The loom frame loom is the mainstream type of loom. It is characterized by high speed, stability, good variety adaptability, and is the preferred machine for weaving various grades of clothing fabrics and other kinds of blank fabrics. Among the shuttleless looms, the principle of thread insertion in the loom frame loom was first proposed. Initially, it was a single loom frame, and later, loom frames with two loom frames for thread insertion were invented.
The first International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITMA) in 1951 showcased prototype looms with heddle frames, and at this exhibition, the shuttleless loom was recognized as a new technology. The heddle loom, with its good variety adaptability and relatively low price, once led other looms and was widely used in industries such as dyeing, bedding, silk weaving, wool weaving, and cotton weaving. It has now developed into a widely used and numerous type of shuttleless loom.
Classification of looms with heddles
There are many forms of looms. According to the configuration of the bobbins, they can be classified into single-bobbin looms, double-bobbin looms and double-layer bobbin looms.
Single-spindle loom
When using a single-spindle guide for weft insertion, only a long guide rod wider than the fabric width and its transmission mechanism are installed on one side of the loom. This allows the weft yarn to be sent into the shed on the other side, or the empty guide rod extends into the shed to hold the weft yarn, and then the weft yarn is pulled into the shed during the withdrawal process to complete the weft insertion. In a single-spindle loom, the weft yarn does not undergo the intersection process in the center of the shed, so there will be no weft intersection errors or weft tension peaks caused by the intersection process. The guide head structure is simple, but the guide rod size is large and the stroke is also large. Due to the low machine speed and large floor space, most of them have been replaced by double-spindle looms.
2. Double-spindle loom
When using double-spindle guide wefting, both sides of the loom are equipped with spindle rods and corresponding guide mechanisms. These two spindle rods are respectively called the weft-feeding spindle and the weft-receiving spindle. During wefting, the weft-feeding spindle and the weft-receiving spindle move from both sides of the machine towards the center of the shed. The weft is first held by the weft-feeding spindle and sent to the center of the shed. The two spindles meet at the center of the shed, and then the weft-feeding spindle and the weft-receiving spindle retreat separately. During the process of starting to retreat, the weft is transferred from the weft-feeding spindle to the weft-receiving spindle, and the weft-receiving spindle pulls the weft over the shed.
When using double-spindle guide wefting, the spindles are lightweight and the structure is compact, which is conducive to achieving the width of the loom and high-speed operation. During double-spindle weaving, the weft at the center of the shed is reliably connected, and errors are generally not likely to occur. Therefore, double-spindle looms widely adopt double-spindle guide wefting.
3. Double-layer comb loom
When weaving with a double-layer shuttle frame loom, the warp yarn forms two upper and lower shed openings. In each shed opening, a group of shuttle frames completes the thread drawing. The upper and lower groups of shuttle frames are driven by the same power source. The weaving of a double-layer shuttle frame loom can significantly increase the labor productivity of the loom.
The loom with a shuttleless mechanism is currently the most widely used type of loom. Besides having the characteristics of high speed, high degree of automation and high efficiency of production of shuttleless looms, its positive weft insertion method also has strong adaptability to various types of yarns, and can be used for weft insertion of various kinds of yarns. In addition, the shuttleless loom also has obvious advantages in multi-color weft weaving, and can produce color woven products with up to 16 colors of weft yarns. With the replacement of shuttle looms by shuttleless looms, the shuttleless loom will become the main production machine for woven fabrics.
The warping loom is mainly designed to address the problem of thread feeding. It includes rigid, flexible and telescopic thread feeding methods. Its main products are fabric materials for clothing. Compared with other thread feeding methods, the thread feeding method of the warping loom is suitable for multi-color thread feeding and can produce products with 12-color thread feeding patterns, including various types of yarns and various types of fabrics in the past. The active warping drive can complete thread feeding for many difficult-to-feed yarns.
The composition of a shuttle loom
Opening mechanism: According to the fabric structure, the warp yarns are separated up and down to form the shed, which is used to guide the weft insertion.
2. Weft insertion mechanism: Introduces the weft yarn into the shed.
3. Weaving mechanism: It pushes the yarn introduced into the shed towards the weaving opening to form the fabric.
4. Rolling mechanism: This mechanism pulls the already woven fabric away from the fabric forming area and rolls it into a certain roll.
5. Weft supply unit: Supplies the weft according to the weaving requirements and ensures that the weft has a certain tension.
6. Racks, starting mechanism, braking mechanism, transmission mechanism.
7. Protection device: Prevent defects in weaving, ensure safe operation.
8. Automatic Weft Insertion Device: When the weft yarn runs out, it will automatically replenish the weft.
9. Multi-color weft supply device: Alternately supplies different weft yarns for interlacing, without the need for stopping.
