Nptel -IIT

https://nptel.ac.in/courses/116102017/2
 1.Drawbacks of a conventional shuttle loom
• A large shuttle mass of about 450g (for cotton weft yarn) is
employed for transporting a pick of weft which is about 0.2
g/m on the average, leading to a considerable waste of energy
• Unguided free flight of shuttle can lead to shuttle fly, abrasive
damage of reed and shuttle as also uncontrolled weft tension.
• Shuttle checking within the confined space of a shuttle box
results out of multiple impacts. Consequently the exact
location of rest position of shuttle within a box becomes
indeterminate, affecting efficient transfer of picking energy
during acceleration of shuttle. Moreover such impacts result
in damage to shuttle and pirn.
• Mass of shuttle with full pirn and with near empty pirn can
differ by about 10%. As a result the nature of shuttle flight
varies in a periodic manner which in turn affects weft tension
profile and therefore properties of the resultant fabric.
• Noise emanating from weft insertion systems employing a
conventional shuttle can be as high as 110dB.
• Shuttle is made of an assembly of various elements which
may come apart over a period of time due to multiple and
severe impactual cyclic loads. Moreover the major component
of shuttle is good wood which is becoming scarce by the day.
• Limited space within shuttle limits pirn size which leads to
frequent pirn changing. This is a source of additional workload
and frequent defects.
• Restarting the loom with a new pirn invariably causes a
starting mark in fabric while imposing a periodic workload on
loom operator. On a pirn changing loom one needs an
additional worker in the form of battery filler.
• Unintended pirn mixing is a frequently encountered problem
during battery filling. Moreover faulty working of the pirn
changing motion very commonly results in lashing-in problem
• While a shuttle is in state of rest within a shuttle box, the weft thread that
it carries in the pirn extends from the instantaneous unwinding point on
the pirn body, passing through the shuttle eye and ending up at the fabric
selvedge.
• It is observed that due to asymmetric location of shuttle eye on the
shuttle body, length of this thread segment is higher when the shuttle is in
the right hand box than when it is in the other. Thus as the shuttle is
accelerated from its state of rest in a shuttle box, the weft thread initially
falls slack and remains in such a condition till the shuttle has travelled a
fair distance into the shed to have completely taken up this slack.
• Evidently the distance that the shuttle has to travel before the weft thread
can become taut again is higher in alternate picks than in the intervening
ones. During the subsequent displacement of shuttle, weft unwinding rate
would depend to a large extent on the flight trajectory of shuttle as one
end of the weft remains firmly anchored to the stationary fabric selvedge
while the three dimensional coordinates of shuttle eye undergoes a
continuous change.
• Over and above, the effect of the fourth dimension, i.e. time also plays a
role as the flight velocity varies with continuously changing combined
mass of shuttle and the depleting pirn
• As yarn tension depends on its unwinding rate it is evident that weft
tension even during this phase of shuttle flight would keep on varying
from one instant to other. Superimposed on this tension variation would
be the effect of variation of unwinding point on the pirn itself.
• Finally as and when the shuttle enters the deceleration phase, multiple
impacts would cause further uncontrolled and indeterminate changes in
tension in the inserted pick of weft, which during this phase still lies un
trapped and free within the warp shed.
• Thus at the end of a picking cycle with a conventional shuttle, a curvilinear
segment of thread lies stretched across the warp shed in an undefined and
non-uniform state of tension.
• During the subsequent phase of shed change and beating up process a
heterogeneous crimp distribution between warp and weft threads across
the fabric width would be the logical consequence. This effect viewed over
a series of consecutive picks leads to very non-homogeneous woven
fabric, as crimps in warp and weft threads and their homogeneity
primarily governs properties of woven fabrics.
Basic principle of the unconventional shuttleless system
• A conventional shuttle performs three functions; it stores a certain
length of weft within its hollow in the form of a pirn, transports this
package across a warp shed and permits the desired length of pick to
be unwound smoothly from the pirn stationed within its hollow.
• This multitasking demand on a conventional shuttle is simplified in the
unconventional systems by delinking the function of weft transport
from the ones of weft storage and weft unwinding.
• The equivalent of a shuttle in an unconventional system simply
functions as carrier of a pick of weft thread through warp shed,
unwinding the same in the process from a cone, while the cone itself
remains suitably stationed on one side of the loom. Additional devices
ensure a controlled weft unwinding from the respective cones.
