EP3722475B1

EP3722475B1 - Fabric file release system for automatically calibrating a circular knitting machine

Info

Publication number: EP3722475B1
Application number: EP19168489.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hsien-Te Tsai
Original assignee: Pai Lung Machinery Mill Co Ltd
Current assignee: Pai Lung Machinery Mill Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-10
Filing date: 2019-04-10
Publication date: 2025-04-02
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-10
Also published as: EP3722475A1; PT3722475T; ES3027410T3; PL3722475T3

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a fabric file release system, and in particular to a fabric file release system for automatically calibrating a circular knitting machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Although the concept of automatic control has been around for a long time, however, it is still necessary to manually set each circular knitting machine before knitting new fabrics presently. The manufacturing time for new fabrics will be delayed if there is a large number of circular knitting machines that need to be calibrated. Furthermore, in addition to a certain set time, a set value of manual calibration is more likely to be slightly different depending on different setters, which makes subsequent maintenance and calibration difficult.
Moreover, automatic control of the existing circular knitting machines has a remote abnormality elimination or automatic fine adjustment scheme, such as the technical solutions disclosed in US 6 338 002 B1 , and JP 2000 256949 A . However, after inspection, the aforementioned patents only focus on the fine adjustment or abnormal elimination during the knitting process, and non-knitting initial setting.
EP 1 327 711 A1 relates to a knitting support system and a knitting support server system comprising knitting machine adjusting data storing means for storing knitting machine adjusting data for many fabrics; a search information storing means for storing various kinds of parameters of the fabrics as search information for searching fabrics similar to a fabric to be knitted from among the fabrics for which knitting machine adjusting data and said fabric search information are stored; a retrieving means for inputting parameters of the fabric to be knitted as searching conditions and for searching fabrics similar to the fabric to be knitted from among the search information stored in the search information storing means in accordance with the inputted searching conditions; an output means for reading and out-putting the knitting machine adjusting data for the fabrics corresponding to the searched result of the searching means, from the knitting machine adjusting data storing means which contains knitting machine adjustment data for fabrics which have been knitted with good knitting results; and a server system having transmitting and receiving means connected to transmit data to and receive data from a plurality of client systems. Only a search system for knitting machine adjusting data is disclosed, which is a separated structure from the knitting machine.
EP 0 962 572 A2 discloses to a master/slave architecture, particularly for knitting machines for hosiery, comprising a first knitting machine for hosiery and a second knitting machine for hosiery which are connected one another, the second machine being driven by the first machine. An automatic calibrating procedure is not disclosed.
US 6 301 938 B1 discloses providing an automatic yarn-feeding mechanism equipped with a detecting device for monitoring or detecting the rotary movement of the knitting machine and a driving means for driving the yam feeding mechanism in accordance with such rotary movement. Also, an automatic fabric density adjusting system incorporating this yarn feeding mechanism is provided. An automatic calibrating procedure is not disclosed.
US 2018/130112 A1 discloses an apparatus including at least one variation order processing server and at least one integrated knitted textiles variation ecommerce web application. The at least one variation order processing server is configured to include at least one communication device coupled to at least one knitted textile consumer variation website, at least one production variation instruction data converter processor, at least one variation adapted knitting machine integrated control systems, at least one order tracking processor, at least one internet communication device, a thermal scanner, and at least one integrated control systems adaptation device. The at least one integrated knitted textiles variation ecommerce web application is coupled to at least one consumer internet communication device for communicating with the at least one knitted textile consumer variation website. The communication between the at least one consumer internet communication device includes however, a code conversion, in particular for converting knitting machine settings and equipment variation instruction data into production variation or customization instructions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention is to enable a more efficient and precise setting of at least one circular knitting machine.
This problem is solved by a fabric file release system for automatically calibrating a circular knitting machine as claimed by claim 1. Further advantageous embodiments are the subject-matter of the dependent claims.
Compared with the prior art, the foregoing disclosure of the present invention comprises the following characteristics: the present invention provides the standardized fabric file, so as to allow the controlled terminal on the circular knitting machine to receive the fabric file to enable automatically calibrating the circular knitting machine for knitting a new fabric without format conversion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 schematically shows an implementation structure view of an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 schematically shows an implementation unit composition view of an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The detailed description and technical content of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a fabric file release system for automatically calibrating a circular knitting machine. The fabric file release system is composed of a file release end 11 and at least one controlled terminal 12. Further, the file release end 11 is built by a fabric designer, a knitting machine manufacturer or a textile manufacturer. The file release end 11 is actually an electronic computing device, but may be a cloud database, a server or a personal computer. Further, the file release end 11 of the present invention includes a file memorizing unit 111 and a first communication module 112 in information connection with the file memorizing unit 111, wherein the file memorizing unit 111 is a device for storing digital files, such as a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a hard disk drive, or a solid state drive on the electronic computing device. In the present invention, the file memorizing unit 111 stores a plurality of fabric files 113 by means of an existing digital information writing method. Each of the plurality of fabric files 113 comprises a plurality of knitting machine working marks and a plurality of setting parameter values respectively corresponding to one of the knitting machine working marks. The plurality of knitting machine working marks are respectively selected from the group consisting of a rolling tension, a yarn feeding length, an upper cylinder adjustment, a lower cylinder adjustment, a knitting timing adjustment, a yarn feeding direction, an oil injection time, a clearing speed, an inching speed, an operating time, a time required for starting a knitting machine to a working speed, and a time required for stopping the knitting machine. Moreover, each of the plurality of setting parameter values of the present invention is a character code represented by numbers only, for example, an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII code), represented by numbers. Furthermore, the first communication module 112 may be implemented by Internet, Bluetooth communication, or near field communication (NFC) according to the embodiment.
