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The purpose of this paper is to develop and test control methods for real‐time automatic presser‐foot force control in industrial sewing machines. In this work, a closed‐loop controller that controls presser‐foot maximum vertical displacement is presented and compared to existing solutions that adjust force depending on sewing speed. Automatic force control can reduce problems such as stitch irregularity, stitch distortions and material damage, besides making material handling easier.

An electromagnetic force actuator was integrated in an industrial lockstitch machine. A computer‐based control system was designed implementing either speed‐variable force control, closed‐loop control, or emulating a traditional constant‐force system. Maximum presser‐foot displacement values were measured and analysed in relevant sewing situations, and seam quality was assessed.

Constant‐force control does not allow optimal force setting at all speeds. Speed‐variable force control is an improvement, but requires empirical setting of the speed‐force relation, not always assuring optimal operation. Closed‐loop control adapts force to the requirement of each sewing situation more precisely. Sewing quality is good and material handling is eased.

The actuator has to be optimised regarding response time and maximum force. Some aspects in the behaviour of the control system and actuator have to be further studied.

The proposed control system enables the automatic setting and adaptation of force to all sewing situations, making material handling easier at low speeds without compromising feeding performance at high speed. The closed‐loop controller may be used as a teach‐in system for speed‐dependent control.

This is the first prototype of a closed‐loop control system for presser‐foot force on a lockstitch sewing machine and the first comparative study of control methods for presser‐foot force control.

With the improvement of living standards and acceleration of working pace, the shape retention property of textiles has attracted more attention. Yarn spinning is the first fundamental process in making textiles and apparel, and the properties of yarn influence the performance of textiles directly. Filament/staple fiber composite yarn is a kind of yarn spun by filament and staple fiber, and comprehensive qualities of yarn can be improved. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study the shape retention properties of filament/staple fiber composite yarns and corresponding fabrics.

Four kinds of composite yarn, core-spun yarn with one 50D SPH filament feeding, sirofil wrapped yarn with one 50D SPH filament feeding from left, sirofil wrapped yarn with one 50D SPH filament feeding from right, sirofil wrapped yarn with two 25D SPH filaments feeding from two sides, were spun. The qualities of spun yarns were measured. Then, corresponding two kinds of twill fabrics were woven by core-spun yarn and sirofil wrapped yarn with two filaments, respectively. The handle parameters, crease recovery, appearance leveling after washing, dimensional change rate after washing, strength and elongation and tensile elasticity were tested by using corresponding test instruments.

The tested results of spun yarn qualities show that comparing with the core-spun yarn, the evenness of sirofil wrapped yarn is improved, the hairiness is reduced, and the breaking strength and elongation are increased. Comparing with sirofil wrapped yarn with one filament, the evenness of sirofil wrapped yarn with two filaments is improved. The measured results of fabrics properties show that under the same weaving process, comparing to the fabric woven by core-spun yarn, the dimension of fabric woven by sirofil wrapped yarn is small after desizing, and warp and weft density is large. The possible reason is that the shrinkage of the SPH filament outside the sirofil wrapped yarn happens after desizing, which also makes the dimensional change rate after washing of the corresponding fabric large, and crease recovery poor.

In the paper, for improving the shape retention properties of the pure cotton woven fabric, one kind of SPH filament was added to the woven fabric by spinning filament/staple fiber composite yarns. Four kinds of composite yarn, core-spun yarn with one 50D SPH filament, sirofil wrapped yarn with one 50D SPH filament feeding from the left side, sirofil wrapped yarn with one 50D SPH filament feeding from the right side, sirofil wrapped yarn with two 25D SPH filaments feeding from two sides, were spun. Two kinds of twill fabrics were weaving by core-spun yarn and sirofil wrapped yarn with two filaments, respectively.

Reports research into developing the ability to sense characteristic information about fabric/machine interactions for real‐time control of the industrial sewing process. The sewing system under investigation was equipped with displacement and force transducers to measure the dynamic response of the feeding system during various modes of operation. A combination of fabric and machine factors was considered in a one‐half fractional factorial experimental design, including: fabric type, number of fabric plies, presser foot type, presser foot preload, and machine speed.

As one kind of filament/staple fiber composite yarn, core spun yarn has been widely used, especially on Jeans. However, there is only one filament in the commonly used core spun yarn, such as spandex, and the performance of the one filament often is influenced during dyeing and finishing. Therefore, in the paper, twin-core spun yarns with two different filaments feeding simultaneously were spun on ring spinning frame modified by one kind of filament feeding numerical control device. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Four kinds of twin-core spun yarns, cotton/spandex/PBT, cotton/spandex/CM800, cotton/spandex/T400, cotton/spandex/SPH with linear density 36.4tex/40D/50D were spun. For improving the covering effect of the two filaments, the filament feeding position, filament pre-drafting multiple, distance between two staple roving, designed twist factor of the core spun yarn were optimized.

It is shown that comparing with the core spun yarn, the breaking strength and elongation of the twin-core spun yarns are improved since the addition of another elastic filament, while the evenness is a little worse.

By using the twin-core spun yarns, corresponding knitted and woven fabrics are produced. Meanwhile, for simulating the dyeing and finishing process, the knitted fabrics were treated during the 150°C high temperature. It is shown that comparing with the fabrics produced by cotton/spandex yarn, addition of another elastic filament can improve the fabric strength and resistant and has positive effect on worsen prevention for high temperature treated fabric elastic recovery, and on change prevention during the dyeing and finishing process for fabric handle properties, and improves the fabric stability.

