Achim Schröter

Increasing the energy efficiency of air jet weaving based on a novel method to exploit energy savings potentials in production processes of the textile industry

This article deals with the energy efficiency of textile weaving machines. A method based on exergy balances has been developed at the Institute for Textile Technology RWTH Aachen University (ITA), Aachen, Germany in order to improve energy efficiency textile machines. The relay nozzles of the air-jet weaving technology need up to 80% of the energy of the weaving machine. At ITA, a new nozzle concept was developed. The developed geometry is a so called High-Volume-Low-Pressure nozzle (HVLP nozzle), based on convergent nozzle aerodynamic theory. With this concept, energy savings up to 30% are possible.

Reducing environmental impact in air jet weaving technology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deal with the energy efficiency of textile weaving machines. Increasing energy costs and environmental impact are a challenge for textile manufacturers as well as for the developers of textile production machines. As example, air jet weaving is the most productive but also most energy consuming weaving method. Design/methodology/approach – A method based on energy efficiency considered as the main requirements in the design phase has been developed at the Institut fur Textiltechnik der RWTH Aachen University (ITA), Aachen, Germany, in order to improve energy efficiency of air-jet weaving machines. Technological developments are always concerned about low energy costs, low environmental impact, high productivity and constant product quality. The high degree of energy consumption of the method can be ascribed to the high need of compressed air required by the relay nozzles during the weft insertion process. Findings – The relay nozzles of the air-jet weaving technol...

Increasing Energy Potentials of Air-Jet Weaving Machines by Using Energy Efficiency as a Central Requirement in the Design Phase of the Weft Insertion Process

The use of a novel method to exploit energy savings potentials in production processes of textile industry has been applied to the air-jet weaving technology. Energy efficiency is taken as central property in the design process and it represents a new requirement/property to be defined in the phase of design problem/task definition. In contradiction with established methodologies, the approach includes an initial analysis of existing technical systems and the individuation and classification of their prior and relevant energy consumers (sub-systems and processes). The identified major consumers and processes are afterwards systematically addressed to reduce their energy consumption: interaction of the relay nozzle flow field with the profiled reed. A following analysis step consists in the verification of the system design, predicting and evaluating the system behavior using several tools (e.g. finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics simulations, experimental analyses, etc.). Since nowadays products become more and more multi-disciplinary by the constantly increasing integration of added functionality and product intelligence and since energy is a global design attribute which is influenced by all disciplines, the development of energy analysis methodologies, both numerical and experimental, able to decrease the environmental impact and to keep constant the machine performance requires an integrated research strategy. Therefore in next air jet weaving machine generations, the design process should move from a purely performance and capacity driven approach to an approach that includes energy efficiency as a key parameter.

Sustainability in Luxury Textile Applications: A Contradiction or a New Business Opportunity?

The recycling of textiles is heavily based on the material type and treatment of the fibre material. Especially materials that do not allow a recovery of the raw material in virgin material quality limit the possibilities of textile recycling significantly. This circumstance leads to great amounts of accumulating worldwide textile waste that is not yet processed into new valuable products. In this section, the authors will show two strategies for the re-use and recycling of high valuable fibre materials like polyamide and carbon used in luxury applications. Afterwards, two case studies are presented to validate the presented concepts.