Optimization of the Batten of the Weaving Loom DIFA

Abstract

The weaving is considered as one of oldest human activities. It was also the first manufacture process where the modern industry principles were applied and hand-crafted production was replaced by the machines. Nevertheless the weaving machines remained long time merely more then a steam engine driven mechanical looms. It is only in the last 50 years or so when the looms became really automatized weaving machines. Invention of shuttle-less loom brought an enormous increase of productivity and at the same time automatisation of loom operation allowed production of very complex fabrics. Both these facts necessitated also a development of other mechanical parts of the loom. In this paper we present the way we upgraded the batten – the key machine part – used on a classical loom to be used on a weaving machine producing heavy 3D fabrics. While the methods of classical mechanics are sufficient to make the basic changes most recent methods such as FEM were used to finalize the design. Beside of modern computational tools we profited also of advances in the technology in the past 20 years since the original design has been first conceived.