Study on knitting elements of circular knitting machine (butex)

Supervised By
DR. SHAIKH MD. MOMINUL ALAM
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & HEAD
Department of Fabric Manufacturing Engineering
Bangladesh University of Textiles

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, we would like to express our gratitude to the almighty Allah for enabling us to
complete the project work successfully.
Bangladesh University of Textiles has given us the opportunity to perform the project work.
We are grateful to Prof. Mashud Ahmed, Dean, Faculty of Textile Manufacturing
Engineering and Prof. Dr. Nitai Chandra Sutradhar, the Vice-Chancellor of the
University for giving us the opportunity to accomplish the project.
Special thanks to our supervising teacher Dr. Shaikh Md. Mominul Alam, Head of
department of Fabric Manufacturing Engineering.
We would like to express our cordial thanks to all the teachers of our university especially
to Md. Emdad Sarker, Lecturer of Fabric Manufacturing Engineering.
We also like to give our heartiest thanks to MD. Habibur Rahman, AGM, Tosrifa
industries Ltd.; without whose help it would not be possible to complete the project
successfully.
Heartiest thanks goes to Textile Engineers of GMS Composite knitting industries ltd.;
FAKIR Knitwears ltd.; Tosrifa industries ltd.; DIRD Composite Textiles ltd.&
Cotton group .

INTRODUCTION
The ever increasing demand of knitted apparels has attracted attention
in global niche market. In comparison to woven garment, around
50% of the clothing needs are met by the knitted goods.
Needles, sinkers, cams, lubrication systems being the most important
work elements for knitting machines, suffer permanent
improvements to better satisfy the work conditions and the
functions they must answer, resulting in a higher quality of the
knitted fabrics, the reduce of the production costs, the increase of
the machine productivity, by higher speeds and less downtimes.
The project concerns the detailed about needles specification, relative
cost, lifetime, different types of sinkers, different types of cams,
different types of lubrication systems used in knitting machines in
our country.

OBJECTIVES
• To find out different types of machine brands used in factory
• Why needles varies during production
• Why sinker varies during production
• Different types of cams used in factory
• Lubrication system of knitting machines
• Effect of elements on fabric
• Different types of relation between needles, sinkers, cams, m/c gauge, no. of feeder
etc

Circular knitting machine elements
1.Needle:
a. The bearded needle.
b. The latch needle.
c. The compound needle.
2.Cylinder Trick
3.Needle Detector
4.Sinker:
5.Sinker Ring
6.Cylinder
7.Cylinder Balancer:
8.Cam:
i. Engineering cams.
ii. Knitting cams.
a) Knit cam
b) Tuck cam
c) Miss cam
9.Cam Box

Circular knitting machine elements
10. Creel
11. VDQ Pulley
12. Pulley Belt
13. Brush
14. Tension Disk
15. Inlet and Outlet Stop Motion
16. Yarn Guide
17. MNF Wheel
18. Feeder Ring
19. Positive Feeder
20. Lycra Attachment Device
21. Lycra Stop Motion
22. Uniwave Lubrication
23. Adjustable Fan
24. Spreader
25. Air Gun Nozzle

Needles
“G00” and “G0” Needles from Groz-beckert, Germany
The standard version G0 is designed to withstand
the normal hook stress levels and is recommended in
cases where excessive stress occurs only rarely.
The special version G00 is a more favourite
alternative in case where frequent needle overloading is
anticipated or when a slightly open needle leads to
unacceptable striping in the fabric.

“LS” litespeed Needles from Groz-beckert,Germany:
“The patented design reduces machine temperature and
energy consumption,increases needle life and is
extremely suitable for high machine speeds.”
• Substantially reduced carbon footprint.
• Energy consumption and machine temperature reduced
by up to 20 %.
• Significant increase in performance.
• Reduced oil consumption due to optimized lubrication.
Main characteristic features of a litespeed needle:
• Optimized needle shank geometry due to partial
reduction of the needle shank thickness in circular
knitting needles.
• Reduced needle weight Shank geometry.

Benefits of LS(lite speed) Needles
•Reduced friction
against the trick walls
•Less energy required
for needle movement
• Less oil fogging
•Reduced oil
requirement due to
optimized lubrication
•Up to 20 % lower
energy consumption
of the machine
•Less energy required
to lower the room
temperature
Needle oil
Fig: Conventional needle
Improved oil
distribution
Reduced oil
resistance
Fig: litespeed needle

Different important parts of a needle

Needle Specifications
For example: Vota 78.60 G.02
 The capital letter at the beginning of the word ( “V”), identifies
the number of butts and the type of tail.
 The first part (78 in the example) indicates the whole length
rounded off to the mm
 The second (.60 in the example) part indicates the gauge of the
needle in hundredths of mm (width of the needle).
 The first capital letter indicates the needle manufacturer (G for
Groz-Beckert).
 The next number is used to distinguish a specific needle among
all the needles produced by the same manufacturer.
 For other needles, the latch fixing method is indicated by a “0”
before the last number.
 A “0” indicates that the latch has been fixed with a standard
pressed pin; no “0” means that the latch has been fixed with a
screw pin.

