Means for sensing an undesirable approach angle in a level wind coiler

摘要

A level winding apparatus for coiling elongated material, such as wire or tube, into a compact coil. A non-contacting device located near a spooling arrangement for coiling consists of at least two parallel spaced-apart arm arrangements each located on either side of the material as it is wound onto a spool. Each arm arrangement is adjustable to accommodate the transverse dimension of the material and carries a photoelectric control unit having fiber optic carrying cables connected to transmitter and receiver means for creating a high intensity light field extending at least a length to accommodate a range of paths of travel the material takes from the feeding means to the spool starting from an empty spool to build-up of the coil. An undesirable approach angle of the material onto the spool is detected and a correction is made so that the formed coil contains a number of superimposed layers each with a number of evenly and closely abutting adjacent windings.