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Karl Mayer uses composites components to cut energy use

20 Jun '15

3 min read

German knitting machine producer Karl Mayer says use of temperature stable carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) made components in its warp knitting machines reduces energy consumption.

“For a long time now energy-saving machine concepts have been the key aspect of Karl Mayer research and development work,” the company informs in a press release.

According to the knitting machines maker, the machine parts of warp knitting machines should be solid and sturdy because they must withstand different effective forces.

“This is the reason why in the past the component design mainly focused on metal, but material properties of metals considerably restrict the freedom of mechanical engineering,” it explains.

Weight of the metal bars and the thermal expansion of the material as well as its limited stiffness restrict increasing the rotational speed of the machines for obtaining higher textile productivity.

CFRP is increasingly employed as lightweight construction material by users in future-oriented growth markets, and also by Karl Mayer.

CFRP components offer a high tensile strength and stiffness as well as extremely low heat expansion along with a density of only 1.55 kg/dm³ or in other words, an excellent material to produce bars.

Components made from CFRP have six times higher stiffness and up to eight times higher strength than aluminium, and this is achieved with the same weight.

“In this way, it is possible to reduce the component weight, at the same time achieving a high material rigidity and strength,” Karl Mayer observes.

In Karl Mayer machines, CFRP offers minimum thermal expansion, the capacity to reduce the bar weight as well as high material stiffness and strength.

“These features ensure a considerable increase in productivity and due to which, rotational machine speeds can be increased by 30 per cent,” it notes.

This material also has unequalled temperature stability, thus, offering the chance to extend the temperature tolerance range to 14°C whilst ensuring a trouble-free operation.

Temperature fluctuations, which formerly resulted in machine stops or in adjustments of the rotational speed, thus, leading to increased energy consumption, are now a thing of the past.

Karl Mayer further adds, “Last but not least, the vibration damping feature of CFRP ensures a consistently high quality of the products, a fact that is of particular importance to customers.”

Other important advantages resulting from the use of this innovative composite are 16 per cent less investment costs and 26 per cent lower energy consumption of the air conditioning system. (AR)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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