Fabric Treatment Using Rigid Vibrating Platform and Continuous Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fabric treatment methods, particularly for knitted fabrics, fail to effectively maintain dimensional stability due to insufficient transmission of vibrations, leading to residual tensions and instability during washing and drying.
Innovation Solution
A machine that combines mechanical vibration and thermal treatment using a rigid, vibrating platform and a drying tunnel, with controlled amplitude and frequency of vibrations greater than gravity, to relax and compact fabrics, reducing residual tensions and improving hand feel and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If flexible conveyor belts are used for fabric treatment, then the fabric can be conveyed continuously, but the vibrations are not adequately transmitted to the fabric
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces flexible conveyor belts with a rigid vibrating platform that directly transmits mechanical vibrations to the fabric. This substitution of the mechanical transmission system enables effective vibration delivery while maintaining continuous fabric treatment capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies mechanical vibration through a rigid platform to reduce friction between fibres and between fibres and surfaces. The vibration mechanism creates relative motion that eliminates static friction and promotes fabric relaxation without requiring flexible belts.
2Stability of the object's composition
If tumbling drying is used, then dimensional stability is effectively improved, but the process is discontinuous and labour-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous fabric treatment by passing the fabric over a continuously vibrating platform that moves through a drying tunnel. This eliminates the discontinuous loading and unloading required by tumbling methods, enabling uninterrupted processing while maintaining dimensional stability improvement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines vibration treatment and thermal drying into a single integrated process. The fabric is simultaneously subjected to mechanical vibration for friction reduction and thermal treatment for dimensional stabilization, eliminating the need for separate tumbling and drying operations.
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 combined mechanical and thermal treatment effectively reduces residual tensions and enhances dimensional stability, ensuring fabrics maintain their shape and quality during subsequent processes.
Implementation Method 1
The methods used to help fabric relaxation include vibrating or beating in order to reduce friction between the fibres and between the fibres and other surfaces in contact with them
Implementation Method 2
vibrating or beating in order to reduce friction between the fibres and between the fibres and other surfaces in contact with them
Implementation Method 3
run through a free dryer where the open-width, wet or moistened fabric is overfed continuously on a conveyor belt moving through a drying tunnel
Implementation Method 4
drying in a tumbler where the fabric in rope form is discontinuously loaded into a rotating tumbler and heated with hot air
Implementation Method 5
the accelerations transmitted to them are limited. In other words, the forces of inertia generated and acting on the fibres are insufficient to dimensionally recover and stabilize the fabric to a good degree
Data Source
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AI summary
A machine and a method for treating fabrics, comprise in combination a step of inducing substantially vertical vibrations in a quantity of fabric in the form of a substantially compact accumulation and a simultaneous step of drying the rest of the fabric which is in an opened out form.