The 47th General Meeting of the International Association “Intercable”

The 47th General Meeting of the International Association “Intercable” took place on May 19-23 of this year in Belgrade, Serbia. Within the framework of the General Meeting, a Scientific & Technical Symposium was held on the topic of “Specialty cables and wires (automotive cables and wires, winding wires including enameled wires): design, technology, manufacturing equipment, materials and test equipment.” The Scientific & Technical Symposium consisted of two parts:

Session 1: Winding wires, including enameled wires.

Session 2: Cables and wires for automotive industry.

Session 1 included six presentations:

-          Scientific and Technical Aspects of Winding wire production development in Russia (“VNIIKP OJSC, Russia);

-          The Use of Enameled and Fiberglass Insulated Wires for the Wind Industry Winding Wire (Newtech S.r.l., Italy);

-          MAG’s newest technical and technological issues and improvements based on R&D(MAG Maschinen und Apparatebau AG, Austria);

-          Trend of Magnet Wire in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Latest Developments on Enamels for Aluminum Application (ELANTAS Italia S.r.l., Italy);

-          The Future of Mica Tape’s Use as an Insulator in Winding Wires and Heat-resistant Wires (COGEBI Group of Elinar Holding, Belgium-Russia);

-          Voltatex®Voltron Systems – Wire enamels with improved Corona Resistance (Axalta Coating Systems Germany GmbH, Germany).

The presentations’ analysis in regards to the manufacturing of winding wires confirms that there is a continuing trend of diminishing rate of production of enameled wires across Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union. The main reason for this trend is a sharp reduction in the levels of domestic manufacturing of electrical equipment. At the same time, the output levels of winding wires with paper, fiberglass and plastic tape insulation remain relatively steady. The design of enameling lines is improving which, on one hand, allows to solve environmental concerns (elimination of pollution) and, on the other hand, produce enameled wires using a combination of enamels. A special attention is paid to the production techniques for enameled wires made out of aluminum, including flat conductors. This is due to the fact that aluminum is cheaper than copper, which induces electrical equipment manufactures to use enameled aluminum wires increasingly more. The primary challenge that manufacturers of high quality enameled aluminum wires face is the necessity to improve adhesion of enamels to the conductor surface. One of the solutions offered for increasing adhesion is using special primers prior to applying the main enamel coating to the conductor. Therefore, the leading manufacturers of enamels produce several types of primers. The manufacturing process of specialty winding wires continues to see the use of polyimide-fluoropolymer tape (fairly common) and mica tape (less common).

Session 2 included eight presentations:

-          Market trend of Automotive Cables and Wires in Russia in terms of  “Samara Cable Company” CJSC (“Samara Cable Company” CJSC, Russia);

-          New developments of SAMP equipment for the production of Automotive Wire ( SAMP S.p.A. Sampsistemi Division, Italy);

-          Modern Automotive Wire Extrusion Techniques ( Davis-Standard LLC, USA);

-          Automotive@Rosendahl (Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH, Austria);

-          Automotive wires: Dynamics in Technology and Market (NIEHOFF Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co.KG, Germany);

-          Innovative Halogen Free Materials for Automotive Applications by Condor Compounds (Condor Compounds GmbH, Germany);

-          MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL PERFORMANCE POLYMERS as Manufacturer of Polymers  for Automotive Applications Ò2 and Ò3 According to ISO 6722 (Europe) and  JIS C3406 (Japan) (Mitsubishi Chemical Performance Polymers, France);

-          Speed optimization for crosslinked PE insulation (PE-Xa) at a horizontal CV line (SIEBE Engineering GmbH, Germany).

The analysis of the delivered presentations reveals that the primary current trend in the manufacturing of automotive wires is a complete transition to the use of fire-resistant wires. Most of the time fire-resistant compounds based on halogen-free ethylene-vinyl acetate  are used to produce insulation and jackets for these types of wires. These compounds also provide for low-smoke emissions in case of a fire. Another important trend is a wider use of aluminum conductors in automobiles, although this is creating a need for redesigning of wiring circuits. It is recommended that pros and cons are weighted in when it comes to the use of aluminum vs. copper, including the difference in cost of producing wires using aluminum or copper conductors.

The material from the scientific & technical symposium is published in a special report and mailed out to all members of IA “Intercable” in an electronic or print format. A presentation by J.Leppanen (Mailleffer S.A., Switzerland) “Mailleffer and Sub-sea Cable Production” was selected as the best presentation from the previous scientific & technical symposium, which was held in Prague (Czech Republic) in November of 2013.

The next, 48th, General Meeting of IA “Intercable” (including the scientific & technical symposium) will take place on December 1-5 of this year in Bremen, Germany. The following are going to be the topics of the scientific & technical symposium. Session 1: Unconventional research and test methods in cable engineering. Stationary equipment for cable product testing. Session 2: On-line processing technology in cable and wire manufacturing. In addition to the aforementioned topics, the President of IA "Intercable" will prepare and deliver a report on the state of the CIS cable industry during the first three quarters of 2014.