EP2835332A1

EP2835332A1 - Procedure for the manufacture of a cable roll with individual packaging and cable roll with individual packaging obtained by this procedure

Info

Publication number: EP2835332A1
Application number: EP13382321.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Josep María Capdevila Domingo
Original assignee: Grupo General Cable Sistemas SA
Current assignee: Grupo General Cable Sistemas SA
Priority date: 2013-08-08
Filing date: 2013-08-08
Publication date: 2015-02-11

Abstract

The invention relates to a procedure for manufacturing cable rolls (10) with a dispensing cover (11), using electrically conducting cables (19) with insulating sheaths. The procedure including unwinding of the cable from a reel (20), passing it through a device (21) to check for perforations in the insulating sheath of the cable, winding of the cable on a roll former, formation of the cover by welding sheets (13) of PVC film pre-cut to predetermined formats, supplied vertically from a roll (23) of film and placed in front of and behind the cable roll, transfer of the covered roll to heating mantles (27) for shrinking the cover so that the whole roll is wrapped by the cover, punching (28) of the cover, folding the film towards the inside of the roll and labelling of the covered roll on the upper crown area.

Description

Object of the Invention.

More specifically the invention relates to a procedure for manufacturing cable rolls, with their respective individual packaging, such cable rolls, preferably but not exclusively, being for the transport of electricity, with a copper core and one or more layers, the outermost insulation.
A second object of the invention is the set comprising the individual packaging with the cable roll inside, with its formal and functional characteristics.

State of the Art.

There is a wide variety of cable rolls on the market with individual packaging in the form of a cover of preferably plastic material, on sale in hardware stores and electrical material distributors, with different cable lengths such as 10, 20, 30 metres, and various thicknesses, and these must therefore be considered the state of the art closest to the invention.
Besides these packages in the form of covers, this type of system also typically includes one or more ties or straps to join the various loops of the roll in one or more places.
Such packages in the form of covers that completely protect the cable roll are used by manually tearing the cover and cutting the desired length of cable. However, such types of packages in the form of covers have the drawback that once the cover is removed by tearing and the straps joining the various loops of the roll are cut, the cable unravels and becomes soiled when stored and knots form when it is used again, meaning that the roll is only used partially, being difficult to store once it has lost its original roll form.
Other types of cable rolls on the market are presented by winding the cable round a plastic or cardboard reel. However, although they do not have the above drawbacks, they are more expensive because of the aforementioned reel require an additional operation to wind the cable round the reel, unlike rolls without reels.
Therefore, the procedures for the formation of such cable rolls and their subsequent packaging have been designed, on the one hand, to wind the cable from a large capacity cable reel and, on the other hand, to wrap the roll in a full protective cover for storage, transport and subsequent sale to users, either installers or simple users who perform minor repairs to the electrical installation of their homes, who in order to use parts of the cable from the cable roll with its cover, as described above, have to destroy the latter with the aforementioned drawbacks.

Purpose of the Invention.

The purpose of this invention is to obtain a new procedure for manufacturing cable rolls, which reduces the number of parts used in the packaging while allowing the user to remove a section of cable from inside the packaging without unravelling the rest of the roll, which can then be stored in the same cover for a future occasion without the possibility of the remaining cable unwinding.
Another purpose of this invention is the cable roll and packaging as a unit, obtained by the aforementioned manufacturing process.

Description of the Invention.

