New England Wire Technologies News

MEREDITH – “The Declaration of Inspiration” was the theme of the recent 16th Annual New Hampshire Economic Development Summit held at the Inns at Mill Falls in Meredith and inspired service and innovation led to New England Wire Technologies being named “the Commissioner's Company of the Year” at the Summit.

In making the announcement, New Hampshire Department of Resources & Economic Development Commissioner George Bald said, “New England Wire Technologies products are used the world-over for a variety of different industries and applications, including medical device components, the automotive industry, defense and aerospace contractors, telecommunications designers, audio/visual component manufacturers, cable assembly houses and more. Its highly regarded team of engineers has been called 'miracle workers,' having designed multiconductor cable, multiconductor cord, litz wire, high temperature electronic wire or custom cables to perform in applications that are incredibly demanding. On the business end of things, its sales office makes sure the materials are priced competitively and are shipped in a timely manner. We know of few other companies in the industry that can produce the 'Big 3' of Quality, Price and Timeliness like New England Wire Technologies.”

For more than 100 years, New England Wire Technologies has worked hard to earn its reputation for superior quality and service to its customers. The company is especially proud that it continues to serve the children and grandchildren of some of the first people it did business with.

Other category winners included:

“Commissioner’s Teamwork Award” – New Hampshire Talent Team, a cooperative effort of NHWorks and White Mountains Community College, for its efforts in preparing workers and businesses in the North Country for the introduction of the Federal

Correctional Institution in Berlin, which is resulting in new jobs for workers and increased spending at businesses.

“Commissioner’s Exemplary Effort Award” – Commissioner Chris Clement and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation for their efforts following Hurricane Irene in repairing roads and bridges, thereby assisting the state’s tourism economy and ensuring that visitors would be able to access some of the state's most treasured attractions.

“Commissioner’s Employer Recognition Award” (presented jointly with the NH Division of Vocational Rehabilitation) – RKM Research and Communication, Inc. for their ongoing commitment to inclusive hiring practices that recognize the contributions that workers with disabilities bring to a productive and profitable workplace.

“Commissioner’s Extra Mile Award” – Jack Donovan of the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority for his efforts in ensuring that New Hampshire companies have the resources that they need to grow, thrive and succeed.

The 16th Annual New Hampshire Economic Development Summit was sponsored by Public Service of New Hampshire with support from media sponsor New Hampshire Business Review.

New England Wire Technologies Corporation (NEWTC) has recently been awarded a contract by US ITER at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN in support of the multibillion-dollar, international fusion research project ITER. ITER is an experimental facility that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.

The ITER project is a worldwide scientific collaboration supported by the People’s Republic of China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States. The facility will be constructed near Cadarache in southeastern France on a nearly 100 acre site.

Nuclear fusion occurs naturally in stars, like the sun. When hydrogen gets hot enough, the process of fusion occurs, releasing energy. ITER will allow scientists to explore the physics of fusion in a sun-like burning plasma. Fusion holds promise as an environmentally safe and abundant energy source.

The ITER device is based on the “tokamak” concept, in which plasma of more than 100 million degrees is confined in a doughnut-shaped vessel. The plasma is controlled by magnetic fields generated by superconducting cables wound into shaped coils. The ITER machine will be the largest tokamak ever built, and is designed to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for over 400 seconds. If successful, ITER will lead to the future commercialization of fusion energy.

NEWTC’s current contract responsibilities are to produce qualification lengths of toroidal field (TF) cables with options of manufacturing nine active cables, 770 meters in length or just under half a mile. Each cable contains more than 1,400 strands with a completed weight of around 15,000 lbs. These nine cables would be enough to wind one TF coil. The ITER device will contain 18 TF coils that are used to create a magnetic field around the tokamak to confine the plasma particles.

The scope of the qualification lengths will entail handling more than 5 million feet of strand. The strands in the TF cables are comprised primarily of superconducting material. Superconductor wire operates essentially with no resistance to electric current; however, the cables must be operated at cryogenic temperatures, or below -238 degrees Fahrenheit. Producing the nine active cables would require using over 40 tons of superconductor strands.

