Open-Width Fabric Steaming and Vibration for Uniform Shrinkage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for finishing knitted fabrics, particularly in open width, face challenges such as high costs, energy consumption, and lack of uniformity due to discontinuous processes, and existing continuous treatments fail to achieve optimal shrinkage and swelling with satisfactory results.
Innovation Solution
A continuous treatment line for knitted fabrics that includes a steaming and vibration chamber with steaming rollers, recirculation of steam-air mixture, and adjustable supports to maintain fabric length, combined with preheating and drying units to achieve optimal shrinkage and swelling, ensuring dimensional stability and a soft hand.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If discontinuous process in drums or tumblers is used, then dimensional stability and soft voluminous hand are achieved, but high costs and high energy consumption occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a continuous treatment process where fabric passes through multiple chambers (steaming chamber, vibration chamber, drying chamber) in sequence without interruption. This continuous operation eliminates the stopping and starting inherent in discontinuous drum processes, maintaining steady energy input and eliminating idle energy consumption between batches, thereby achieving dimensional stability with lower overall energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The treatment process is divided into distinct functional chambers: steaming chamber for moisture penetration, vibration chamber for knit structure relaxation and shrinkage, and drying chamber for moisture removal. Each chamber performs a specific function efficiently, allowing the fabric to progress through treatment stages continuously without requiring complete cycle repetition, thus reducing energy consumption while maintaining manufacturing precision.
2Manufacturing precision
If discontinuous process in drums or tumblers is used, then dimensional stability and soft voluminous hand are achieved, but long manual operations and high labor costs occur
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous treatment line automatically processes fabric through all treatment stages without manual intervention between batches. Fabric is fed continuously into the steaming chamber, processed through vibration and drying chambers, and exited as finished product, eliminating the need for skilled workers to manually load, monitor, and unload drums, thereby maintaining dimensional stability while dramatically reducing labor requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to automatically advance fabric through each treatment chamber using conveyors and tensioning mechanisms. The fabric itself moves through the process without requiring manual handling, and the chambers are self-regulating with automatic temperature and humidity control, eliminating dependency on skilled manual operations while ensuring consistent dimensional stability results.
3Manufacturing precision
If discontinuous process is used, then soft voluminous hand is achieved, but uniformity of finishing effects on various bolts is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple fabric bolts are processed simultaneously in a continuous stream through identical treatment conditions in each chamber. The steady-state operation ensures that every bolt receives the exact same temperature, humidity, and vibration treatment parameters, eliminating batch-to-batch variations and ensuring uniform finishing effects across all bolts while maintaining high processing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The treatment chambers are designed to provide uniform distribution of steam, heat, and vibration throughout the fabric path. Conveyors ensure even spacing and consistent tension across multiple bolts, while temperature and humidity are uniformly maintained across the entire chamber width and length, guaranteeing homogeneous treatment results for all fabric bolts processed simultaneously.
4Productivity
If continuous treatment in rope form is used, then processing efficiency is improved, but creases and knots are generated on fabric
Solution Approach 1:
The fabric is processed in an open-width configuration through separate, dedicated chambers rather than being folded into ropes. Each chamber (steaming, vibration, drying) handles the flat fabric independently, eliminating the folding, twisting, and rope formation that cause creases and knots, while maintaining continuous processing efficiency through the segmented chamber design.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of folding fabric into ropes for continuous processing (traditional approach), this invention processes fabric in its natural open-width flat state through horizontally arranged chambers. This inverted approach to continuous processing eliminates the mechanical folding required in rope-based systems, preventing crease and knot formation while maintaining high productivity through continuous fabric movement.
5Manufacturing precision
If existing continuous treatment machines with water tanks and vibrating rollers are used, then fabric expansion is achieved, but optimal shrinkage and volume increase are not obtained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs controlled vibration at specific frequencies and amplitudes in the vibration chamber, combined with precise temperature and humidity parameters in the steaming chamber. These optimized parameters cause the knit structure to relax and shrink uniformly, increasing fabric volume and softness. The parameter optimization eliminates the need for complex water tank systems while achieving superior shrinkage and volume increase results.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and eliminates the unnecessary water tank immersion step from existing continuous treatment machines. Instead, fabric passes through a steaming chamber that delivers moisture without submersion, followed by a vibration chamber that achieves shrinkage and volume increase through controlled mechanical vibration alone, simplifying the overall device while improving treatment effectiveness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables efficient, cost-effective, and uniform shrinkage and swelling of knitted fabrics, improving dimensional stability and hand quality while reducing energy consumption and manual labor, achieving optimal results in a compact and continuous process.
Implementation Method 1
means for delivering steam into the chamber, a plurality of accumulation supports for the fabric exposed to the steam
Implementation Method 2
steaming rollers, on which the fabric is wound at least partly and from which steam exits impacting the wound fabric
Implementation Method 3
vibration means adapted to transmit vibrations to the supports and consequently to the fabric contained therein
Implementation Method 4
means for preferably continuous recirculation of the steam-air mixture inside said chamber
Data Source
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AI summary
A line for the continuous treatment of a fabric in open width, adapted to perform shrinkage and swelling of said fabric, comprising means for movement of the fabric (19) and a chamber (11, 111, 211, 311) for steaming and simultaneous vibration into which the textile is fed and from which it is extracted, in said chamber (11, 111, 211, 311) there being present: - means (22) for delivering steam into the chamber (11, 111, 211, 311), - a plurality of accumulation supports (18) for the fabric exposed to the steam, - vibration means (25) adapted to transmit vibrations to the supports (18) and consequently to the fabric contained therein.