QED to introduce innovative coating weight control system at Wire & Cable Milan 2023

Wire & Cable Milan 2023 review and technical article summary

Wire Milan 2023 was a global success for all attendees and technical speakers, including Nathan Harris from QED Wire Lines Inc, who presented fundamental research leading up to the development of QED AutoCoat TM, a novel, multistrand coat weight measurement and continuous control system for galvanized and Galfan TM coated steel wires.


When asked, the origin of this technology was discovered through a simple observation, “when passing a galvanized wire through a coil, the coil impedance varies in relation to wire coat weight.” Briefly summarized, the system uses a method of eddy current inspection to determine sensing coil impedance variation and deduce coat weight in real time. The coat weight measurement is compared to a target coat weight using a PID control loop to regulate 4-20mA output to pressure regulators directly controlling the flow of Nitrogen and therefore coating thickness.

Systems show accurate control of the zinc coating weight can be obtained to a tolerance of +- 10g/m2, suitable to industry standards [EN 10244-2]. Galvanized steel wire producers have confidently reduced minimum coating setpoints of heavy coat N2 wires and decreased zinc consumption, increased material savings and improved product overall quality.