The proposed invention describes a procedure for the formation of a roll of electrically conductive cable, preferably with a section of 0.5 mm² to 10 mm², and the subsequent inclusion thereof in individual packaging in the form of a plastic cover made of heat-shrink PVC heat-shrink or any other material with similar properties to PVC.
Another object of the invention is the unit comprising the cable roll along with the individual cover, which as one of the objects of the invention has been designed to protect the roll during storage and distribution, until purchased by the user, at which time, thanks to the characteristics of the cover, allows the dispensing of the cable in sections without the cable, which is arranged inside the aforementioned cover, becoming unravelled, while the cover remains sufficiently undamaged for the remaining cable to be stored in the form of a roll inside.
One of the advantages of the cable+cover unit is that no ties or straps are required to hold the loops of the roll together, thereby eliminating a component of the cable+cover unit while eliminating a stage of assembly.
Moreover, another advantage of this cable+cover unit is that it makes it possible to store the cable remaining after an operation in roll form more than once, thus ensuring that the excess cable remains perfectly coiled and neatly stored for subsequent use.
The procedure for the formation of the roll and its subsequent inclusion in the individual cover consists of the following steps:

Step a) Formation of the cable roll:

Unwinding of the cable from a large capacity cable reel and testing to ensure there are no perforations and that the cable is in perfect condition.
Formation of the roll using an automatic cable distributor with vertical winding discs of various capacities.

Step b) Placement of the individual cover on the cable roll:

Vertical dispenser of preferably PVC film, so that the guided cable roll is frontally covered, and subsequent cutting of the excess film by welding the latter with electric resistors.
Transfer of the cable roll wrapped in the plastic film cover to heating mantles or the like for shrinking by hot air for a period of between 0.5 and 10 seconds.
Operation for the punching of the wrapped cable roll and folding of the film towards the interior thereof.
Optionally, labelling of the wrapped cable roll with the relevant label on one or both sides.

The temperature in the first heating mantle is between 120 and 160°, preferably for about 2-5 seconds, and in the second, between 100 and 140°, and for about 5 to 20 seconds.
The advantage of using PVC film arises from the surprising properties this material has shown in this procedure, compared with many empirical tests performed by the applicant with other possible materials. However, the PVC film, unlike other similar materials, is able to cool very rapidly (i.e. it shows extremely fast shrinking times, much faster than other materials tested, such as polyethylene films) and therefore clings rapidly to the cable roll. Another advantage shown by PVC for this procedure is the welding at the edges, achieving a very strong weld of the latter.
The PVC film used is preferably a rigid PVC film with a thickness of between 40 and 60 microns, preferably 50 microns.
As described above, the film dispenser is vertical, as this has a shrinkage of about 60% in a longitudinal direction and about 10% in a horizontal direction, achieving a strong grip around the roll, thereby eliminating the need for tying the cable loops.
The procedure described above allows the production of a cable roll with a rigid heat-shrink PVC cover with a thickness of about 50 microns.
This cover can include two or more seams on the perimeter of the cover, which consists of two pre-cut sheets of PVC film, which surround the cable roll above and below, the length of the cable roll for this invention being from 2 to 30 metres, by way of example but with other lengths being possible.
The advantages of the proposed covered roll are:

Absence of ties round the roll.
The packaging itself serves as a container.
It allows storage of rolls horizontally or hanging from the hole in the centre of the roll.
High quality, aesthetic appearance.
Reduction of waste and use of just one material: the film.

Other details and characteristics shall be shown throughout the description below referring to drawings attached to this report which are shown for illustrative but not limiting purposes only in a drawing of the invention.

Description of the drawings.

Below is a list of the different parts of the invention, indicated in the attached drawings with their respective numbers: (10) covered roll, (11) cover, (12) seam, (13) sheets, (14) uncovered roll, (15) core, (16) upper crown, (17) label, (18) cable (19) outlet end, (19) cable, (20) cable unwinding, (21) spark tester for cable (19) control, (22) shape of roll on vertical discs, (23) dispenser, (24) cutting of PVC film, (25) welding, (26) transport of roll with cover (10), (27) heating mantles and shrinkage, (28) punching of cover (11), (29) labelling, (30) vertical discs, (31) perimeter zone.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the various steps or phase of roll (14) manufacturing procedure, and its wrapping in the sheets (13-14) welded at the seams (12) and subsequent shrinkage, punching and labelling of the cover (11).
Figure 2 is a top plan view of the cable roll (10) with cover (11), in which the label (17) is placed over the upper crown (16) of the cover (11).
Figure 3 is a side elevation view of the cable roll (10) with the cover (11), showing the position of the seam (12) and the end (18) of the cable (19) in the cover (11), which is protected (18) by the cover (11).

