8 Sep

th

2009
Lohit Bakore
Fourth Year (Textile
Technology)
SVITS, Indore

[COMPARISON OF SHUTTLE
AND SHUTTLELESS LOOMS]
[In the past 50 years much advancement have taken place in weaving technology
giving birth to the shuttleless weaving machines. This assignment provides a
comparison between the modern and the conventional machines.]

Submitted To:
Mr. Tanveer Malik
Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Comparison of Shuttle looms and Shuttleless

looms

Introduction
The weaving is a process of formation of fabric with interlacement of two or more
sets of yarns using a stable machine called loom. It is still not certain when the
weaving process was introduced to human society. Except few activities elsewhere,
the major developments in textile took place in England. In England the major shift
from agriculture to woolen industry came in the 14th century. During all these years
and a few hundred years after 14th century, the cloth was produced on hand-looms
which were not equipped with fly shuttle.

In 1733, John Kay invented the fly shuttle which enabled weft to be inserted more
rapidly. Edmund Cart Wright, an English clergy man, invented a so called
powerloom which could be operated from a single point by two strong man.
Fortunately steam power was available by 1765. Soon powerlooms were driven by
steam and most of the wooden parts were replaced with iron.

These looms then were stopped every few minutes in order to replace the empty
weft pirns or cop in the shuttle and this limited the number of looms, a weaver
could operate to about four. James Northrop, an English man invented an automatic
weft transfer system which replaced the weft pirn in the shuttle without slowing or
stopping the loom in 1889.

Similar developments took place elsewhere also, Ruti, a major loom maker of
Switzerland manufactured automatic bobbin changing Northrop loom in 1898. After
World War II, more productivity and efficiency were essential to overcome
increasing labour costs in Western countries.

Limitations of Shuttle Looms

Despite the relatively high speed and efficiencies in loom with conventional picking,
productivity of these machines will continue to be limited as long as their
fundamental constructions involved the use of shuttle propulsion. It is known that
the power required for picking is proportional to the cube of the loom speed. If the
loom speed is increased from 200 to 300 picks per minute, the power requirement
would increase by a factor of (3/2)3 i.e. 3.4 times approximately. This results in
following disadvantages

1. Greater strain imposed on the picking mechanism, thus rendering it liable to

frequent failure.

2. Greater amount of noise and vibration.

3. Because of superior energy in shuttle, greater strain is again imposed on the

checking mechanism.
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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

4. The movement of shuttle will be more difficult to control and there will be a
greater possibility of its ejection from the loom.

The dynamic problems created by the picking and checking mechanism and the
inherent process of pirn winding for shuttle looms had encouraged the loom makers
to develop alternative means of weft insertion in which heavy shuttle is not
projected forwards and backwards across the width of the loom. It is customary to
refer these looms as shuttleless looms.

The various shuttleless looms that have been developed over a period of about 50
years can be classified into various groups.

* Projectile Looms

* Rapier Looms

* Fluid Jet Looms

* Multiphase Looms

Advantages of Shuttleless Weaving Technology

The Shuttleless weaving is becoming more and more popular due to the following
advantages compared to conventional looms.

High labour and machine productivity due to high speed and wider width of looms.
Reduced labour cost due to higher allocation of looms and productivity.
Defect free cloth for longer length.
Better environment due to low noise level.
Pirn winding process is eliminated
Less value loss of fabrics.
Low consumption of stores and spares.
Less space requirement per metre of cloth.
More colours in weft direction (upto 12) by Pick and Pick method.
Wider width fabrics and multi width fabrics can be woven,
High degree of flexibiligy to suit a wide range of fibres and counts.
Easily adaptable for market trends.
Bigger flanges can accommodate 3 times more yarn.
Due to less beam changes lower down-time and lesser wastages.
Less dependency on labour skill.
Higher design capabilities dut to microprocessor and electronic controls.
Easy maintenance and less work load for Jobbers.
Lesser accidents.

