Magnetic Needle Fragment Container for Fast Sewing Line Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing process of sewing textile parts is interrupted when a sewing needle breaks, as verifying that all needle fragments are removed from the work station takes time, leading to accumulation of workpieces and potential safety risks if fragments remain in the product.
Innovation Solution
A container with a holding magnet is used to align and securely hold needle fragments, allowing for quick verification of their completeness before replacing the needle, ensuring all fragments are accounted for and reducing downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If needle fragments are manually searched for and verified after breakage, then product safety is ensured, but production downtime increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by providing a pre-prepared container with a holding magnet ready to collect and secure needle fragments immediately upon breakage. The container is designed in advance with the magnetic field activation mechanism, allowing operators to quickly deposit fragments without manual searching or complex verification procedures, thus reducing production downtime while ensuring safety.
2Productivity
If a holding magnet is activated to secure needle fragments, then fragment collection efficiency improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The holding magnet is designed to be activated automatically or semi-automatically when the container lid is closed, utilizing the closing action itself to trigger magnetic field activation. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for separate manual activation steps, reducing operational complexity while maintaining high fragment collection efficiency. The system uses the operator's natural closing motion to initiate the securing process.
3Reliability
If all needle fragments are thoroughly searched for and verified, then quality assurance is improved, but manufacturing throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by providing visual indicators (such as color-coded markers or transparent lid design) that allow operators to quickly verify fragment collection completeness. The container design enables immediate visual confirmation whether all fragments are secured, providing rapid feedback without time-consuming manual searches. This maintains quality assurance while preserving manufacturing throughput.
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
This method allows for rapid identification and removal of needle fragments, minimizing production interruptions and ensuring product safety by ensuring all fragments are found before resuming the sewing process.
Implementation Method 1
a holding magnet on the base body, whose magnetic field is used to hold the fragments on the axis
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method (10) for quality assurance in sewing a textile. The textile is sewn sequentially in a plurality of workstations (11). A carriage (14), which can be moved between the workstations (11), is provided. Should a needle (12) break off in a workstation (11), the carriage (14) is moved to this workstation (11). The fragments (13) of the needle (12) are arranged in the container (20) and once it has been established that all the fragments (13) have been removed from the workstation (11) a replacement needle is provided for this workstation. The invention further relates to a container (20) for accommodating the fragments (13) of the needle (12). The container (20) has an accommodation space (21) which is delimited by a main body (22) and a lid (23). A retaining magnet (34) is arranged in the region of a base (32) of the main body (22) extending along one axis (A). Magnetizable fragments (13) of a needle (12) are retained in the accommodation space (21) by the magnetic field of the retaining magnet in the region of the axis (A).