• The implications of such a conceptual change are listed in the
following.
• 1. The weft carrier can be drastically reduced in mass and size leading
to reduced consumption of energy per pick. Alternately supplying
same power to carrier as to one with higher mass enables the lighter
carrier to travel a longer distance. This translates into higher reed
width of loom for equivalent picking power. .
• A reduction in carrier size automatically leads to reduction in shed
depth and sweep of sley. Reduction in shed depth suppresses
amplitude of dynamic load on warp threads and permits a higher
frequency of shed change while reduction in sweep of sley
promotes higher frequency of sley oscillation.
• Higher frequencies of shed change and sley oscillation mean a
higher loom rpm. It can hence be concluded that as a result of
reduction in mass and size of carrier, a loom employing
unconventional principle of weft insertion can be run at higher
speed with a wider reed. This effectively translates into a higher
weft insertion rate and hence higher productivity
• 2. Being stationed outside the oscillating sley, weft supply package
remains visible and accessible while weaving continues. Such a
scenario permits intervention of suitable control systems for
switching weft supply from an exhausted to a full cone.
• This literally guarantees inexhaustible weft supply, contributing to
higher loom efficiency. Moreover intervention of suitable control
systems operating from within the weft supply zone ensures
controlled tension in inserted picks.
• Tension in an inserted pick of weft varies from one
segment to the other in an uncontrolled manner in
conventional shuttle. The unconventional weft insertion
systems permit a continuous and effective control of weft
tension, guarantying in the process a superior fabric quality.
• Unconventional weft insertion system is more productive
and more efficient while producing qualitatively superior
fabric compared to its counterpart equipped with shuttle
propulsion system.
• Such looms are generally referred to as Shuttleless looms
and constitute a different genre of looms altogether. It is
worth noting at this point that multitasking is usually
associated with higher forms of systems.
• However this example of switching over from a
multitasking shuttle to a mono-functional weft carrier reveals
that a step in exactly the opposite direction can also lead to a
quantum jump in performance
 Machine drive and power consumption
• Modern shuttleless looms come equipped with a number of
microprocessor controlled motors. The main motor supplies power
for primary motions while servomotors drive secondary motions.
Other functions such as automatic broken pick repair, control of
weft tension, control of weft feeding etc. are carried out by suitably
controlled separate motors.
• Remarkable developments in power electronics have contributed to
an enormous freedom of the primary motions such that a loom can
be started from rest with a very high torque for avoiding start up
marks or the speed of loom can be slowed down/increased during
normal running as per requirement of weft yarn being inserted or
the shedding motion can be run at very slow speed in reverse
direction for automatic broken pick repair while picking and beating
up elements remain idle.
• Inverter controlled driven AC motor forms the basis of this
improvement. An electric motor works on the principle of attraction
and repulsion between two sets of magnets, namely stator and
rotor.
• Polarity of the permanent magnet (rotor in AC induction motor)
remains constant while that of the other alternates at a certain
frequency. Consequently when the polarity of the two sets of
magnet is opposite in nature, a force of attraction prevails between
the two while in the event of similar polarity the opposite happens.
This phenomenon is responsible for a continuous relative motion
between the two.
• The mechanical arrangement in a motor transforms this relative
motion to a continuous rotational motion of the rotor. The
frequency of power supplied to an AC motor dictates the rate at
which polarity of the electromagnet changes. When the frequency
is high the rate of change in polarity is also high and hence the rotor
rotates at higher frequency.
• Reverse would be the case with a reduced frequency. Hence speed
of an AC motor can be varied by varying the frequency of power
supplied to it. Similarly if the supply voltage is suitably varied then
intake current and therefore the strength of magnetic field in motor
can be higher or lower.
• The resultant output torque can accordingly be raised or lowered as
per requirements of the weaving machine. Both functions of
varying the magnitude and frequency of input voltage to an
asynchronous AC motor are carried out by an inverter. An inverter is
a solid state power electronics system which converts the line AC
supply first into DC by a rectifier.
• The output of rectifier is smoothened out by a DC link and the
filtered DC is finally converted back to AC by active switching
elements of inverter. Both Output voltage and frequency can be
independently controlled by an inverter for satisfying requirements
at any desired moment.
