A braiding apparatus includes a base, a strand supplier supplying a core strand, strand carriers shuttling on the base and providing carrier strands that wrap the core strand and twist together to form a rope, a guiding pulley disposed above the strand carriers to feed the rope to a strand collector, and a control device having a driving source connected to the guiding pulley, at least one recognition unit arranged on the guiding pulley, a sensor disposed relative to the guiding pulley, and a controller electrically connected to the sensor and the driving source. The sensor counts the number of the recognition unit passing the sensor when the guiding pulley rotates to measure lengths of divided sections of the rope. Concurrently, the controller controls the driving source and the guiding pulley to have different rotational speeds, thereby controlling different braid densities of different sections of the same rope precisely.

A braiding apparatus includes a base, a strand supplier supplying a core strand, strand carriers shuttling on the base and providing carrier strands that wrap the core strand and twist together to form a rope, a guiding pulley disposed above the strand carriers to feed the rope to a strand collector, and a control device having a driving source connected to the guiding pulley, at least one recognition unit arranged on the guiding pulley, a sensor disposed relative to the guiding pulley, and a controller electrically connected to the sensor and the driving source. The sensor counts the number of the recognition unit passing the sensor when the guiding pulley rotates to measure lengths of divided sections of the rope. Concurrently, the controller controls the driving source and the guiding pulley to have different rotational speeds, thereby controlling different braid densities of different sections of the same rope precisely.

An improved system for handling delicate linear media and in particular to a method and apparatus for winding delicate linear media such as superconducting wire or tape or optical fibers onto a spool. A combination of direct closed loop control and media routing design facilitates the handling of the delicate media without causing damage. The axial tension in the linear media may be closely controlled during winding by means of feedback control loop using tension measurements to control the rotation speeds of the wind-from and wind-to spools. Further, during winding, the delicate linear media is only exposed to large radius bends with no reverse bending. Finally, output devices and features, commercial or otherwise, made possible by delicate linear media handling are revealed. This includes advanced SC devices and features.

A cable-stranding apparatus includes a stationary guide, a motor, a driven guide, and a controller electrically coupled to the motor. The stationary guide is configured to guide strand elements in a spaced-apart configuration and to pass a core member. The motor is operatively associated with a guide driver. The driven guide is disposed at least partially within the guide driver so as to rotate therewith. The driven guide is configured to receive the strand elements from the stationary guide, individually guide the strand elements received from the stationary guide, and to further pass the core member. The controller is electrically coupled to the motor and configured to control the rotational speed and direction of the motor.