Weaving with Air

Weaving with Air
Kaeser Kompressoren and the textiles industry
The textiles industry in “Old Europe” continues to go from strength to strength and makes no
compromises when it comes to quality. The same is also true of the products and materials used
in the manufacture of textiles from this region. In this article we take a close look at three leading
textile companies: The first two, SR-Webatex in Bayreuth and Feiler Frottier in Hohenberg an der
Eger, are located in the textile stronghold of eastern Upper Franconia, Germany, whilst the third,
Jenny Fabrics, is located in Ziegelbrücke, Switzerland.
the 75 m³/min needed for base load
consumption. Compressed air is needed at all times, as the plant operates
around the clock over three shifts.
Therefore, the phrase “Idling is money”
is seldom applicable when it comes to
discussing compressed air at SR-Webatex. Operation of the Kaeser rotary
screw compressors (two CSD 122
(75 kW), two DS 241 (132 kW) and an
ESD 351 (200 kW)) is co-ordinated and
precisely controlled via a Sigma Air
Manager (SAM) compressed air management system 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week. The SAM also monitors and
controls the air treatment systems (2 x
TE 141 and 2 x TE 570 refrigeration
dryers, an AK 1000 activated carbon
adsorber, as well as numerous filters).
The compressed air also has to meet
strict quality requirements: It has to be
exceptionally clean and dry in order to
reliably feed the filling threads on the
Dornier air-powered loom across the
3.80 metre width of the machine. In fact
this has to be done reliably AND fast,
as this procedure is carried out more
than 700 times per minute at peak load
and at speeds of approximately 160
km/h (100 mph). This interplay between
maximum mechanical and pneumatic
precision is therefore nothing short of
amazing. This is especially true in the
production halls of the next company
on our tour ...
SR-Webatex GmbH
We begin our textile tour in the
historic town of Bayreuth, located
approximately 70 km southeast from
Kaeser‘s headquarters in Coburg ...
SR-Webatex GmbH
The SR-Webatex weaving mill is situated in the heart of Bayreuth, within a
stone‘s throw of the Upper Franconian
capital‘s main railway station. The
state-of-the-art manufacturing complex
houses everything under a single roof
and provides optimum production
transparency. Gunther Ramming, the
Director of Quality Management and
Assurance at SR-Webatex, oversees
all aspects of textile production, of
which there are many: For example,
the raw thread has to first pass through
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numerous highly specialised processes to prepare it for the subsequent
weaving marathon, whereupon 45
compressed air looms and 52 projectile
looms then produce material of the
very highest quality. SR-Webatex‘s extensive product range not only includes
everyday textiles for use in motorcycle
protective clothing, trekking footwear
and tents, for example, but also includes materials for the manufacture of
protective clothing for sporting activities (fencing attire) and professional
applications (industrial safety, military
use). The company also produces
sound- and sun-protective material, artificial suede, material for landfill covers, parachutes and balloons to name
just a few additional product solutions.
The origins of the Bayreuth weaving
mill go back to the establishment of
“The Bayreuth Mechanical Wool Spinnery and Weaving mill AG” (Mechanische Baumwoll-Spinnerei und Weberei Bayreuth AG) in 1853. The
company has been part of Daun & Cie.
AG – Germany‘s largest textile group
– since 1979 and was merged with
“Reutlingen Silk Weavers” (Seidenweberei Reutlingen: SR) in 2006 to form
SR-Webatex GmbH. As described in
the company brochure, the two locations were “woven together to form a
single efficient unit”. With 45 air-powered looms comes a corresponding
“thirst” for compressed air: The facility‘s
peak load compressed air requirement
of 85 m³/min is only slightly higher than
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A world full of colour:
The thread store at Feiler Frottier
Ernst Feiler GmbH
The highly complex production of
Chenille at Feiler Frottier starts with
manufacture of the initial material on
Dornier compressed air powered
looms
Towelling and Chenille Weaving Mill
Ernst Feiler GmbH is located directly
on the German border with the Czech
Republic in the town of Hohenberg an
der Eger and, as Dieter Schwedt (Company Director and grandson of founder
Ernst Feiler) explains, is the only weaving mill in Europe that produces chenille. But what is chenille? Dieter
Schwedt describes it as “a gem of a
material” and talks us through each
step of the production process during a
tour of the company.
The distinctive look of chenille starts in
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the thread store: rolls of wool thread in
every colour of the spectrum wait to be
fed into the air-powered looms, which
produce the initial product. The colour
sequences of these first-stage materials determine how the finished chenille
material will look. However, this initial
product first has to be cut: this process
is carried out in several stages whereby
the material is cut into ever-narrower
strips until they are approximately
3 mm wide. Using highly specialised
equipment powered by compressed
air, these strips are then entwined to
form “caterpillar thread” – a soft fibre
that has the fleecy feel of the end
product. In the next stage, fixed looms
produce the chenille itself weft for weft
and operate significantly slower than
their compressed air powered counterparts on the ground floor. By this stage,
the material has taken on its distinctive
characteristic of being identical on both
sides.
Feiler‘s chenille products are much
sought-after in Japan, where the brand
enjoys true cult status – approximately
230,000 of Feiler‘s 30 x 30 cm face
towels leave the Hohenberg production
plant each month.
Together with a wide range of other
chenille and towelling products – including hand towels, bath towels and
bathrobes – the family-owned company
has grown continuously over the years
and has relied on Kaeser Kompressoren for its compressed air supply for
the last 40 years. To meet the company‘s base load requirement of
10.5 m³/min and its 13 m³/min peak
load demand, the compressed air installation currently comprises three
Kaeser rotary screw compressors: an
AS 35 for reserve capacity, a CS 76
and a CS 91. The system provides air
for weft insertion into the air-powered
looms and also powers the facility‘s
automatic stitching equipment. Needless to say, the air has to be completely
dry and oil-free. This is made possible
via appropriate filtration and separation systems, as well as a refrigeration
dryer. The entire system is monitored
and controlled by a “Sigma Air Manager” compressed air management system (SAM) to ensure optimum efficiency and performance.