Advances in Weaving Technology

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

The emphasis on productivity and quality has developed the weaving technology
very much and as a result the working hours required to weave fabric from loom
have been reduced from about 20 to 0.25 during the last 125 years, and in the last
50 years there has been a reduction of 95% in operative hours per standard unit
produced. Majority of the developments are taking place on the shuttleless looms in
the following directions :

1. To increase productivity of the loom.

2. To make the looms more flexible for different kinds of fabric.

3. To reduce the down time for changing style, etc.

4. Application of electronic control mechanisms to increase automation

5. Development of accessories such as dobby, jacquards, etc.

In addition to these, the newer looms are simple in design, the motions are more
reliable, consumes less energy and have lower maintenance cost.

Productivity
The production rates of the various types of looms are presented for comparison in
following Table

Table -1
Weft insertion
Available Speed in
Loom Type Rate(meters per
width in cm rpm
minute)
Conventional
180 180 300 - 400
Powerloom
Projectile
Sulzer Ruti
P7100 190-540 320 1100-1200
P7200 190-540 430 1500
STB Russia 180-330 300 750
Rigid Rapier
SACM 150 550 1100
Dornier 150-400 460 1000
GUNNE 230 330 1200
Flexible Rapier
Somet 165-410 550 1300
Vamatex 160-380 510 1300
Sulzer Ruti 110-280 325 1200
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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Nuovo Pignone 220-420 440 1000

Water Jet
Metor SPA 230 1000 1600
Nisson 150-210 1000 2000
Tsudakoma 150-210 1000 2000
Air Jet
Sulzer Ruti upto 300 750 1600
Picanol Omni 190-380 800 1800
Picanol Delta 190 1100 2000
Toyoda 150-330 850 2000
Tsudakoma 150-340 1000 2200
Lakshmi Ruti 190 500 1200
Dornier 430 600 2520
Linear
Multiphase
1100-
Elitex About 190 2000-3000
1600
Drum type
Multiphase
Sulzer M8300 190 3230 6088(Plain)
170 2430 4118(Twill)

Out of these single phase looms, Air jet loom is having maximum speed and
maximum weft insertion rate. Because of the very high quality of yarn required, the
yarn must be of very high standard, otherwise the loom stoppages due to warp
breaks and weft breaks will be high. The efficiency achieved will be in the order of
93 to 95%.

Other looms like projectile and rapier will give an efficiency of about 90 to 95%. The
cover of the fabric in air jet will not be as good as projectile and rapier looms.
Efficiency in multiphase loom is in the order of 90 to 95%

These are the speeds obtained by the weavers at commercial level. The main
reason for targeting higher productivity is to reduce the cost of production,
especially labour cost. The increase in speed is being achieved the improvement in
all major functional parts of the modern looms. The variety of fabrics that can be
woven in the shuttleless looms can be summarized in the following table.

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Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Table-2

Variety of Fabrics Woven on Specific Looms

Weft
Loom Type Field of application
selection
Projectile
Sulzer Ruti
P7100 4 colours Sheeting dress material filament weaving
P7200 4 colours
STB Russia 4 colours
Rigid
Rapier
up to 4 Yarn dyed fancy fabric manufactured such as
SACM
colours Suiting,shirting smaller batch production
up to 16
Dornier
colours
up to 6
GUNNE
colours
Flexible
Rapier
up to 8
Somet spun & filament dress material
colours
up to 8
Vamatex
colours
up to 8
Sulzer Ruti
colours
Nuovo up to 8
Pignone colours
Water Jet
Single Weaving of filament,twisted & texturised
Metor SPA
colour filament sarees,dress materials
Weft
Nisson
mix,1*1,2*2
Weft
Tsudakoma
mix,1*1,2*2
Air Jet
Sulzer Ruti up to 3 Light gauge & sheeting,spun & filament fabric

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

colours corduroy
Picanol
6 colours
Omni
Picanol
2 colours
Delta
Toyoda 6 colours
Tsudakoma 6 colours
Lakshmi
2 colours
Ruti

Weft Insertion Rates of Different Type of Looms

Weft insertion rate, defining the speed of the loom is given in Table 3.