The sinker
The sinker is the second primary knitting element (the needle
being the first). It is a thin metal plate with an individual or a
collective action operating approximately at right angles from
the hook side of the needle bed, between adjacent needles.
Functions:
It may perform one or more of the following functions,
dependent upon the machine’s knitting action and consequent
sinker shape and movement:
 Loop formation
 Holding-down
 Knocking-over

Different important parts of the sinker

The CAM
Cam is the second primary knitting element. The cams are
the mechanical devices which convert the rotary machine
drive into suitable reciprocating action for the needles or
other elements. Because all needles have a reciprocating
action either serially or seriatim, except on the bearded
needle sinker wheel and loop wheel frames where the
fixed needle circle merely revolves. The cams are carefully
profiled to produce precisely-timed movement and dwell
periods and are of two types:
i. Engineering cams.
ii. Knitting cams.
a) Knit cam
b) Tuck cam
c) Miss cam Fig: Knit, Tuck & Miss Cam

Lubrication System
Pulsonic Lubrication System:
The PULSONIC lubrication system precisely
meters a small amount of oil per pulse to ensure
that oil is only distributed to the points required.
Advantages:
■■ Uniform distribution of oil over the entire cylinder.
■■ Fewer oil spots on fabric.
■■ Individual lubrication programmes for
needles and sinkers.
■■ Lower oil consumption thanks to precision
metering.
Fig. Pulsonic lubrication
system
■■ No unhealthy, harmful oil mist.
■■ Lower power costs due to savings in compressed air.
■■ Dry surfaces ensure less lint build-up.
■■ Electronic monitoring of oil supply to lubrication points. If no oil is present,
the knitting machine is shut down.
■■ Yearly oil consumption can be calculated accurately.

Technical data
Power Supply 24V (20-33 V) 50/60 Hz
Run signal (machine is running) 10 – 30 V AC
Max. power 72 VA
Displacement per pump stroke 4.2 – 25 mm³
Adjustable oil dose per lubrication point: 0.3 – 24 ml/h
Max. oil consumption (with all nozzles operating):
Pulsonic (12 oil outlets) 288 ml/h
Pulsonic (24 oil outlets) 576 ml/h
Oil reservoir capacity: 3.5 litre
Weight: 3 kg (approx.)
With optional NKS needle head lubrication the following
are also required:
Compressed air supply 3 bar (max.) (dry - no condensate)
Compressed air consumption at 1.5 bar 0.5 N m³/h for 3 NKS nozzles

Lubrication System
Uniwave Lubrication System:
The PROJECTILE lubricator provides uniform lubrication to
needles, cam tracks, sinkers and other knitting machine
components. The patented nozzle construction separates the
air-oil mixture into air and droplets of oil.
Advantages:
■■ The patented atomizing and nozzle system enables a major
reduction in compressed air consumption. This enables
considerable savings in power and operating costs.
■■ The PROJECTILE 419 supplies each of the 20 lubrication
points with the exactly the same amount of oil
■■ The knitting machine gearbox can be lubricated from the
two low-flow connections on the PROJECTILE unit.
■■ Strong construction.
■■ No oil mist health hazard in production areas.
Technical data:
1. 20 lubrication points.
2. Two, low-flow connections.
3. Compact oil reservoir.
4. Long, reliable service life guaranteed.
Fig. Uniwave
Lubrication System

Effect of knitting elements on different types of fabrics

In knitting machine practical action:

Cams used in this project
Knit Miss Tuck

Details Investigation
26G
18G
42G
34G
6000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
5000
16" 18" 20" 22" 24" 26" 28" 32" 36" 40"
n
e
e
d
l
e
s
n
u
m
b
e
r
DIA
18G
20G
22G
24G
26G
28G
30G
32G
34G
36G
38G
40G
42G
Chart-1: DIA AND GAUGE RELATIONSHIP WITH NUMBER OF NEEDLES

Chart-2: Different types of needles brands used in factory

0.37
0.368
0.366
0.364
0.362
0.36
0.358
0.356
18 24 28 30
hook dia(mm)
gauge
Hook width(mm)
Chart-3: Relation between machine gauge & hook width

Chart-4: Relation between gauge & stitch length

Chart-5: Relation between gauge &needle

Needle Brands
Chart-6: Cost of different brands needles

Chart-7:Groz-Beckert Needle Price

Chart-8: Latch length directly proportional to loop length

Chart-9: Relation between gauge ,sinker length and thickness

Chart-10: Data analysis of cam

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
28 28 28 28 24
Yarn Count
M/C Gauge
Count
Chart-11: Relation between m/c gauge and yarn count

Result & Discusions
From the above discussion we have found the following results:
 With the increase of cylinder and gauge no. of needles are also increased.
 We have found that GROZ-BECKERT needles are mainly used in the
factory.
 Machine gauge is inversely related with needle hook width.
 Machine gauge is inversely related with stitch length.
 Machine gauge is inversely related with needle thickness.
 We have found that GROZ-BECKERT is most costly.
 Needle latch length is directly proportional to loop length.
 Machine gauge is directly proportional to sinker length and inversely
proportional to sinker thickness.
 From cam dimensions knit, tuck and miss cams are found in the graph.
 For finer yarn count finer gauge m/c required.
 LS needle Optimized needle shank geometry and reduced needle weight.

Conclusion
The main purpose of this project is to determine what type of
needles are used in different brand of machines, relation
between the cylinder dia and the number of needles, also
relation between the hook width and the machine gauge, also
the relation between the latch length and the loop length.
The investigation is conducted a snap study to analyze the
relation between the machine gauge to sinker length and to
sinker thickness.
The investigation also review the dimensions of knit, tuck and
miss cams, also details about needle shank geometry and
needle weight.
And finally, the lubrication system of knitting machines.

Study on knitting elements of circular knitting machine (butex)

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