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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Small single drives and magnetic bearings in spinning machines

Final Report Summary - INNOVATIVE SPINNING (Small single drives and magnetic bearings in spinning machines)

The goal of the proposed project is to realise a novel and worldwide unique rotor spinning concept with superior yarn quality by the use of active magnetic bearings in combination with a high efficiency brushless direct current (BLDC) motor.

Currently, rotor spinning is most common in the textile industry. The yarn quality is high and the technique is well-known, but the method is labour-intensive and lacks output performance. Therefore the emerging trend in industrial spinning is a special type of open-end rotor spinning.
The European manufacturers of rotor spinning machines are few, of high quality and clearly arranged. These companies possess a technology advance against low-cost and low-quality competitors, which are mainly located outside the European Union. To keep up the leadership in the spinning industry the potential of magnetic bearings in this market sector has to be exploited.
The basis for the novel approach of the consortium is utilizing a disk shaped magnetically suspended rotor so it becomes possible to design very compact bearingless system. In this case three degrees of freedom (the radial and tilting directions) can be stabilized passively by means of reluctance forces. Therefore, only the radial rotor position and the rotor angle have to be controlled actively by stator coils.
However, five main technical problems have been identified which still oppose a successful implementation of an industrial product into the market.

The first objective was the development of a reliable and robust position sensing system.

The second challenge was the integration of the spinning system into a highly sophisticated compact smart system.

The third assignment was the reduction of air drag. A reduction of over 30% of the air friction loss was achieved.

The fourth duty was the improvement of dynamic robustness by scientific system analysis.

The final task was the optimization of the spinning system and the spinning process to improve the yarn quality

In general following research methodswere be applied: literature surveys, finite element simulations, all kinds of modelling, experimental approaches, different verification methods, system designing.