With the popularization of electronic products, the electromagnetic radiation pollution has been the fourth largest pollution after water, air and noise pollution. Therefore, electromagnetic shielding property of textiles is attracting more attention. In this paper, the properties of electromagnetic shielding yarns and fabrics were studied.

Ten kinds of yarn, stainless steel short fiber and polyester blend yarn with three different blending ratios T/S 90/10, T/S 80/20 and T/S 70/30, stainless steel short fiber, polyester and cotton blend yarn with blending ratio C/T/S 35/35/30, core-spun yarn with one 30 um stainless steel filament C/T28tex/S(30 um), core-spun yarn with two 15 um stainless steel filaments (C/T28tex/S(15 um)/S(15 um)), twin-core-spun yarn with one 30 um stainless steel filament and one 50D spandex filament C/T28tex/S(30 um)/SP(50D), sirofil wrapped yarn with one 30 um stainless steel filament feeding from left S(30 um)+C/T28tex, sirofil wrapped yarn with one 30 um stainless steel filament feeding from right C/T28tex+S(30 um), sirofil wrapped yarn with two 15 um stainless steel filaments feeding from two sides S(15 um)+C/T28tex+ S(15 um), were spun. The qualities of spun yarns were measured. Then, for analyzing the electromagnetic shielding properties of fabrics made of different spun yarns, 20 kinds of fabrics were woven.

The tested results show that comparing to the T/S 80/20 blend yarn, the resistivity of composite yarns with the same ratio of the stainless steel filament is smaller. The possible reason is that comparing to the stainless steel short fiber, the conductivity of stainless steel filament is better because of the continuous distribution of stainless steel in the filament. Comparing with the core-spun yarn, the conductivity of the sirofil wrapped yarn is a little better. Comparing to the fabric woven by the blend yarn, the electromagnetic shielding of the fabric woven by the composite yarn is better, and comparing to the fabric woven by the core-spun yarn, the electromagnetic shielding of the fabric woven by the sirofil yarn is a little better. The possible reason is that the conduction network can be produced by the stainless steel filament wrapped on the staple fiber yarn surface in the fabric, and the electromagnetic wave can be transmitted in the network.

In this paper, the properties of electromagnetic shielding yarns and fabrics were studied. Ten kinds of yarn, including three stainless steel short fiber and polyester blend yarns, one stainless steel short fiber, polyester and cotton blend yarn, two core-spun yarns, one twin-core-spun yarn, three sirofil wrapped yarn, were spun. Then, for analyzing the electromagnetic shielding properties of fabrics made of different spun yarns, 20 kinds of fabrics were woven. The effects of fabric warp and weft densities, fabric structures, yarn kinds, yarn distributions in the fabric on electromagnetic shielding were analyzed.

Despite the globalization and internalization of competition and surplus of apparel production, high labour costs and other economic pressures, apparel products are still being produced using traditional methods and machinery, the mechanics of which have not fundamentally changed since the seventeenth century, even nowadays when the materials produced are very flexible and diverse in texture and properties. In developing the industry further, the nature of interaction between machinery, fabric and operatives has to be taken into account, and this poses some real problems if one has to put forward realistic solutions for future industrial development. It is therefore important to be able to take into consideration fabric/machine/human interactions during the manufacturing process in order to propose the next generation of manufacturing systems which is much needed in the current apparel industry. Reports on findings in the area of intelligent garment manufacture which is a means of introducing flexibility, quality, production efficiency and maximization of resources to the apparel industry. Primarily emphasizes the importance of fabric properties and their interaction with the whole manufacturing process, the labour force and especially with sewing. In order to achieve this, applies computational intelligence and engineering to research, develop and implement intelligent textile and apparel environments, and introduce desired flexibility into the whole area of textile and apparel processes, especially in terms of quick response (QR) and just in time (JIT).

The paper aims to propose an approach to intelligent evaluation of the tensile test. A robotized system is used that performs the fabrics tensile test and estimates the extensibility of the samples using a feed‐forward neural network while trying to imitate the human expert estimation.

The specifications of the tensile test are derived by an extensive observation of the respective experts' estimation performance. The fabric sample size and the experimental conditions are specified. Linguistic values of the term “fabric extensibility” are extracted through a knowledge acquisition process. The tensile test is performed by a robot manipulator with a simple gripper and the experimental measurements (force, strain) are fed online into a neural network. The network is trained according to the extensibility estimations of the experts. The trained network is tested in estimating unknown fabric's extensibility.

The results demonstrate that the system is capable of estimating the extensibility of new fabrics.

This work can be integrated in the robotized sewing process with intelligent control where the fabric's extensibility in terms of linguistic values is necessary. The proposed system initiates a new approach, in which the fabric properties are expressed and used in a way that will facilitate the introduction of the artificial intelligence methods into the clothing industry.

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Examines the ninth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Deals with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the tailorability of lightweight wool fabrics, as well as studies related to the interaction between the ease of tailorability and performance characteristics of wool fabrics. The role of mechanical/physical properties of fabric in the making‐up process as regards lightweight wool fabrics must be fully understood in order to achieve trouble‐free tailoring of garments made from such fabrics. Places emphasis on practical analysis of tailorability of difficult lightweight wool fabrics, providing subsequent solutions for the making‐up of such fabrics. In tailorability prediction analysis work, in addition to analysis of overall garment production, the further analysis of part processes such as sewing, feeding and handling have also been made using TEFO’s computerized methods of analysis. Results are analysed in terms of the relevant mechanical and physical properties of the test fabrics. Evaluates properties using both the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) and Fabric Assurance by Simple Testing (FAST) sets of instruments.