• However higher current intake associated with higher input voltage
to an AC motor can be sustained only over a limited period of time
as excessive heating can damage the motor. For a shuttleless loom
such requirement occurs only for limited duration such as during
starting of a loom from standstill condition so that starting mark can
be avoided
• power required by a loom is indicated by rating of
diverse motors (in kW) employed for operating the
machine. However actual consumption of power may
differ from the estimated value as demands on
individual motors are cyclic in nature and sometimes
even intermittent.
• Typical examples are the cyclic power demands of sley
or intermittent demands on servomotors operating let-
off and take-up motions. Ignoring this aspect in view of
insufficient reliable literature and opting for the
simpler route of a simple summation of ratings of
individual motors one can arrive at representative
values which can be employed for working out
economics of woven fabric production by various
shuttleless systems.
 Fabric selvedge
• Selvedges of fabrics produced on shuttleless weaving machines are
markedly different from those produced on shuttle weaving
machines. Insertion of single picks by weft carrier followed by
action of weft cutters at both selvedges leaves a small length of free
weft hanging free at the fabric selvedges. Unless these threads are
secured properly the fabric may start disintegrating along its edges
during subsequent wet processing.
• Tucked selvedges (gripper and air jet), leno selvedges (air jet and
rapier) and fused selvedges (water jet) are commonly encountered
on fabrics produced on shuttleless looms.
• Tucked selvedge can be created on gripper machine with the help
of tucking needles (Fig 35) which enter warp shed from under the
bottom warp line during retreating motion of sley after beat up and
pull in the free segments of pick into subsequent shed.
• On an air jet loom (Fig 36) additional blowers located near fabric
selvedges perform this task. Tucked selvedges are fairly firm but
contain double picks.
Fig. 36
• Leno selvedges (Fig 37) are generated by extra warp threads supplied from spools.
Leno construction involves twisting a pair of warp threads around each other
whereby one of the threads (No. 1 in Fig 37a) always floats above the interlacing
weft thread while the other (No. 2) floats under.
• Such constructions can be practically realized in more than one manner. The
practice of employing standard and doup threads (Fig 37a), lappet motion
involving needles and bars (Fig 37b) and rotating discs carrying spools (Fig 37c)
typically exemplify some commercial processes.
• With doup and standard threads, chains or specially designed doup healds ensure
that doup threads are moved alternately to open and crossed position vis-à-vis
standard threads in successive picks while doup threads are always maintained at
the bottom warp line during picking.
• In the method employing needles and bars the respective standard warp threads
are drawn through vertically reciprocating needles that are mounted on bars while
the doup threads are drawn through eyes mounted on a horizontally reciprocating
bar.
• Rotating discs carry spools and are suitably mounted a top healds in such a way
that threads can land directly at the respective selvedges. When the discs are
rotated every pick through 3600 then a double locked leno results which grips
relatively smooth weft threads fairly tightly while a disc rotation through 1800 can
be sufficient for usual spun threads.
Fig 37
 Fused selvedges are created by employing glowing hot filaments
located conveniently near selvedges. Such selvedges are found in
fabrics made of thermoplastic yarns .
• Whichever method may be adopted for securing selvedge
threads on shuttleless looms, mechanical properties at
these two extremities are bound to be inferior to that of
the main body of fabric. This is caused by discontinuity of
weft threads. Incidentally under the condition that double
picks are acceptable, it is possible to ensure continuity of
weft thread on Gabler type of rapier machine.
• This is illustrated in Fig 38a. Incidentally a closed selvedge
on one side and a completely open at the other (Fig 38b)
can also be created by a Gabler while inserting single picks.
• For all its disadvantages the shuttle weaving machine
proves its superiority in this one very important aspect
which comes into reckoning in technical textiles and more
so in 3D woven fabrics. Modern machine manufacturers are
switching back to this older method of fabric formation for
creating the new generation 3D fabrics!
 Productivity and fabric quality
• The act of replacing a wooden shuttle with a much smaller, lighter and
much harder steel gripper led to a substantial reduction in manpower
and a radical improvement in fabric quality. One can state with a
degree of confidence that this one development fuelled the
subsequent spate of developments in woven fabric manufacturing
process.