The last stop on our tour takes us to
Jenny Fabrics AG, in Ziegelbrücke,
Switzerland, where a SAM is also used
to provide maximum compressed air
availability for this highly successful
weaving company …
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male/female
outerwear),
home textiles (furniture coverings, bed clothes, furnishing and curtain fabrics) and
technical textiles (support
materials, materials for protection against electromagnetic pollution etc.). Products in all categories ensure
the very best in quality and
performance, as they are developed
and tested in Switzerland in accordance with the strictest quality standards.
As well as 68 Sulzer- and 17 Dornierrapier weaving machines, the Swiss
weaving plant‘s versatile range of
machinery includes 22 Dornier-compressed air looms, which consume
between 25 and 35 m³ of compressed
air per minute according to demand.
Three Kaeser rotary screw compressors provide the necessary supply of
compressed air: two DSD 171 units
and a DSD 241 unit. Compressed air
treatment is carried out by two TH
371 refrigeration dryers and three
FE 798 D micro-filters. A SAM (4/4)
compressed air management system controls the entire compressed
air system and ensures efficient operation, whilst the Sigma Air Control
Plus visualisation software provides
outstanding operational data and
cost transparency.
Jenny Fabrics AG
Fridolin Jenny started operations in
1834 with a 15,000-spindle spinning
works in the town of Ziegelbrücke, situated in the Swiss canton of Glarus. A
company was subsequently formed in
1836 under the name Enderlin and
Jenny and in 1851 acquired a spinning
works in the nearby town of Niederurnen, which today is home to Jenny
Fabrics AG. By mid 1860 the company
had 54,000 spindles and 520 staff,
making it the largest spinning mill in the
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canton. Trading under the name Fritz +
Caspar Jenny from 1894, the company
continued to expand until the 1980s,
but growth then slowed as capacity
shifted to eastern Europe and Asia.
Established as Fritz + Caspar Jenny
AG in 1986, the company restructured
and demerged the business entities of
Spinnerei Ziegelbrücke AG and Jenny
Fabrics AG in 1997. The Ziegelbrücke
spinning works was subsequently
closed at the end of 2001, but signifi-
cant investment has been made in machinery at the Jenny Fabrics weaving
plant to ensure a prosperous and successful future for the company.
A total of approximately 140 employees
(located at the Niederurnen plant and
in partner companies in the Czech Republic) produce 12 million m² of grey
fabric for use in special applications
each year. The product range is divided
into three areas, namely: clothing materials (material for shirts / blouses and
Situated in the Swiss town of
Ziegelbrücke, Jenny Fabrics
manufactures premium quality,
specialised fabrics
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Significant energy savings
All three textile companies also benefit
from significant energy savings as a result of heat recovery systems, which
allow energy that would be otherwise
wasted to be used for space heating
during the colder months of the year.
This not only reduces energy costs, but
also reduces consumption of natural
resources and minimises harmful emissions. Moreover, these companies are
dedicated to manufacturing products of
the very highest quality and recognise
that increased productivity is essential
to ensure continued success. Therefore, they are true believers in Kaeser‘s
motto when it comes to the key source
of energy for fast air-powered looms:
“More air, More Savings…”
KAESER at ITMA:
In hardly any other business sector is
the energy efficiency of compressed air
systems more noticeable than it is in
Hall B4 – Stand 103
A view across the weaving hall at
SR Webatex, Bayreuth
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the textile industry. Production of compressed air required for powering air-jet
looms often accounts for up to 85 percent of total system costs. Furthermore,
investment in Asia, and especially in
China, continues to increasingly shift
towards air-jet loom technology.
Consequently KAESER KOMPRESSOREN‘s presentation at ITMA (Hall
B4, Stand 103) is focussing on all aspects encompassed by the company‘s
motto “More air, More savings…”. This
of course will take place with the key
areas essential for the textile industry
in mind, such as air system reliability
and compressed air quality, to name
just two important aspects. Particular
emphasis will be placed on compressed
air supplies for air-hungry applications
such as compressed air powered
looms. For example, Kaeser‘s FSD series rotary screw compressors are now
also available with drive powers up to
350 kW and feature cost-effective aircooling (see page 18). This not only
minimises installation costs, but also
ensures significantly reduced operating costs over the long term. In addition, Kaeser‘s all-in-one master controller and web server, the “Sigma Air
Manager” (SAM), combines unrivalled
compressed air availability with maximum system efficiency and enables
full system control for up to 16 compressors. The SAM‘s “Sigma Air Control (plus)“ analysis tool also allows the
user to monitor compressed air costs
like never before.
A brief history of ITMA
CEMATEX, the European Textile Machinery Manufacturer‘s Association,
was founded on the 20th October 1952
with the aim of enabling its members to
exhibit their products at a single tradeshow location. The inception of CEMATEX was preceded by the first attempt
to establish an international textile machine exhibition, which took place in
Lille, France, in 1951. The first true
CEMATEX-ITMA exhibition took place
4 years later in Brussels and had 453
exhibitors covering a total exhibition
area of 20,000 m². ITMA has been held
every four years ever since in alternating European locations. 2007 will be
the first time the show has been held in
Munich, which boasts one of the world‘s
most impressive exhibition grounds:
Nearly 1400 exhibitors in 16 halls will
be demonstrating the latest products
and innovations to visitors from all
around the world.
Author: Klaus Dieter Bätz
Contact: klaus-dieter.baetz@kaeser.com
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