Jiangxi Cable Co., Ltd., founded in 1969, is a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper Corporation Limited, which is listed in the Fortune Global 500. The company manufactures over 100 varieties of high, medium and low-voltage cables.
Driven by growing domestic demand for extra-high voltage (EHV) power grids, Jiangxi Cable began a reconstruction and expansion project for its 500kV EHV cable production in 2023. The project involves the installation of two VCV lines for EHV cables.
The requirements for insulation eccentricity and wall thickness homogeneity of EHV cables are significantly higher than those of standard cables. Therefore, the integrated measuring and control devices must feature advanced technology, reliable performance and precise measurement capabilities.
SIKORA initiated its cooperation with Jiangxi Cable over 20 years ago. The X-RAY 8000 systems have successfully operated on Jiangxi Cable’s CCV and VCV production lines for many years. Based on the high recognition of SIKORA’s technical reliability and professional service, Jiangxi Cable decided to equip each of its two new VCV production lines with two specialised systems: an X-RAY 8000 ADVANCED at the beginning of the production line and an X-RAY 8700 NXT at the end.
Installing the X-RAY 8000 ADVANCED at the hot position of the production line enables the real-time measurement, recording and display of cable wall thickness, eccentricity and diameter. Operators can use these precise measurement data to quickly adjust cable parameters, significantly reducing start-up adjustment time for eccentricity and avoiding excessive raw material consumption.
The X-RAY 8700 NXT, installed at the cold end of the production line, can measure the eccentricity and wall thickness of the outer shield, insulation layer and inner shield of the cooled cable. This ensures the timely detection and adjustment of potential deviations during production, minimises errors caused by manual sectioning and observation, and guarantees that all cables delivered to customers meet the required high-quality standards.
“In the current fiercely competitive market, reducing costs and increasing efficiency are key focuses for every cable manufacturer,” says Mr Liu, Chief Engineer at Jiangxi Cable. “After using SIKORA’s X-RAY 8000 for many years, we believe that the systems can effectively reduce material consumption during start-up eccentricity adjustment. Once production starts, only 10 to 30 metres of cable are needed to adjust the eccentricity to within 4%. Without the precise measurement and control provided by this system, it might require consuming more than ten times the material to achieve the same quality standards.”
The X-RAY 8000 ADVANCED and NXT from SIKORA provide continuous and precise monitoring of the cable production process. The systems ensure product quality while improving production efficiency and raw material utilisation, thereby strengthening users’ competitive advantages.
