Yarn Storage Device Segmentation for Automated Replenishment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current yarn storage devices for yarn-processing machines, particularly in weaving and knitting, face inefficiencies due to manual operation and entanglement issues with flexible or smooth yarns, leading to prolonged downtime and increased labor costs, as existing methods fail to maintain orderly windings for all types of yarns.
Innovation Solution
A yarn storage device with a winding-up body that winds and removes yarn in a wound-up state, allowing for stable and well-formed windings to be added to storage spaces without pushing existing windings, reducing the risk of entanglement and enabling automated operation for various yarn types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a rotating head is used to form yarn windings in the tube, then yarn can be replenished automatically, but flexible or smooth yarns become entangled and form knots
Solution Approach 1:
The yarn replenishment process is divided into two separate stages: first, yarn is wound onto a removable winding-up body (separating the winding function from the storage tube); second, the pre-formed winding is inserted into the tube as a complete unit. This segmentation allows the winding process to occur in a controlled environment where yarn stability can be ensured, while the storage tube simply receives the pre-formed winding without causing entanglement.
Solution Approach 2:
The yarn is pre-wound onto the winding-up body before being inserted into the storage tube. This preliminary winding action ensures that the yarn is properly organized and stabilized in a controlled manner, preventing entanglement issues that would occur if winding happened inside the tube. The preliminary formation of neat windings on the winding-up body guarantees reliable yarn supply during subsequent processing.
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual bobbin creel operation is used, then all yarn types can be handled, but significant labor time and costs are incurred
Solution Approach 1:
The winding-up body serves multiple functions: it acts as a temporary winding surface for organizing yarn, a transfer carrier for moving yarn into the storage tube, and a mechanism for ensuring proper yarn orientation. This multi-functional design allows the same device to handle different yarn types effectively while enabling automated operation, thus achieving both versatility and time efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The winding-up body acts as an intermediary device between the yarn source and the storage tube. It mediates the yarn transfer process by providing a controlled environment for winding and organizing yarn before insertion into the tube. This intermediary mechanism eliminates the need for manual handling while ensuring that all yarn types are properly managed, thus reducing labor time without sacrificing adaptability.
3Productivity
If windings are pushed into the tube to make space for new yarn, then yarn can be continuously supplied, but existing windings become disordered and entangled
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of pushing existing windings to make space (which causes disorganization), the invention extracts the winding function to a separate removable winding-up body. New yarn is wound onto this external body, and the complete pre-formed winding is then inserted into the tube as a unit. This extraction approach allows continuous yarn supply while maintaining winding orderliness, as each winding is carefully formed externally before insertion rather than being forced into space within the tube.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a yarn storage device (1) for a yarn-processing machine comprising yarn storage spaces (2) and at least one yarn loader (3) which can be moved to a selected yarn storage space (2) in order to connect an end part of the yarn supply (14) to an end part of an external yarn supply, and to add an amount of yarn to said yarn storage space (2) by winding the yarn (100) onto a winding-up body (6) and then removing it from the winding-up body (6) in the wound-up state and to add it to the storage space (2). The present invention also relates to a corresponding method and a yarn-processing machine fitted with such a yarn storage device.