Table 3. Comparison of Different Types of Looms

Loom Weft Insertion Rate

Conventional Powerloom - 200 Mts / Min

High Speed Automatic Loom - 300 - 400 Mts / Min
Rapier Loom - 1000 - 1400 Mts / Min
Projectile Loom - 1200 - 1500 Mts / Min
Air Jet Loom - 1500 - 2000 Mts / Min
Multiphase Loom - 5000 Mts / Min

Today the market particularly demands wide variety as much as possible at the
lowest possible cost. These machines provide the feature such as :

- The possibility of weaving more difficult products in terms of yarn employed and
also in combinations.

- Application potential in all weaving sectors.

(Sulzer Ruti 6300 rapier loom will weave not only fashion, fabrics with us many as 8
weft colours but also furnishing fabrics, simple print base fabrics and denims as
efficiently as light to heavy weight industrial fabrics.)

The terry plus airjet terry weaving machines of Gunne not only permit greater pile
height and heavier fabrics, it also offers greater flexibility in operation with the
ability to change the fabric width and pile height. On the machine the drawing width
can be changed using the same reed, simply by shifting the weft stop motion and
the weft cutter. The pile height is programmable within the same fabric. Special
fabric constructions with different pile heights on front and back are also possible.
For Sulzer P7300 projectile looms a variety of back rest roller and cloth take up
systems are available to suit the density and the type of fabric woven.

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Minimum down time

Many of the weaving machine manufacturers offer quick style change (QSC)
system. The basic idea of these developments is to prepare module outside the
weave room and keep them ready for a switch over with empty module in the
weaving machine. Dornier demonstrated quick style changes from a fine worsted
fabric to pure cashmere fabrics in less than 30 minutes. Similarly, almost all major
weaving machine makers offer their own version of QSC. Dornier offers Fast Dobby
Change (FDC) which allows a mill exchange a dobby shedding for a cam drive when
a basic style is being woven and higher shedding machine speeds are possible. The
exchange time is not more than 1.5 hours per occurrence. The saving in time with
QSC in Picanol is illustrated with an example in Table-3

Table-4 Average Loom Stoppage Time (in minutes)

With QSC Without QSC
Stop factor
system system
Waiting time 5 5
Loom unloading 10 40
Trolley waiting time 10 40
Loom loading 8 25
Reed,hardness
6 60
locking
New style setting 15 15
Loom restart 5 25
Interference loss 4 12
Total 74 203

The down time is getting reduced to about one third with Quick Style Change (QSC)
system.

Electronic Control Mechanism :

The use of central microprocessor control system and automatic functional with
bidirection communication and diagnostic features are the common features of
most of these latest weaving machines. Sulzer Ruti P7100 with central
microprocessor control, electronically controls progressive weft break, automatic
weft feed backup which switches over to a feeder head with intact weft intact weft
thread in the event of weft break, at the same time informing the weaver an optical
automatic weft break repair and package handling system.

In repair machines electronic control weft tensioner reduces the yarn tension
specially during insertion. The opening and closing time can be selected according

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

to the material usually at yarn pick up. Automatic package switching device
prevents the machine from being stopped in the event of a weft break between the
package and the weft feeder. The microprocessor switches over immediately to a
reduced number of packages in the circle, so that the machine continues to run.

Electronically controlled warp let off and cloth take up units ensure high degree of
fabric regularity and prevent all kinds of start and stop marks. Electronic monitoring
control system have simplified the communication with the machine and facilitate
its easy handling by any one concerned with the operation of the machine e.g.
weaver, technical, maintenance, personnel, etc.

In airjet weaving machine electronic let-off maintains consistent warp tension from
full beam to empty beam. Electronic cloth take up generates a pick density
resolution of 0.1 picks/cm and holds it constant, under all operating conditions.

In terry plus airjet terry weaving machine of Gunne Web Machinen Fabric GMBH &
Co. The microprocessor monitors the entire insertion cycle and keeps all the
different elements perfectly synchronized.

Other Developments
(a) Tuck-in-Devices

Some of the important development are new tuck in motions based on pneumatic.
The principle of pneumatic trucking in is the use of air to hold the filling end and
then forcing the filling end to be tucked in, in the next shed, by air. In airjet weaving
the automatic weft repairer which repairs the weft break and starts the machine
automatically is made simple by using mechano pneumatic device. It is a positive
factor in higher weaver allocation and increased efficiency. Dornier exhibited their
pneumatic tucker on two airjet weaving machines (LTN F8/J and LWV2/E).
Tsudokama demonstrated their ZNT needleless tuck-in on two airjet weaving
machine. Somet showed its patented tucking motion on a clipper airjet machine.
Elimination of tuck in needle by pneumatic tuck in motion enables the loom run
much faster as compared to mechanical devices.

