Trade fairs - Lenze

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12 In action Sticks better, fits better Servo system powers machinery for finishing textiles Sports kit used to be simply the things you wore for training or matches. But nowadays there are a whole range of special functional fabrics used for different activities and different seasons. These textiles have so many characteristics that they make a cotton T-shirt look like a historic relic. The production and processing of high-tech fibres demands a high level of precision from manufacturing machinery. The Santex Group, which specialises in the finishing of fabrics, makes successful use of Lenze’s servo technology for its production machines. Artificial fibres wick moisture away from the body while trapping in air, which prevents unwanted cooling. Insulation zones retain air and warm up sensitive parts of the body. These hightech fibres also incorporate anti-bacterial and odour-reducing finishes. A whole range of materials with specific qualities are combined to this end. The result is comfortable for consumers, yet challenging for manufacturers. The materials manufactured using the Santex Group’s machines and systems are used not only to make comfortable sports clothing but also materials for many other areas of day-to-day life. They include soft padding, tough work clothing and breathable fabrics for car seats. The positive attributes of these textiles can often only be achieved by combining various types and layers of fibres. It is essential that the materials are processed with precision. For example, to give the end product its desired char- Man-made fibres are woven to produce fabrics that are glued together using specialised machinery. acteristic, gluing processes such as the hot-melt procedure (which is used to join two layers of fabric) must operate with great accuracy. The glue is applied with high precision in the necessary patterns (spot, rhombus or lattice) and over an area suited to the materials involved. Only then can the required characteristics be achieved. Even slight variations can significantly impair the quality of the product. Consequences can include a lack of suppleness or an unpleasant appearance of the surface of the fabric. Only a precisely controlled manufacturing process can ensure that fabrics glued in multiple layers remain soft, breathable and pleasant to the touch. Santex looked closely at other characteristics important to users when it designed its coating and laminating
systems. As a result, the Caviflex family of machines has a wide range of uses. The machines are characterised by high processing speeds, reliable operation, quick installation and commissioning, and ease of maintenance. Lenze servo technology plays an important role in all of this. It is used to drive the various processes with the necessary accuracy and synchronicity. In its Caviflex series, Santex makes use of MCS servo motors combined with the ECS servo system manufactured by the Hameln-based drive specialists. These controllers cover a power range of between 1.1 and 13.8 kW, and can be overloaded by a factor of 3.2. Lenze supplies the ECS drive system with four different software versions covering commonly occurring applications – almost the entire spectrum from the simple servo controller all the way to complex Cam functions. The ECS axis modules can, however, be used to fulfil very specific requirements, since it is possible to program the axis yourself. The program and control structures are written in the languages of IEC 61131-3. Santex chose this option in order to ensure that the axis modules for all of its machine models were perfectly suited to the application. To Carmelo Nastasi, Director of Electrical Engineering at Santex, the advantages of this approach are clear to see: “Having complete freedom of programming in the axis controllers was the only way of satisfying our very particular requirements with a minimum of hardware and engineering.” The flexibility of these drive controllers was a major factor in helping Santex optimise the cost side of its Caviflex laminating and Professional footballers wear functional fabrics. coating systems without placing limitations on their performance or ease of use. The result is a system in which users have access to all four currently used coating processes in one machine without time-consuming conversion work. The time which would otherwise be used to refit and then restart the machine can now be used to continue production. This reduces production costs. Since all of the ECS axis modules come with a “Safely deactivated torque” (safe standstill) function as standard without additional external components, maintenance staff can perform their servicing work on the machine at short notice without a need for time-consuming shutdown and switching-off processes. As well as the high level of flexibility offered by the drive controllers, the comprehensive communications support incorporated into the ECS servo system enables users to make use of three bus systems working in parallel. A Caviflex machine may have up to 22 ECS axis controllers depending on the version, and these are supplied with all of the Sporting textiles In action During hard training sessions and while competing, the clothing of a sportsperson wicks between 1.5 and 2.5 litres of liquid. How comfortable the clothing is to wear from a physiological point of view – which means the material’s breathability, dampness and ability to manage heat – plays a major role in supporting an athlete’s performance. Traditional clothing made from cotton absorbs sweat well but does not release it again effectively. It is for this reason that functional textiles were developed from man-made fibres around 25 years ago. Optimum comfort and the wicking away of body moisture can only be achieved if the various items of clothing complement one another. The first layer, directly next to the body, should draw sweat and moisture away from the skin. The surface area of the fibres, and thus the fabric’s wicking capacity, can be increased by changing the fineness and profile of the fibres. Graduating the fineness of fibres and threads from the inside to the outside of the fabric’s crosssection allows moisture to evaporate even more effectively. The functional clothing worn near to the body is supplemented by weatherproof jackets. These must of course be breathable, which is achieved using membrane systems made up of a range of chemical fibres. The pores in the material are smaller than the smallest water drop but larger than a water molecule, which means that sweat can pass through to the outside as vapour. The jackets are made waterproof by a laminating process in which the membrane is bonded to the fabric layer. During the coating process, a thin layer of plastic (usually polyurethane) is applied in liquid form straight onto the fabric, where it hardens. This makes the jacket completely watertight, but without allowing sweat to make the inside damp. www.hohenstein.de 13
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Page 5 and 6: Cables from Austria Lenze has taken
Page 7 and 8: Stone for the White House Integrate
Page 9 and 10: ting work. The system is capable of
Page 11: A real innovation: now there is no
Page 15 and 16: Zinc, not rust Lenze technology get
Page 17 and 18: visualised. A twin-LAN cable suffic

Trade fairs - Lenze

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