Concentric compressed unilay stranded conductors

A method of forming a multi-wire strand of unilay construction comprising the steps of stranding at least one additional layer consisting of a plurality of wires about a central layer consisting of at least one wire, at least two of said layers consisting of more than one wire and the number of wires in said central layer and additional layers which consist of more than one wire being such that the number of wires in adjacent layers are integers that are not divisible by a common number with the exception of the integer one;

• and compressing the wires in at least one of the layers to provide area reductions therein, the number of wires in each of the layers being selected such that adjacent wires in each of the layers, with appropriate area reductions, are substantially in contact with each other and the strand configuration has a stable substantially circular cross-section.

A sectored multi-wire strand of unilay construction comprising a central layer consisting of a least one wire;

• at least one additional layer consisting of a plurality of wires stranded about said central layer, at least two of said layers consisting of more than one wire and the number of wires in said layers which consist of more than one wire being such that the number of wires in adjacent layers are integers that are not divisible by a common number with the exception of the integer one, the wires in at least one of the layers being compressed to provide area reductions and the number of wires in each of the layers being selected such that adjacent wires in each of the layers, with appropriate area reductions, are substantially in contact with each other and the strand configuration has a stable substantially sectored cross-section.

A method of forming a sectored multi-wire strand of unilay construction comprising the steps of stranding at least one additional layer consisting of a plurality of wires about a central layer consisting of at least one wire, at least two of said layers consisting of more than one wire and the number of wires in said central layer and additional layers which consist of more than one wire being such that the number of wires in adjacent layers are integers that are not divisible by a common number with the exception of the integer one;

• compressing the wires in at least one of the layers to provide area reductions therein, the number of wires in each of the layers being selected such that adjacent wires in each of the layers, with appropriate area reductions, are substantially in contact with each other and the strand configuration has a stable substantially circular cross-section;
• and forming the strand of circular cross-section to impart a sectored configuration to the strand.