Textile Feed Material Sorting for Reliable NIR Quality Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for quality control of textile, leather, and footwear feed materials face challenges in reliably determining characteristics such as fiber composition due to the heterogeneous nature of unsorted waste, which includes items varying greatly in textile composition, color, and size, and the risk of obscuring one another or being randomly folded in some manner, making any measurement less reliable, and the risk of obscuring one another or being randomly folded in some manner, which existing systems fail to efficiently address the need for high-throughput, high-reliability sorting and accurate sorting, particularly in textile recycling.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves providing a transporting arrangement where fragmented textile, leather, and footwear materials are processed in a method that includes dividing items into fragmented pieces with a footprint area of at most 500 cm², which are transported as a transporting arrangement, wherein any individual pieces of at least a main portion of the fragmented TLF-feed material have a footprint area of at most 500 cm², and a sensor system, wherein the material batch layer is transported to a detection zone, and sensor data are provided by means of a sensor system, which provides a material batch layer in a transporting arrangement, wherein the material batch layer comprises fragmented TLF-feed material of one or more material compositions, wherein any individual pieces of at least a main portion of the fragmented TLF-feed material have a footprint area of at most 500 cm², and the sensor system may provide more reliable sensor data by ensuring a more even and optionally a more homogeneous material flow is provided. This method and arrangement facilitate the step of determining and/or monitoring one or more characteristics of the fragmented TLF-material, and the method and/or footwear materials, and optionally, the sensor system may analyze light reflected and/or scattered by the material batch layer, and the method and arrangement may analyze light reflected and/or by means of a spectroscopy system, such as a NIR spectroscopy system, which provides a spectrum of said fragmented TLF-material, and/or footwear materials, and the method and arrangement may include a step of determining and/or monitoring one or more characteristics of the material batch layer, and the method and/or footwear materials, and the sensor system may provide more accurate sensor data by ensuring a more homogeneous material flow, thereby reducing the risk of any pieces in the material batch layer randomly obscuring one another or being randomly folded in some manner, thus enabling more reliable quality control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If unsorted textile waste is processed directly without fragmentation, then processing speed is maintained, but measurement reliability deteriorates due to items obscuring one another and random folding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing textile waste items into smaller fragmented pieces with a footprint area of at most 500 cm². This fragmentation ensures that individual pieces do not obscure one another during transport and measurement, thereby improving measurement reliability while maintaining processing efficiency through automated handling.
2Productivity
If material batch layer thickness is increased to handle high throughput, then processing capacity improves, but measurement accuracy deteriorates due to heterogeneous material distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by ensuring that within the material batch layer, individual fragmented pieces maintain consistent orientation and spacing characteristics. The fragmentation to at most 500 cm² footprint area creates uniform local conditions across the batch layer, enabling accurate optical measurements even at high throughput rates.
3Measurement precision
If textile waste items are kept in original size, then material handling is simpler, but quality control accuracy deteriorates due to varying sizes and compositions obscuring measurements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by standardizing the footprint area of textile waste fragments to at most 500 cm². This parameter standardization creates uniform measurement conditions across all samples, improving fiber composition determination accuracy while the automated fragmentation process manages the added processing complexity.
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 approach achieves efficient and accurate quality control of textile, leather, and footwear materials by ensuring a more reliable and faster processing of textile, leather, and footwear materials, thereby reducing the thickness of the material batch layer, thereby enhancing the throughput and accuracy of quality control, particularly in high-throughput sorting systems.
Implementation Method 1
the sensor system may analyze light reflected and/or scattered by the material batch layer
Implementation Method 2
the sensor system may analyze light reflected and/or scattered by the material batch layer
Implementation Method 3
a spectroscopy system, such as a NIR spectroscopy system, which provides a spectrum of said fragmented TLF-material
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a method of quality control of textiles and more generally textile, leather, and/or footwear feed material, TLF-feed material, the method comprising: providing a material batch (MB) as a material batch layer (MB-L) in a transporting arrangement (100), wherein the material batch layer (MB-L) comprises fragmented TLF-feed material of one or more material compositions, wherein any individual pieces of at least a main portion of the fragmented TLF-feed material have a footprint area of at most 500 cm2; transporting, by means of the transport arrangement (100), said material batch layer (MB-L) to a detection zone (d-z) of a sensor system (300); providing, by means of the sensor system (300), sensor data of the material batch layer (MB-L) in the detection zone (d-z); determining, based on said sensor data, fraction data indicative of at least a first characteristic of the fragmented TLF-feed material in the material batch layer (MB-L), wherein said at least a first characteristic includes material composition and/or average color and/or color distribution. An arrangement is also disclosed.