• Focusing attention solely on the criterion of productivity of a loom,
namely the weft insertion rate (WIR), it is observed that a steady but
linear rise took place during the the first 60 years of the 20 century till
the advent of the projectile (gripper) loom.
• Since then the rise has been exponential, although somewhat oddly
the growth in the WIR of projectile system itself has been sluggish over
the past 40 odd years. The projectile loom is now a very important
type of shuttleless system for production of an array of technical
textiles that demands large width and versatility in terms of converting
a wide range of materials into a broad palette of products.
Nonetheless, the economics of projectile weaving, which was
established during the 60s and 70s, fuelled the development of
alternate forms of weft insertion techniques.
• A modern air-jet loom, which is equipped with main nozzle,
booster nozzle, relay nozzles, suction nozzle and profile reed,
can operate at a WIR value of around 3,000 m/min, almost
twice that of the most modern projectile loom. Evidently
limits are imposed on the acceleration and deceleration
processes by inertia of the projectile, which has a mass
varying between 20 and 60g.
• Similarly the sley and the healds can be operated without any
dwell in water jet looms, and therefore the corresponding
looms can run faster, as the space requirement of the fluid
stream within a shed is nominal. For the same reason the
amplitude of sley oscillation is also much lower than that of
shuttle or gripper loom.
• Bottlenecks, that restrict the development of both shuttle and
gripper looms, are elegantly overcome by changing over from
solid propulsion to the fluid propulsion system.
• Restriction on the width and WIR is imposed upon rapier
systems by buckling rigidity of the band, the space
occupied by the insertion systems on the two sides of a
loom and the inertia of moving elements.
• Similarly, the tip transfer from one rapier head to another
in the centre of shed is a unique phenomenon that must be
subject to a risk of failure. In spite of such heavy odds, the
WIR achieved currently with this system is at par with that
of projectile while the width of 4 m with flexible rapier is a
testimony to the development and application of new
composite materials.
• The rapier happens to be the only positive weft insertion
system, implying that the motion of weft throughout its
journey can be controlled very precisely. This facility
permits insertion of picks of diverse nature during the
course of weaving.
• A typical example of a rapier woven ladies’ dress material exhibits a
sequence of picks comprising textured PES of 78 denier, cotton yarn
of 102 Ne, lurex of 69 Nm, chenille of 40 Nm and Boucle silk of 3.8
Nm. Insertion of such a wide range of count and material is possible
owing to the versatility of the weft insertion system.
• As a result, this system has created a niche for itself in the apparel
and household textiles sector. In addition to the versatility inherent
in rapier system, the ability of the modern loom to operate at
different speeds and at different rates of take-up and let-off while
different types of weft are inserted, has contributed significantly to
the scope of this system.
• This ability owes much to the growth of application of electronics in
modern looms. A broad range of fabrics with very narrow tolerance
in dimensions, such as yarn crimp, yarn density, fabric width etc. as
also in specified properties and faults can be produced on modern
shuttleless looms because they are equipped with a wide array of
electronic devices and microprocessor controls.
 . Application of Composite Materials
• The course of innovations in loom has been strongly
influenced by developments and application of composite
materials. A modern loom running at nearly 1000 rpm
would require the healds carrying a large number of warp
threads under a fairly high tension to reciprocate at a
frequency of nearly 16 Hz.
• The peak acceleration and deceleration involved in such
motions exceed 100G, assuming the very conservative
figure of 10 cm heald displacement. The enormous amount
of power that would be required to maintain a number of
2.5-3 m wide healds in such a motion, as also the dynamic
strains that the healds would be subjected to in this process
clearly constitute serious hurdles.
• A part of this problem is negotiated by the positive cam or
dobby drive to healds as also the lateral guidance given to
healds in clearly defined channels, thus eliminating any
unnecessary movement.
• Additionally, the light and strong fiber reinforced
composite materials which have replaced the
aluminum alloys also play an important role in
achieving such high frequencies.
• For example, carbon fibre reinforced composite
materials are very light (density of ~1.5 g/cc as
compared to 2.7 g/cc of aluminum alloy and 7.8 g/cc of
steel) and extremely stiff in tension (tensile strength of
800 MPa as opposed to 193 MPa of Al-alloy and 1100
MPa of steel).