Description of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In one embodiment of the invention, in relation to the manufacturing process, the latter starts with the unwinding of a large capacity cable (19) reel (30), to minimize the disruption of the procedure and reduction of performance of the latter, passing the cable (19) through a spark tester (21) to check (19) and detect perforations in the cable (19) cover (11).
The cable (19) then enters a roll former (14) with vertical discs (30) of various diameters for the coiling of (19), followed by the formation of the cover (11) by the welding of films supplied vertically and cut to predetermined formats to obtain sheets (13-14), which are placed in front of and behind the uncovered roll (14), followed by the welding of these sheets (13-14) with one or more seams (12), located in the perimeter zone (31), using the relevant electric resistors.
The covered (11) roll (10) is then transferred by any known means to heating mantles (27), where the cover (11) is shrunk to cover the whole roll (14).
Finally, the cover (11) is punched manually or automatically, folding the film towards the inside of (10), followed by the labelling (17) of the roll (10) on the upper crown area (16).
The roll (10), as shown in Figure 2 and 3, contains a set of cable loops (19) with one end (18) facing slightly towards the perimeter zone (31) of the surface of the cover. The cable (19) end (18) is on the inside of the cover (11), preventing it being pulled while on display in shops and stores. When the user wants to use the roll (10), he/she pierces slightly the part of the perimeter zone facing (18) and pulls on the cable (19), then cutting the desired length with a suitable tool.
The cover (11), as shown in Figure 3, has respective seams (12) joining its two halves, and has a core and/or hole (15) to allow placement in a display with a rod not shown in the figures that pass through (15).
Having sufficiently described this invention using the figures attached, it is easy to understand that any modification may be made to the detail which may be deemed to be appropriate, whenever these changes do not alter the scope of the invention summarised in the following claims.

Claims

"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" of the kind that uses electrically conducting cables with insulating sheaths with an inner section of the conductive portion of between 1 and 20 mm² and a cable length of between 2 and 30 m, wrapping the roll in a plastic cover, characterised in that the procedure comprises the following steps:
- Unwinding of the cable from a reel, passing it through a device to check for perforations in the insulating sheath of the cable.

- Winding of the cable on a roll former with vertical discs of various diameters.

- Formation of the cover by welding sheets of film pre-cut to predetermined formats, supplied vertically from a roll of film and place in front of and behind the cable roll.

- Transfer of the covered roll to heating mantles for shrinking the cover so that the whole roll is wrapped by the cover.

- Punching of the cover, folding the film towards the inside of the roll.

- Labelling of the covered roll on the upper crown area.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 1, characterised in that the temperature in the first heating mantle is between 120 and 160°, for 3 seconds, and in the second, between 100 and 140°, for about 5 to 20 seconds.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 1, characterised in that the punching of the cover is performed at room temperature.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 1, characterised in that the labelling of the cable cover is done on one side only.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 1, characterised in that the cover include two or more seams.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 1, characterised in that the cover is formed by welding two sheets of PVC film, the seam being located at the perimeter of the roll.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 6, characterised in that the thickness of the heat-shrink PVC film is between 40 and 60 microns.
"PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CABLE ROLL WITH DISPENSING COVER" according to the claim 7, characterised in that the thickness of the film is 50 microns.
"CABLE ROLL WITH INDIVIDUAL PACKAGING" obtained by the procedure stated in any of the preceding claims.
"CABLE ROLL WITH INDIVIDUAL PACKAGING", characterised in that the individual packaging can include a cover comprising two or more seams on the perimeter of the cover, which consists of two pre-cut sheets of PVC film, which surround the cable roll above and below.