Warp Breaks Detection in Jacquard Weaving using MEMS

Abstract

Microelectromechanical systems or MEMS technology has gone from an interesting academic exercise to an integral part of many applications in several industries. However, little work has been done in researching applications for MEMS in textiles.

Research related to warp breaks has been limited to monitoring break frequency and the reason associated with breaks in order to improve warp yarn quality. While this approach led to improvement in weaving efficiency, warp breaks still represent a major problem, especially for today's high-speed weaving machines. Researchers have been trying to develop commercial automated systems to repair warp breaks with no success. The goal of this study is to explore inexpensive methods to detect warp breaks using nontraditional technique that would pave the way to automate warp break repair. To achieve the goal, a system that can detect warp breaks using MEMS accelerometers as sensors was developed for Jacquard weaving. The MEMS accelerometers were mounted on harness cords of a Jacquard tie.

MEMS output acceleration signals components in the vertical and horizontal directions were analyzed using time and frequency domains. The signals were acquired while warp ends are running and at the moment of intentional breaks. The analysis led to a successful detection of warp breaks especially using the horizontal acceleration component that is mainly due to harness cord vibration.

Three experimental designs were conducted to investigate the effect of weave design, warp yarn type, and warp yarn tension on the output signal strength which is measured by amplitude in time domain. It was found that warp break for weave with longer floats showed (shedding motion operates in open shed principal) stronger output signal as compared to plain weave. Increasing warp tension caused an increase of the output signal strength. The output signal increased with increase in yarn modulus.