strip edges are molten and
welded together by an electric arc.
The concentrated heat effect of the arc produces a narrow weld area, whereby the
welding heat is quickly dissipated along
the tube surface. A protective gas layer
prevents the formation of an oxide layer in
the weld area. A constant welding current
is required to obtain a uniform good quality
of the welded seam.
A current rise control (PLC) adjusts the welding
current automatically to the capstan speed.
The set welding current vs. manufacturing
speed relationship for a given tube or cable
sheath can be stored in a computer and retrieved whenever an identical product is to
be produced. Restart of the welding operation without welding defects is possible after
an intermediate stop.
The standard UNIWEMA is equipped with
a single electrode. In applications where
the maximum allowable welding current
with one electrode is insufficient for the welding of thicker strips or if higher speeds are
desired the UNIWEMA can also be operated with a 3-electrode welding torch system,
Polyarc welder.
For fully continuous TIG welding, Nexans
has developed a new system called
TwinTorch.
Cable take-up
Welding station
Tube reduction
unit
Corrugation unit
Control panel
Split camp caterpillar
capstan
Forming
tool
UNIWEMA HV
Strip pay-off
The design of the strip pay-off depends on
the packaging of the metal strip supply.
It can be supplied with a number of desired
accessories, e.g. with horizontal shifting
and vertical lift unit.
Forming table
The following sub-units are mounted on the
forming table: strip brake and strip edge
guide, strip edge trimming unit and the strip
forming tool. The welding torch with a video
microscope is mounted at the far end of
the forming table.
The metal strip must be completely free of
dust and grease and the strip edges must
be free of oxides. This is a precondition for
obtaining a perfect welding seam, which
is particularly important in TIG welding.
In order to obtain oxide-free strip edges,
the strip must be slightly trimmed on both
sides, which is accomplished by rotary
knives. The waste strip is then transported
over guide rollers to take-up spools located
on both sides of the forming table.
The waste strip take-ups are tension
controlled. The width of the cut strip can be
adjusted during the set up of the operation,
thus ob-taining the required strip width for
the subsequent forming step. The separate
stages of each forming tool are mounted
on its own base plate and adjusted so that
the base plate can be lifted easily and
replaced by another forming tool, whenever
a change of type or diameter is desired.
Welding station
The welding station with the TIG welding
head is located in the center of the UNIWEMA machine. The design concept is
based on the requirement for a reliable
continuous operation of the machine whereby, after a production stop, an automated
restart is assured. For this purpose, the welding head is movable in all three directions
in its mounting. For the start of the machine,
the welding head is moved perpendicularly
to the seam to be welded and placed in
the working position, adapted to the tube
diameter. From this position, the welding
torch is lowered by a motor to a location
above the seam and via an electronically
controlled distance adjustment placed in
the proper working position. It is also possible
to move the welding head in the direction
of the welded seam to ensure restart without
welding defects.
The welding equipment consists of the welding torch, control units (video microscope,
camera and monitor) and exhauster.
The welding electrode in the welding torch
is water-cooled and can be vertically moved.
A protective gas is supplied through a nozzle, which envelops the welding arc and the
weld area in order to prevent oxidation of
the molten area and the heated metal surface.
Cable take-up
Different types of cable take-ups can be
installed in-line with the UNIWEMA HV.
We do recommend traversing portal takeups which are synchronized with the line
speed via dancer.
Technical Data
mm
50 - 200
mm
50 - 200
Steel
mm
0.5 - 1.5
Copper
mm
0.5 - 2.0
Aluminium
mm
0.5 - 2.5
Metal Alloy
mm
On request
m/min
2-8
Corrugation Speed
1/min
800
The small wall thicknesses apply to small tube diameters whereas the heavier wall thicknesses are preferably
used with the larger tube diameters. The type of welding system (TIG or LASER) used depends on the required
wall thickness and tube materials. If required, the Polyarc TIG welding torch must be employed for heavier
walls and faster manufacturing speeds.
For special applications it is possible to furnish UNIWEMA machines for smaller or larger tube diameters.
The largest machine supplied so far was for a smooth tube diameter of 450 mm.
Nexans Deutschland Industries GmbH & Co. KG Production Lines and Technology
Kabelkamp 20 30179 Hannover Germany
Phone +49 511 676-2321 Fax +49 511 676-3777
eMail: uniwema.tech@nexans.com www.nexans.de