(b) Electronic Jacquard Head

Grosse has introduced its patented UniShed positive electronic jacquard head. The
shed formation in the UniShed is achieved by leaf spring. Each leaf spring is
connected to a heddle that controls one warp end. The leaf springs which are
controlled by actuators control the bottom shed as well as the top shed (positive
shed type). The dimensions of the jacquard head and the individual control of each
heddle (warp end) allow the heddles to be set vertically. These settings permit the
elimination of harness cords, hooks, magnets, pulleys, pull down springs and more
significantly, the gantry. The jacquard head is mounted directly on the side frame of
the weaving machine, thus allowing quick style changes.

(c) Jacquard Shedding Mechanism

Staubli's Unival 100 electronic jacquard shedding mechanism offers a new concept.
The shed formation is achieved by controlling each individual warp end with a
stepping motor. The harness cord / warp end selection is performed electronically
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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

and hence fabric design is achieved in the same way as any electronic jacquard
system. The design of the Unival 100 permits the elimination of hook and the
gantry.

(d) Weft Package Handling

Complete automatic weft package handling, loading the package frame and
package changing can be incorporated on Sulzer Ruti projectile weaving machines
and Tsudakoma Airjet weaving machines. These include automation equipment for
detecting the broken picks with drawing it from the open shed, correcting the cloth
fell position and restarting the machine. The entire cycle is completed in about 12
seconds.

Economics

After understanding the need for modernization and the technical merits of
new weaving technologies, the economics of different types of looms has to
be considered. Many people feel that fastest running machines will give
better profitability. But in many cases the fastest running machine is not the
most economic and cheapest one. The reasons are certain products have
physical limitations, which do not allow full utilization of the maximum
speed. Furthermore, in the case of fashion fabrics, other values have priority,
quality, and design, running properties of the machine independent of the
different yarn structures. So, the decisive factor is only efficiency. 14
minutes stoppage per 24 hours working day reduces the efficiency by 1%
and the weaving costs are increased by more than 1.5%.

For arriving at the relative economics of different types of looms, two

comparisons have been illustrated.

Table 5 is for mass production fabric. 40s Warp 40s Weft, 136 EPI, 72 PPI,
63" Width.

Table 6 is for fashion fabric Shirting of 2/40s Warp, 20s Weft, 60 EPI, 52 PPI,
63" Width. The weaving conversion costs per metre of cloth and the profit
per year per loom before paying the interest on capital and after paying the
interest have been worked out. The economic comparisons made here are
based on many factors and assumptions. In these illustrations, higher price
realization per metre of cloth produced in shuttleless looms has not been
considered. Only the selling price of powerloom cloth after adding a profit of
Rs. 0.70 per mtr. for plain sheeting and Rs. 1.50 per mtr. for yarn dyed
shirting has been considered. But in real practice there will be higher selling
price and the profitability will be much more than shown in the illustration.

Comparison of Plain, Mass Fabric Production in Different Types of

Looms

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Table no 5

Comparison for Fashion Fabric Production in Diffrent Types of Looms

USED NEW PROJ. D PROJ.