• Heald frames made of such materials are capable of
withstanding very high strain while offering less inertia
for attainment of the very high frequency.
 Techno-Economics
• Techno-economics of a production system is aimed at objectively
evaluating its technical feasibility and economical viability for a
certain product type in a given market during a specific period of
time. Even in today’s globalized market, demand for a particular
commodity varies widely from location to location primarily due to
varying consumer habits and degree of affluence.
• Similarly habits and demands of the same group of homogenous
consumers may change considerably over a period of time owing to
rapid changes in extraneous conditions. This is compounded by
varying degrees of continuous technical development of all
production systems.
• As a result it is impossible to specifically rank different production
systems in techno-economical terms in absolute sense.
• Similarly the comparative advantage of one type of shuttleless loom
over another type has also been outlined. However an
entrepreneur is primarily concerned about the return that his
investment in a particular production system fetches him.
• This factor namely return on investment
depends on a number of other factors such as
capital cost of equipment, labour cost, energy
cost, sales cost of manufactured products,
bank rates, building cost, maintenance cost,
raw material cost, fixed overhead cost etc.
• At this point it is worth noting that in spite of
technical superiority of shuttleless looms over
shuttle looms, strong and firm selvedges can
be produced only on the latter
• Hence for some products one may be forced to
opt for technically and economically less effective
system.
• Capital cost that is cost of machineries and allied
equipment is a major factor governing choice of
type of loom. A plain shuttle loom is the cheapest
while projectile looms have been for quite some
time the most expensive.
• Amongst shuttleless looms, the water jet system
along with water softening plant may turn out to
be the cheapest, dictated partly by its limited
market demand owing to inability to weave wide
fabrics and process hydrophobic materials.
• Next to capital cost, cost of labour and cost of energy are of
immense importance. Actual power consumed by loom of a
certain type would depend on its weft insertion rate.
• However more efficiently designed loom of similar type
may not consume proportionately greater power for
incremental rise in weft insertion rate. For example
reduction of gripper mass by using carbon fiber reinforced
material as opposed to using steel would lead to less power
consumption for comparable weft insertion rates.
• Hence the ratio (kWh / WIR) may be employed as an
indicator of degree of sophistication of a loom within its
own type. From the narrow point of view of economics of
production however a better proposition would be ratio
(kWh / kg of fabric produced). The following table lists
typical values of the latter type.
• Type kWh / kg
• Shuttle loom 1.8
• Gripper loom 1.3
• Rapier loom 2.5
• Air jet loom 3.2
• Water jet loom 0.9
• Purely from this narrow view point a water jet loom scores
over all other types of loom while its counterpart, the air
jet loom, should be the least preferred one. The
commercial popularity of the air jet and rapier looms, the
two highest energy guzzling systems, reveal the complexity
of economics of woven fabric production.
• Cost of labor rises with economic well being as the latter
leads to greater material expectations of the working
population and as a consequence also leads to an altered
demographic profile.
• Shuttle less looms are less labor intensive than shuttle
looms but operating a modern weaving shed still needs
sizeable number of manual operators. This fact alone has
caused a global shift of this industry from developed
economies to the developing ones.
• Such a shift would continue in the foreseeable future until a major
technical innovation renders the cost of manual intervention in
manufacture of textile fabrics fairly insignificant.
• Under the situation prevailing as of now woven fabrics are
manufactured in developing economies while good quality weaving
machines are manufactured in developed economies. Hence more
often than not shuttle less machines need to be imported by the
woven fabric manufacturer.
• The cost of import in terms of various duties payable to the
Government adds to the overall cost of equipment. These machines
need steady power supply and good backup systems such as very
well prepared warp, highly skilled manpower, well constructed
building with proper illumination and humidity control etc.
• All these are not easy to come by in developing economies and add
to the cost of product.
• The least demanding and most flexible system would
as a consequence put least economic burden on the
investor and therefore would commercially be the
most preferred one.
• Certain case studies report lowest cost of production,
highest cash inflow, highest return on investment and
steady long term profitability of air jet looms
functioning under Indian conditions in production of a
range of commercially popular fabrics.
• Realization of these commercial aspects has prompted
the discriminating weaving machine manufacturer to
shift attention from raising the weft insertion rate of
future generation of looms to making them more
flexible and versatile