The common basic feature of shuttleless looms is to separate the weft yarn rolls from the shuttle, or to carry only a small amount of weft yarn and replace the large and heavy shuttle with a small and light wefting device, providing favorable conditions for high-speed wefting. In terms of weft supply, they directly adopt tube roll packaging, which enters the wefting mechanism through the storage device, enabling the loom to get rid of the frequent wefting replenishment actions.
The adoption of shuttleless looms is of great significance for increasing fabric varieties, adjusting fabric structure, reducing fabric defects, improving fabric quality, reducing noise, and improving working conditions. Shuttleless looms have higher speeds and are usually 4-8 times more efficient than shuttlelooms. Therefore, the large-scale promotion and application of shuttleless looms can significantly increase labor productivity.
Due to the continuous improvement of the structure of loomless weaving machines, the range of materials selected is extensive, the processing accuracy is getting higher and higher, and with the development of world science and technology, electronic technology and micro-electronic control technology gradually replace mechanical technology. The manufacturing of loomless weaving machines is a high-tech product that combines multiple disciplines such as metallurgy, machinery, electronics, chemical engineering and fluid power, integrating electronic technology, computer technology, precision mechanical technology and textile technology.
The jet loom detects the total tension of the warp yarn through a tension sensor and is controlled by the CPU to adjust the opening, slack yarn, yarn feeding, and the changes in the yarn diameter of the warp yarn caused by these operations, thereby ensuring the accuracy of yarn feeding and maintaining a constant tension for the warp yarn. Due to the use of microcomputer technology and other electronic technologies to control the entire machine's movement, especially the automatic monitoring of product quality, the production efficiency of the jet loom has been greatly improved. However, at the same time, the requirements for the electronic control system of the jet loom are also becoming increasingly higher. It not only needs to have high performance, good stability, convenient maintenance, and low failure rate, but also needs to be able to adapt to high-temperature, high-humidity, and environments with a lot of down feathers and dust, and has strong anti-interference requirements for power supply fluctuations and group machine interference. The shuttle loom is a loom that completes yarn feeding through the intersection of the shuttle heads. As can be seen from the names, the differences in the methods of yarn feeding can be intuitively understood for looms like shuttle looms, jet looms, and water jet looms.
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The characteristics and development changes of the loom with heddles
The main advantage of the weft insertion system of the rigid heddle loom is that it actively transfers the weft to the center of the wefting point without the need for any guiding devices. The rigid heddle loom has a large footprint, mainly due to the fact that there is a certain limit to the width of the warper. The weft insertion system of the flexible heddle loom is highly adaptable, has a wide range of applications, and significantly increases the weft insertion rate, with the warper width reaching 460 cm.
In the last 15 years of the 20th century, electronic computers were introduced to looms, and the microelectronic CAD-CAM system was widely applied, resulting in a perfect integration of microelectronic technology, information transmission technology and weaving technology. Many electronic devices and systems combined with looms became components of the warping loom, especially the extensive application of microelectronic technology in warping looms, including weft insertion technology, etc. Some weft insertion components were greatly improved, becoming smaller in size and lighter in weight.
Due to the wide application of microelectronic technology, the speed and weft insertion rate of the warping loom have been greatly improved. Among various weft insertion methods, such as shuttle weft insertion, warping weft insertion, jet weft insertion and water jet weft insertion systems, the warping weft insertion speed is very high except for jet weft insertion. After the 1950s of the 20th century, the warping loom has made significant progress.
From 1963 to 1999, the operating speed and weft insertion rate of the shuttle loom exhibited significant changes at international textile machinery exhibitions. For example, the weft insertion rate of the flexible shuttle loom increased from 315m/min in 1963 to 2000m/min in 1999; the rotational speed rose from 200r/min in 1971 to 800r/min in 1999. The weft insertion rate of the rigid shuttle loom increased from 400m/min in 1963 to 1300m/min in 1999, and the rotational speed rose from 300r/min in 1971 to 650r/min in 1999.
The speed of products from companies such as Bigjiale, Sumet, Zel, Wante, Donier and Jintianju has improved significantly. The speed of domestic beam looms has reached 504 r/min.
The goal of machine manufacturers in participating in global competition is to enhance the output and operational performance of looms, improve weaving efficiency and product quality. Heddle looms not only have significantly increased speed and weft insertion rate, but also have seen a rapid increase in loom width. After years of continuous improvement, the speed and weft insertion rate of heddle looms have far exceeded those of shuttle looms, but the width of heddle looms still cannot be compared with that of shuttle looms.