Reducing set-up times and optimizing processes by the automation of setting procedures on looms

Abstract

A system for adjusting the settings on a rapier loom automatically using stepping motors is presented. First the state of the art is examined in terms of systems for setting looms. Then a system developed at the Institute of Textile Technology (ITA) at the Rhine-Westphalian Technical University of Aachen (RWTH) for automatically adjusting the back rest and warp stop motion settings on a rapier loom is examined. It is shown what effects different settings have on the stresses of the warp ends, and these are compared with the results of a simulation developed at the ITA. Finally, design possibilities are considered for automatically adjusting the settings on the loom using setting parameters which have been optimized mathematically.