PLAIN AUTOLOOM INDEG AIR JET
IMPOR RAPIER W SW
(SEMI
ITEM H.S RAPIER RAPIER
AUTO)
REED SPACE CM 190.00 190.00 190.00 190.00 190 190 190 190
RPM 120.00 180.00 180.00 250.00 450 700 300 400
AVG PPI 72.00 72.00 72.00 72.00 72 72 72 72
EFFICIENCY 70.00 80.00 85.00 85.00 85 85 85 85
PROD/DAY MTRS/M C 34.17 62.18 66.07 91.76 165.16 256.92 146.81 220.22
PROD/YEAR MTRS/M C 11959.50 21763.00 23122.75 32116.00 57806.00 89922.00 51383.50 77077
EXPENS/MTR(RS)
WAGES 1.25 0.68 0.68 0.49 0.22 0.18 0.31 0.2
POWER 1.42 3.72 3.50 4.59 5.03 2.91 3.44 2.76
MAINTENANCE 2.19 2.41 1.29 0.93 0.51 0.33 0.58 0.39
INT ON WORKING
1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50
CAPITAL
WEFT YARN WASTE 0.00 1.20 2.40 2.40 2.4 2.4 1.2 1.2
ADMINISTRATIVE
1.00 0.34 0.32 0.23 0.13 0.08 0.15 0.10
EXPENSES
TOTAL 7.36 9.85 9.69 10.14 9.79 7.40 7.18 6.15
EXPECTED VALUES
10.00 5.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
LOSS %
VALUE LOSS/MTR
4.00 2.00 0.40 0.40 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
RS40/-PER MTR
TOTAL WVG COST
CONSIDERING NET
11.36 11.85 10.09 10.54 10.19 7.80 7.58 6.55
OF RS. 0.70 PROFIT
/-MTR
FOR PLAIN SEMI
AUTO LOOM
PROFIT PER MTR 0.70 0.21 1.97 1.52 1.87 4.26 4.48 5.51
PROFIT PER YARN
0.08 0.04 0.45 0.49 1.08 3.83 2.30 4.25
LAKHS
LOOM COST RS LAKHS 0.75 6.00 3.00 4.50 17 16 5 8
PRIFIT PER YEAR
0.080 0.060 0.450 0.490 1.080 3.830 2.300 4.250
LAKHS
INT ON CAPIT LAKHS 0.075 0.600 0.300 0.450 1.700 1.600 0.500 0.800
PROFIT AFTER CAP
0.005 -0.540 0.150 0.040 -0.620 2.230 1.800 3.450
INT LAKHS

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Table no. 6
Comparison for Fashion Fabric Production in Diffrent Types of Looms

YARN DYED FABRIC REED 56,PICK52,63"WIDTH 2/40S * 20S COTTON SHIRTING

USED NEW
DROP BOX INDEG
IMPOR. RAPIER
(SEMI
ITEM RAPIER RAPIER
AUTO)
REED SPACE CM 190.00 190.00 190.00 190.00
RPM 90.00 180.00 250.00 450.00
AVG PPI 52.00 52.00 52.00 52.00
EFFICIENCY % 70.00 80.00 80.00 80.00
PROD/DAY MTRS/MC 35.45 86.10 119.57 215.24
PROD/YEAR MTRS/MC 12407.50 30135.00 41849.50 75334.00
EXPENS/MTR(RS)
WAGES 1.20 0.52 0.48 0.22
POWER 2.10 2.69 4.23 5.03
MAINTENANCE 2.19 0.99 0.93 0.51
INT ON WORKING CAPITAL 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65
WEFT YARN WASTE 0.00 2.64 2.64 2.64
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES 1.00 0.25 0.18 0.10
TOTAL 8.14 8.74 10.11 10.15
EXPECTED VALUE LOSS % 10.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
VALUE LOSS / MTR RS. 60/- PER MTR. 6.00 0.60 0.60 0.60
TOTAL WVG. COST CONSIDERING NET PROFIT DUE
14.14 9.34 10.71 10.75
TO WEAVING OF RS 1.50/- MTR FOR S A L
PROFIT PER MTR 1.50 6.30 4.93 4.89
PROFIT PER YEAR LAKHS 0.19 1.90 2.06 3.68
LOOM COST RS LAKHS 1.00 3.00 4.50 17.00

LOOM COST RS LAKHS 1.00 3.00 4.50 17.00

PROFIT PER MTR 0.19 1.90 2.16 3.86
INT ON CAPT RS LAKHS 0.10 0.30 0.45 1.70
PRO AFTER CAP INT RS LAKHS 0.09 1.60 1.71 2.16

Conclusion: Net profit is one of the major considerations to keep any

organisation running. Analysis of the results shows that shuttleless looms are
more economical than shuttle looms due to the following reasons.

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Assignment No.1

Advance Fabric Manufacturing

Mr. Tanveer Malik

Signature ________________
Grade ________________

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