New insulating materials and process equipment for the consolidation of coils and Roebel bars

The driving force of material and process development in the insulation technology of rotating high voltage machines has changed in the last ten to fifteen years. Being mainly technology driven in the past, cost has become the determining factor in the industry. Improvements in products or processing are only accepted if they reduce overall cost. On the other hand, high voltage motors and generators are long-life capital goods and a reduction in reliability cannot be tolerated. To be successful in the market any development of new insulating materials has to reflect these facts. For this reason a new range of fast curing products for the consolidation of Roebel bars and double layer coils has been developed. The application of the new fast curing materials can be automated using new types of equipment for the production and consolidation of Roebel bars. The new fast curing materials provide a substantial reduction of. processing time and saving of hot press capacity and energy. Together with the new automated Roebelling and application equipment they go a long way towards cost reduction in the production of rotating high voltage machines.