In addition to finding butt welds in automotive wire, the Minimac is also capable of detecting laps, seams, slivers, and cracks in magnetic and non magnetic grades of wire at speeds up to 4000 ft/min. Test frequencies can range from 2.5 Hz to 2 MHz.

Magnetic Analysis Corp.’s Minimac® MAC 40 is being successfully used to detect butt welds in stranded copper automotive wire ranging from 10 gage to as small as 24 gage, during the extrusion and coating process. Typically, large spools of wire are run through an extrusion line, which applies a coating, at speeds of 1200 ft/min to 3500 ft/min. However, because it is difficult and time consuming to thread the wire when the end of a coil is near, the beginning of the next coil is welded to the end of the previous one to maintain a constant run. The Minimac instrument uses eddy current technology with high speed test coils to detect the weld and provide outputs that are tracked by the customer’s PLC to allow the weld zone to be cut out down-line, before shipment to the end user.

The Minimac is a high performance, low cost, compact eddy current tester designed for production line applications. The unit is set up and controlled using a separate monitor and keyboard. Complete networking capabilities are included. In the installation described above, the customer uses a portable monitor and keyboard for setup and then allows the tester to run unmonitored until there is a change in the size of the wire being inspected.

In addition to finding butt welds in automotive wire, the Minimac is also capable of detecting laps, seams, slivers, and cracks in magnetic and non magnetic grades of wire at speeds up to 4000 ft/min. Test frequencies can range from 2.5 Hz to 2 MHz.

Optional software can extend its application with the use of instantaneous suppression of the relay output for unwanted signals, and a System-Not-Ready control can stop the line, if there is a problem with the tester or test coil. Test data, including a virtually unlimited number of setups can be stored, recalled, annotated, and printed using a keyboard or keypad.
 

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