NEWTC has previously performed work on TF sample cables, or cables comprised entirely of copper, to prove the cabling technique and provide samples for testing different cable architectures developed by ITER. These sample cables were shorter in length, however; additional equipment is needed to increase capabilities to be able to produce the 770 meter cables.

The qualification lengths should be completed by the first quarter of 2012, with the nine active lengths to run through 2014. There is still a vast amount of work to be done in a variety of other systems for the ITER project; the superconducting coils are only a portion of the entire device. ITER plans to achieve a first plasma burn in 2019. The facility is scheduled to be fully operational by 2025.

New England Catheter is proud to announce the opening of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. Previously located on two floors of New England Wire Technologies’ original 1898 building, the new facility has over 13,000 square feet of manufacturing space all on one floor and increases our overall space by more than 50%.

The new facility consists of three separate manufacturing areas, each having its own controlled environment. The tubing reinforcement area contains our spiral reinforcing and braid reinforcing machinery. It also has additional space for the adding specialized equipment for the manufacturing of miniature electrical conductors. The extrusion area will continue to allow for tubing manufacturing as well as electrical insulating of miniature coaxial cables and sensor cables. The redesign of our new value added processing area will improve product flow, thus helping to reduce processing and inspection time.

Both technical and supervisory support will be embedded within the manufacturing facility allowing for improved support for our manufacturing staff. New England Catheter is excited about these improvements in our manufacturing facilities and is anxious to expand our manufacturing services to new and existing customers.

New England Catheter focuses on manufacturing reinforced medical tubing products for less invasive surgical equipment and procedures. We work closely with our customers to help them through their product design, prototype development and manufacturing of their final components.

Contact us today at sales@necatheter.com or visit www.necatheter.com

Lisbon, NH - New England Wire Technologies, a world leader in the manufacture of specialty wire and cable products, introduces extruded ribbon cables. Typically manufactured with an adhesive bonding, our unique ribbon cables are manufactured using a proprietary extrusion process that allows multiple wires to be placed into a highly flexible flat cable, precisely controlling the wire spacing, the insulation thickness, and the overall cable shape while producing a more consistent, reliable cable at lower cost.

Excellent for use in limited spaces where conventional round cables may not fit, ribbon cables are ultra-flexible allowing them to bend around small diameters, follow the contour of any surface and be layered in trays. They also permit heat dissipation, reduce cross-talk and are easily separated for termination.

Our experienced technical staff work with customers to create a product meeting their individual requirements using a variety of conductor sizes and alloys, plastic insulations such as TPE, PVC and silicone rubber. All of our proprietary equipment and most tooling is designed and built in house allowing for complete control while offering quick in-process modifications and excellent lead times.

Our cable specialists are ready to begin working on custom ribbon cables for your robotics, control system, light power, patient monitoring equipment or any other application where you need flexible, reliable and consistent ribbon cable, zip cords or flat cable.

Litz wire used to improve efficiency of generator

LISBON, New Hampshire - New England Wire Technologies, a leading specialty wire manufacturer, announces partnership with Mariah Power, manufacturer of the Windspire®, a residential and commercial wind power appliance, to provide litz wire for the magnetic generator in the Windspire® vertical axis wind turbine. The litz wire is used in the generator of the Windspire, improving efficiency in the permanent magnet generator.

Mariah Power provides low-cost, attractive renewable wind energy generators to residential, business and government customers. Its patented Windspire technology maximizes energy conversion from wind into electric power, regardless of changing wind speed and direction. Windspire is distinguished by its sleek propeller-free design, silent operation, ease of installation and affordable pricing.

“Custom engineering wire solutions for all types of clients is what we do,” said Richard Jesseman, Marketing Director from New England Wire Technologies, “We are excited to begin working with a renewable energy manufacturer like Mariah Power.”

