Training Report Production Department

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. Assembly Section

.1 Introduction

In fact the Rotating Machine section divided in four main tasks :

Assembly Section

Assembling

Sector Circular Segmental

Armoring

Tape Wire

Steal Steal

Aluminum Aluminum

Screening

Tape Wire Soft

Lead

Fig..1 Assembly section

The description of each section:

 An Assembly, to put in one cables all phases together; and covers them with
propylene tape.
 Armoring which covered cables by (steel or aluminum) (tape or wire), to protect
the cable against mechanical stresses like for example ground pressure
 Lead the cable or conductor is covered by layer of layer of lead to protect the
cable against water penetration or chemicals Reaction
 Screening the cable is covered by layer of cupper (tape or wire), to earth the
cable.

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Not all these steps need to be followed to manufacture a cable it depends mainly on the
customer requirements or the final conditions and situation of the cable (marine,
petroleum, etc.)

.2 Assembly Section

As said before the main function of this stage to put in one cables all phases together;
and covers them with propylene tape.

During this first step all conductors are assembled together in one cable and after that
the cable is covered with polypropylene tape

Any kind of cable can be assembled in this step.

For section conductors with higher cross section areas the performing lay length can be
done during the stranding operation but for small areas this operation is done directly
during the assembly operation.

If the performing lay length was made in the stranding machines the RPM of the pay off
and take up of the assembly machine must be very high to maintain the lay length
however if the lay length is carried out in the assembly section the RPM of pay off is fixed
while the take up is rotating to be able to apply the lay length to the complete assembled
cable.

.2.1 Assembly Machine Block Diagram

Pay Off Assembly Block Correct Angle Dies Stage

Take up Tape or Armoring Stage

Fig .2 Assembly Machine Block Diagram

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Pay off this stage is very important because we

must care about the tension between it and the take
up stage. For assembly we used motor because we
need a low tension but in armoring case we using
pneumatic system cause we need a high tension

Assembly Block this block to assemble the phases

and can assemble with it filler.

Fig.3 Pay off

Fig. 5.4 Assembly Block

Correct angle when we perform the lay with sector cable we must to be sure that all
lays have correct angle with each other this block do this job by determine range of
angles for trying to correct the angle but if angle be larger or less than the range the
machine stopped immediately and trying to correct the angle manually.

Die Stage this stage generally is three dies first die make the assembly function only the
second die make the assembly with compact the cable the third and the last die used
with the second die when we need segmental cable used for installed the long die.

Tape or Armoring Block this in real is two block the first is tape block for put taping to
the cable and the kind of the tape is polypropylene and the second is for armoring the
cable and this stage is optional depend on the customer requirements.

Fig..5 Taping and Armoring

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Take up this block as we said before must its tension

synchronized with the pay off

.2.2 Assembly M/Cs

 Assembly 2600
 Assembly 1600
Fig. 5.6 Take up
5.2.2.1 Assembly 2600

This machine is used with all kind of process: Assembly armoring (steel wire armoring
SWA or steel tape armoring STA) and screening.

Fig. 5.7 Assembly 2600 Pay off

Pay offs there are five pay offs one with a maximum diameter of 2600 mm used with
long bobbin and four with a maximum diameter 2200 mm. the big pay off is used for
armoring and the other four for assembling up to four conductors.

Maximum weight supported with pay off 2600 10 TON and for pay off 2200 is 8 TON.

Take ups one take which is rotating at low speed because in this machine the lay length
is high used for both the assembly and armoring operation.
The maximum weight of take up 2600 is 10 TON.

Max. Formation lay length from 300 to 2500 mm

Max. Number of armoring wire is 56 wires

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The assembly Head contains the Screw axis and two Die holders. The first die has a
diameter equal to the diameter of the cable with an extra 2 or 3 mm and it fixes the
cable to avoid movement during the entire assembly operation; the second die has a
suitable diameter with no tolerance to compact the cable, and to make it as much
rounded as possible.

Cage with propylene tape device. It is possible:

(a) to put one tape with a percentage of over
lap, (b) to put two tapes at the same time, with
over lap between them to increase the speed
of the machine and the production. The speed
of the assembly machine is determined by the
RPM of that device. This tape is added to
separate the insulation from the bedding.
Fig. 5.9 Two tapes operation

.2.2.3 Assembly 1600

Assembly machine 1600. It is used just for assembling and armoring (steel wire). In the
assembly operation, this machine is used just with round conductors with small sizes,
basically control cables, and made up to 24 phases.

The Machine description

.. Assembly 1600 Machine

Five Pay offs, one with a maximum diameter of 1600 mm used with long bobbins and
used for either assembling or armoring operations, and four with the same maximum size
but fixed used just for assembling Can support 630 too.

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One Take up, which is rotating at a very high speed because the lay length in this case
is small, used for both the assembly and armoring operations; For safety reasons because
of the high speed, it is kept inside a cage.

Roller with four bases, to collect and change

the direction of the phases.

Two Guides with holes to guide the

conductors up to the head; it is possible to
decide which holes to use depending on the
number of phases to be assembled.

