Prior art Coiling and uncoiling wire, cable and similar elongated goods by means of a coiling device is per se previously known. During coiling by means of such known devices, the coiled goods are torsionally twisted, wherein one turn of coiling causes one turn of twisting. Counter- clockwise coiling causes clockwise twisting, and clockwise coiling causes counter-clockwise twisting. Uncoiling usually takes place in the opposite direction to the coiling. When all the coiled goods have been uncoiled as stated above there is no remaining twist, however, mechanical stress in the goods has resulted.

Owing to frictional resistance in the spreader arm and in the goods, twisting is not linear along the length of the goods but the portion last coiled will be twisted to a much greater extent as compared to a previously coiled portion of the goods.

The non-linearity of the twisting thus arisen during coiling, which causes mechanical stress in the elong- ated goods, is not acceptable in some situations.

Summary of the invention To solve the problems pointed out above, the device according to the invention has a spreader arm which, at its side facing the goods, presents a gripping arm, arranged to guide the elongated goods substantially in a tangential direction relative to the periphery of the drum.

In a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, the gripping arm has a running track in the form of a curved V-profile. To advantage, the surface of the running track contacting the goods is defined by feeding rollers, which are spherical in shape and which present a rolling resistance near zero to eliminate twisting of the elongated goods during coiling and uncoiling.

In order to provide a uniform layer of the elonga- ted goods coiled onto the drum, the spreader arm preferably is provided with a device for moving the gripping arm, so that the gripping arm moves along the width of the drum in accordance with the coiling or uncoiling of the goods.

For access to the end of the elongated goods for uncoiling, the device according to the invention preferably is provided with a lifting and rotating table so as to make possible 1800 rotation of the drum coiled with goods before uncoiling is initiated. The lifting and rotating table is preferably disposed on a carriage, the wheels of which run on rails starting out from the support of the device.

The present invention further relates to a winding machine and to an intermediate storage means comprising respectively a coiling device of the above-mentioned kind and intended for feeding a cable when mounting the cable in the slots of a stator for an electric machine.

The device, the winding machine and the inter- mediate storage means are especially but not exclusively intended to be applied when mounting high-voltage cable, on a generator where high-voltage cable is used in the windings of the stator, which cable lacks the outer protective covering normally surrounding such cable.

When mounting such a cable in a stator for an electric machine, the cable is required to be completely free or nearly free from twist, i.e. twisting of the cable should be linear relative to the cable length. This implies that one turn of uncoiling from the drum arbitrarily along the length of the cable should be free or nearly free from twist. In particular the invented device is advantageous

when used for an rotating electric machine of the type disclosed in WO-97/45919 The cable is preferably of the kind consisting ofan inner core with a plurality of wires, an inner semicon- ductive layer surrounding the core, an insulating layer surrounding the inner semiconductive layer and an outer semiconductive layer surrounding the insulating layer, preferably with a diameter of about 20 to 200 mm and a conductor area ranging from 80 to 3000 mm2.

Brief description of the drawings A preferred embodiment of the coiling device according to the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a schematic view of equipment for mounting a cable in the stator slots of a stator for an electric generator, which equipment includes coiling devices according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a side view illustrating the principle of the coiling device according to the invention, Fig. 3 is a section A-A according to Fig. 2 through the gripping arm associated with the coiling device, Fig. 4 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the coiling device according to the invention, and Fig. 5 is front view of the coiling device seen in the direction of the arrow P according to Fig. 4.

Description of preferred embodiments When mounting a cable K in a stator S, for example, for an electric generator according to the copending Swedish patent application 9700364-4 entitled "Method and device for mounting cables", equipment such as shown in Fig. 1 is used.

Said equipment comprises a winding machine 2 and two inter- mediate storage means 3, 4 by means of which the cable K to be mounted in the stator S is distributed to cable feeders A and B. In the exemplified equipment, the winding machine 2

as well as the intermediate storage means 3 and 4 are formed as coiling devices according to the present invention.

The principle of the coiling device according to the invention is illustrated in Fig. 2. Thus, a spreader arm 10 is rotatably mounted on an axle 11 and is brought to rotate by a driving means (25, 26 in Fig. 4) disposed in the support 12 of the device. The spreader arm 10 thus rotates around the centre of rotation R as indicated by the dash and dot line 10', during coiling and uncoiling of elongated goods K on a stationary drum 13. The spreader arm 10 supports a gripping arm 14, which is drivably mounted along the spreader arm 10 as will be described below with refe- rence to Fig. 4.