“We designed the Windspire as a complete system, with optimal system efficiency in mind,” said Mike Hess, CEO of Mariah Power, “Components such as litz wiring allows us to deliver a truly state-of-the-art vertical axis wind turbine.”

New England Wire Technologies has been providing multiconductor cable, litz wire, flat braided wire and custom cables and assemblies to our customers for over 100 years. Our products are used the world-over for a variety of different industries and applications, including medical device components, the automotive industry, defense and aerospace contractors, telecommunications designers, audio/visual component manufacturers, cable assembly houses and more.

Based in Reno, Nevada, Mariah Power provides low-cost, low-noise, attractive wind power appliances for use with residential, business, and commercial buildings. The company’s patented technology maximizes energy conversion from wind into the electric power, regardless of changing wind speed and direction. The company’s first vertical axis wind power appliance, Windspire®, is now available for shipment.

New England Wire Technologies and its subsidiary, New England Catheter, design and manufacture customized components for the medical device market. Our specialty products include wire and cables; braid reinforced tubing, catheter shafts with lubricious lining materials and hybrid tubing with multi-lumen and electrical conductors integral to the wall of the tubing. Our advanced extrusion expertise and extensive wire processing capabilities enable us to provide the most technologically advanced cables and reinforced catheters in the industry. Capabilities include thin-wall, close tolerance tubing, bonding layers of thermoplastic to fluoropolymer and braiding all types of round and flat wire. Spirally reinforced tubing offers the ability to increase flexibility, traceability and crush resistance as compared to braid reinforced tubing. New England Catheters’ (www.necatheter.com) custom built spiral reinforcing machines can manufacture reinforced tubing in a continuous process. The machines are capable of manufacturing reinforced tubing in diameters from .025” (0,635 mm) to .367” (9.33 mm). The reinforcing material can be round or flat wire, hard or soft temper or plastic monofilaments. Stainless steel wire in diameters from .0025” to .010” and in a number of flat configurations are commonly used. Our systems are quite flexible and adaptable allowing us to run short prototype runs or longer production runs. Each product is custom designed by our design team who make use of the wide variety of design configurations and materials to enhance the products’ performance characteristics and meet your specific product requirements.

Reprint with permission Fosters Sunday Edition

Fosters Sunday Edition
Article by Chloe Johnson, published Nov 11, 2007

The perfect fuel: N.H. helping to outfit the first fusion reactor

A New Hampshire company is playing a part in a multibillion-dollar, international research project that aims to prove there''s a way to replicate the power of the sun for use on Earth.

The ITER project hopes to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy, using sea water to create an inexhaustible, environmentally friendly energy source. The acronym for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor also means "the way" in Latin.

The project is being designed and built by a partnership of the European Union, India, Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. The device will be constructed at Cadarache in southeastern France on nearly 100 acres of land.

Some of the prototype parts are being manufactured by New England Wire Technologies in the North Country town of Lisbon, west of Franconia Notch State Park. The specialty cable manufacturer has been contracted to make sample strands of superconductor cable for evaluation.

"It''s an opportunity for us to prove we can manufacture it," said Art Greene, engineering director at New England Wire.

The product design group at the company is being led by Craig Simpson, an engineer responsible for prototype cable manufacturing.

If successful, the full contract would be for nine cables 765 meters long, or a little less than half a mile, and 18,000 pounds each, to be manufactured in mid-2008. The cables are less than two inches in diameter, but contain more than 1,000 strands of wire.

The cable contract would be worth several million dollars, which Greene called a significant contribution to the local economy. New England Wire is the largest employer in Lisbon, with more than 350 employees in a town of about 1,640 people.

James Van Dam is the chief scientist for the U.S. ITER Project Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which is responsible for procuring hardware and other duties.He is also the director of the Institute for Fusion Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and the U.S. Burning Plasma Organization, a national group that coordinates and promotes research and development on "burning plasma" science, a method for producing fusion energy. Fusion generates the sun and stars'' energy. Laboratory fusion on Earth aims to show that it can be used to generate electricity in a safe and environmentally friendly way to meet the energy demands of the growing population, Van Dam wrote in an e-mail to Foster''s. Fusion energy produced by the project could generate 10 times what it takes to create it, he said.