Max. Formation lay length from 50 to 550

mm

Max. Number of armoring

Fig11 Assembly Head In Assembly 1600 Machine
wire is 50 wires

5.3 Armoring Section

.3.1 Armoring Operation

The armoring stage is carried out to protect the cable

against any mechanical stresses like for example
ground pressure appeared over the underground cable
when a big truck is passing over generating a pressure
force through the soil that may reach the cable.
When the cable is working under normal conditions, the
current flowing through the conductors generates a
magnetic field which products current circulating along
the layer of armoring; therefore it needs to be grounded in some point.

.3.2 Types of Armoring

1) Steel tape armoring

Two types of steel tape armoring: Normal or galvanized; since the first one can be
corroded easily, the second type, although more expensive, is used to protect the
armoring against corrosion.

This type of armoring is carried out basically to protect the cable against any
horizontal mechanical stresses as explained before. Apart from that, it can also carry
the earthing fault current.

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This type of armoring is done with two steel tapes by using an over gap process: The
second layer of tape is placed over the first one by 50 % over gap of the tape width,
the size of the tape is specified by its width and thickness as follows

Tape width x Tape thickness

The next sizes are available: 15 x 0.2, 20 x 0.2, 30 x 0.2, 40 x 0.2, 40 x 0.5, 50 x 0.5,
60 x 0.5, 50 x 0.8, and 60 x 0.8. The tape width depends on the diameter of the
cable; its value is typically near the value of the diameter of the cable; for example if
the diameter is 25 mm the size of the tape chosen is 30 x 0.2. The tape thickness
depends on the voltage of the cable: (a) 0.2 and 0.5 are used in LV, (b) 0.5 and 0.8
are used in MV. The values for widths and thicknesses must be according to the
Standards specifications.

2) Steel wire armoring (galvanized)

This type of armoring is carried out to protect the cable against strains, i.e. horizontal
tensions appeared along the cable, the same as for the steel tape armoring, the wires
can also carry the earthing fault current.

The operation is carried out by covering all the surface area of the cable with wire;
the called "Armoring Lay" (one period of wire moving around the cable) can be
determined as follows

Armoring lay = factor X diameter of the cable

The value of this factor is around 10 or 11, and it is calculated from several formulas.
It is important to differentiate the armoring lay from the performing lay carried out
during the stranding or the assembly operations.

3) Aluminum tape armoring and Aluminum wire armoring (not galvanized)

Aluminum is used with single core cables to avoid the magnetic field appeared in the
armoring layer; There is no magnetic field appeared in this material. Aluminum does
not allow carrying the earthing fault current because its conductivity is very low.

3.3. Armoring process

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Armoring machine 2600 (maximum diameter of Pay off). It can be used for armoring
(steel wire or steel tape) and screening (copper wire).

A very general description of the different parts of the machine is given as follows:

- One Pay off and one Take up. The Pay off has a break to be able to apply tension to
the cable. The Take up has two movements: One straight to accumulate the cable on
the bobbin, and another one in rotation to make the lay.

- One Guide to center the cable.

- Two Cages to put tape before armoring. It is used copper tape and / or semi-
conducting tape. Sometimes it is necessary to use just one type of tape; therefore one
of the two machines can be switched off. The same technique used in the assembly
operation is used here too to put the tapes.

- Big Caterpillar which needs to rotate due to the rotation of the Take up. Two types
of belts can be used in this caterpillar: Flat used with cables of small diameter, and
concave for bigger diameters.

- The Control of the machine is carried out by means of a computer. The main
parameters to be introduced are: (a) Rotation of the Pay off, left or right, and
maintaining always opposite directions for assembling and armoring, specially in LV
cables because of the use of sector conductors; (b) for the cages, to specify whether
the armoring or screening head will be used or not, the armoring lay (right or left
side), and the rotation speed.

Assembly 2600 support up to 96 wires armoring; but in case of Assembly 1600 support
up to 61 wires.

4 Screening Section

.4.1. Screening operation

LV cables carry typically three

phases and one neutral. However,
MV (multi core) and HV (single
core) cables carry just three
phases, being necessary to have an

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"extra" neutral to carry the fault current, short circuit current, etc; this is done by means
of the screening.

Customers determine the quantity of screening being used by specifying the weight of
screening per meter of cable or also by giving the cross-sectional area of screening. As a
result of this, it needs to be determined the type of material used for screening: Copper
wire or copper tape, being necessary to specify the diameter in case of using copper wire, or
the over lapping in case of using tape.

The maximum over lap is 48 % with higher percentages it is necessary to use copper wire
instead of copper tape, with the same technique as the one used for armoring.

Two main benefits of using copper tape are: (a) possibility of deviating the current (electric
field) far away from the point where an existing insulation problem may appear (impurities,
etc); there is no surface area covered with the copper wire to make the deviation (there is a
distance between wires); (b) possibility of having the earthing for the cable. The main
benefit of using copper wire is to earth the cable.

In the case of using copper wire, a new technique is being carried out to avoid using copper
tape: To decrease the diameter of the wire and increase the number of wires. However,
some customers still prefer to use copper tape to ensure the connection.

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