The drum 13 is arranged to be disconnected by means of a lifting and rotating table 15 from the coupling 16 of the support 12 so as to be rotated 1800. The lifting and rotating table 15 is disposed on a carriage 17, the wheels 18 of which run on rails 19. In dashed line there is shown the drum 13 advanced by the carriage 17 into position 13' for said rotating by means of the lifting and rotating table 15.

To provide coiling and uncoiling of a cable K without twisting, the gripping arm 14 has a V-shaped cross section within which feeding rollers 20 are mounted in holders 21, as shown in Fig 3. The feeding rollers 20 are spherical in shape and serve as a running track for the cable K. The spherical rollers 20 have a rolling resistance near zero, implying that twisting of the cable K is elimi- nated during coiling and uncoiling.

Since each holder 21 is mounted on a spring biased shaft 22 in the V-shaped gripping arm 14, the spherical rollers 20 are automatically adjustable for feeding cables of various dimensions, which is indicated by the cable sizes K, K' and K" in Fig. 3.

In Figs. 4 and 5 there is depicted a preferred embodiment of the coiling device according to the invention, the support 12 containing a drive motor 25, which by means of a belt or chain drive 26 brings the spreader arm 10 to

rotate around the axle 11, which is fixedly mounted in the support 12. At the end of the axle 11 facing outwardly from the support 12 there is provided a coupling means 16 arranged to support the drum 13.

The drum 13 on either front surface presents a tap- formed attachment 27 for alternately cooperating with the coupling means 16 of the support.

The spreader arm 10 has a boom 28, whose under side (facing the drum 13) is formed with a screw 29 for feeding the gripping arm 14. The screw 29 is driven by means of a belt 30 or chain drive connected to the fixed axle 11, the screw 29 being advanced along the boom 28 in dependence on the rotation of the spreader arm 10. The cable K is hereby coiled and uncoiled along the peripfery of the drum 13.

A carriage 17 supports the lifting and rotating table 15, which has upwardly oriented coupling means 31 for cooperation with yet another couple of tap-formed attach- ments 32 disposed on one front surface of the drum 13. The lifting and rotating table 15 may include a hydraulic lifting device of pantograph type, but the lifting device may be of other construction also. The carriage 17 is depic- ted in Fig. 4 in three different positions: a position 17 indicated by continuous lines, an inner end position 17' indicated by dashed lines, and an outer end position 17" also indicated by dashed lines.

As stated above, before uncoiling a coiled drum 13 it is necessary to turn the drum 180° before uncoiling it, so that the cable K coiled is accessible for uncoiling.

Turning of the drum 13 is carried out with the carriage 17 in the position indicated by continuous lines, where the lifting device 15 is brought to an elevated position (not shown), so that the upwardly oriented coupling means 31 are brought to cooperate with the additional attachments 32 of the drum 13. The drum 13 is lifted out of engagement between the coupling means 16 and the tap attachment 27.

The drum 13 is now supported by the carriage 17, which is pulled to the outer end position 17" where the lifting and rotating table 15 (and hence the drum 13) is

rotated 1800. When this is done, the carriage 17 is pushed to the inner end position 17' and the lifting device 15 is lowered so that the tap attachment 27 of the drum 13 is brought into engagement with the coupling means 16. The drum 13 thus turned is now ready for uncoiling.

The coiling functions will thus be as follows. For coiling, the free end of the cable K is attached to the far end of the drum 13. The other end of the cable K is assumed to be fixed in the slot in a stator frame (S according to Fig. 1). Coiling of the cable K should be carried out such that there will be only one layer of cable on the drum 13.

For this purpose, the spreader arm 10 is provided with the device 29 which moves the gripping arm 14 so that only one layer of cable is coiled onto the drum 13. On completion of the coiling, the cable K is removed from the gripping arm 14, the drum is rotated 1800 in the horizontal, the free end of the cable K is disconnected and is pulled off the drum 13 via the gripping arm 14 for continued winding of the stator.

While the coiling device according to the invention has been described in conjunction with the preferred embodi- ment illustrated in the drawings, it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that modifications of various parts may be made without departing from the principle of the invention. The invention therefore shall not be consid- ered limited to what is shown and described with reference to the drawings but is defined solely by the appended claims.