The facility is expected to be operating by 2016. The construction site in France has been cleared, and work will start next year leveling the land and building concrete platforms. Procurement packages for materials and equipment will be released for contract bid in the coming months, according to Bonnie Hebert, spokeswoman for U.S. ITER. The ITER device is based on the "tokamak" concept, in which plasma is confined in a doughnut-shaped vessel using a magnetic field. The gas is heated to more than 100 million degrees and should produce 500 megawatts of fusion power. The challenge ITER faces is putting out more energy than is put into it, said Amitava Bhattacharjee, professor of space science at the University of New Hampshire Institute for the study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. He said researchers have been trying since the late 1950s to duplicate the kind of nuclear fusion reactions that occur in the core of the sun. Some have been able to produce a nuclear reaction but weren''t able to maintain it long enough to harness the energy.

"This is the first time people will try to break the break-even condition," he said.

It may also be the first step toward commercialization of the energy produced, but he said that could take a few decades of work. Plasma is distinct from other states of matter — solid, liquid, and gas — in that it is heated to a point beyond gas. Bhattacharjee said the energy in plasma is difficult to contain because it''s unstable./p>

"I really think that ITER will meet its goals, but it still has challenges ahead," said Bhattacharjee.

Commercializing the energy should become more feasible as the technology becomes more powerful and less pricey, he added. The project potentially could create "virtually inexhaustible energy" using heated sea water as fuel, he said. Superconductor cables run "almost for free" once charged because they carry an electric current without resistance, said Greene, of New England Wire. But they must be kept at cryogenic temperatures, or minus-238 degrees. There is a cooling channel in the middle of the cable and chrome plating for insulation on the outside. The wires are made of metals that include copper and niobium-tin.

The company was asked to bid on the cable near the beginning of the year, and beat out a few competitors in the spring for the initial work. Greene said this is one of the largest science projects the company has contributed to, though it is known for such work.

"If we could create an environmentally friendly method for producing energy, it would be a great triumph," Greene said.

New England Wire Technologies releases it 2006 Product Guide and Catalog. Available in hard copy and on line, we anticipate that our customers will find this a valuable tool in the design of new cables for their current projects and a jumping off place for future requirements. The catalog also introduces New England’s line of trademark products designed specifically to solve the design challenges of a wide variety of industry applications.

NEWtuf® Reinforced Jackets boast high flexibility, performance at high temperatures and ease of sterilization making it the silicone rubber of choice for many of our medical customers.

NEWtral® low-noise cables are designed specifically for small signal applications where noise-free transmission lines are necessary to maintain signal integrity. Typical applications include medical equipment, test and measurement equipment, charge amplifiers, vibration analyzers and oscilloscopes.

NEWcel® is a closed-cell dielectric material specifically designed for ultraminiature and miniature coaxial, triaxial and twinaxial cables requiring low dielectric medium and high air concentration. NEWcel® is the perfect solution for customers requiring reduced diameter and same attenuation or same diameter with reduced attenuation.

NEWwind® Specialty Winding Wire is UL60950/IEC 60950 approved. By insulating conductors with thin layers of insulation, NEWwind® eliminates the need for interleaved insulation providing the smallest possible diameter. NE-F1 is our Electrical Insulation System which is UL 1446 compliant.

COLDflex Ground Cable™ was specifically designed for flexible, low-temperature ground cable applications down to -40° C, is UV resistant and available in standard sizes 250 kCMA to 4 AWG.

HYflext™ Power Distribution Cables incorporate a uniquely designed, high performance compound specifically formulated for use heavy duty diesel hybrid vehicles and high strand count, flexible conductors to produce cables ideally suited for applications where flexibility, long life and performance are critical.