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.