Referring to Fig. 2, on the other hand, the controlled terminal 12 of the present invention is actually an electronic terminal equipment disposed on a circular knitting machine 20. The electronic terminal equipment is a controller of a plurality of members 21 on the circular knitting machine 20. The electronic terminal equipment may be a knitting machine controlling device. The plurality of members 21 may be a plurality of working modules or a plurality of motors disposed on the circular knitting machine 20, wherein the plurality of motors is respectively selected from the group consisting of a stepping motor, a servo motor, a brushless DC motor, a brushed DC motor, and a variable frequency motor. Moreover, the plurality of working modules are constituted by a plurality of components. The plurality of working modules may be a rolling control module, a yarn feeding module, a knitting timing adjustment mechanism or a stitch control module, etc. However, the foregoing is not intended to limit the types of the plurality of working modules. Hence, the controlled terminal 12 of the present invention includes a second communication module 121 and a working management module 122 connected to the second communication module 121, wherein the second communication module 121 may be implemented by the Internet, the Bluetooth communication, or the near field communication (NFC) according to the embodiment, the second communication module 121 is further implemented by using the same communication protocol with the first communication module 112. That is, when the second communication module 121 performs communication by the Internet, the first communication module 112 also implements communication by the Internet. Moreover, in addition to being connected to the second communication module 121, the working management module 122 is further connected to the plurality of members 21 to output working instructions to the plurality of members 21. Furthermore, the working management module 122 of the present invention further comprises a setting file of knitting machine working. The setting file of knitting machine working includes the plurality of knitting machine working marks and a plurality of working parameter values respectively corresponding to one of the knitting machine working marks, wherein each of the plurality of working parameter values is a character code represented by numbers only. Moreover, the setting file of knitting machine working is memorized in a storage element included by the working management module 122. The storage element may be a component for storing digital files, such as a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a hard disk drive, or a solid state drive. Furthermore, in the present invention, the fabric file 113 and the setting file of knitting machine working are implemented by the same code.
Hence, in the present invention, the controlled terminal 12 communicates with the file release end 11. The first communication module 112 of the file release end 11 releases one of the plurality of fabric files 113 to the controlled terminal 12. The second communication module 121 of the controlled terminal 12 receives the fabric file 113 released by the file release end 11. The second communication module 121 transfers the fabric file 113 to the working management module 122. The working management module 122 reads the fabric file 113 without any code conversion, and directly maps the plurality of setting parameter values corresponding to each of the knitting machine working marks in the fabric file 113 to the plurality of working parameter values corresponding to each of the knitting machine working marks in the setting file of knitting machine working. For example, one of the setting parameter values which is corresponding to the knitting machine working mark related to the yarn feeding length in the fabric file 113 is directly replacing one of the setting parameter values which is corresponding to the knitting machine working mark related to the yarn feeding length in the setting file of knitting machine working. Accordingly, the working management module 122 enables the plurality of working parameter values to control the plurality of members 21 of the circular knitting machine 20 to knit a fabric.
As will become apparent to the person skilled in the art when studying the present disclosure, a further aspect of the present application relates to a circular knitting machine comprising a fabric file release system as disclosed in the present application, for automatically calibrating the circular knitting machine. The fabric file release system may be linked to the circular knitting machine by wire or wirelessly, or may be part of the circular knitting machine.
Based on the foregoing, the present invention enables the circular knitting machine to achieve automatic calibration that the conventional circular knitting machine is still unable to do so, thereby eliminating the action for engineering personnel to independently calibrate each circular knitting machine, and shortening the overall working hours required for knitting a new fabric.

Claims

A fabric file release system for automatically calibrating a circular knitting machine, comprising a file release end (11) remote to the circular knitting machine (20) and at least one controlled terminal (12) disposed on the circular knitting machine (20),
said file release end (11) comprising a file memorizing unit (111) and a first communication module (112) in information connection with the file memorizing unit (111), wherein the file memorizing unit (111) is configured to store a plurality of fabric files (113) respectively released by the first communication module (112), and

said at least one controlled terminal (12) comprising a second communication module (121) in information connection with the first communication module (112) for receiving one of the plurality of fabric files (113) and a working management module (122) connected to the second communication module (121), wherein

each of the plurality of fabric files (113) comprises a plurality of knitting machine working marks and a plurality of setting parameter values respectively corresponding to one of the knitting machine working marks; wherein

the plurality of knitting machine working marks are respectively selected from the group consisting of a yarn feeding length, an upper cylinder stitch adjustment, a lower cylinder stitch adjustment, a knitting timing adjustment, an operating time, a time required for starting a knitting machine to a working speed, and a time required for stopping the knitting machine,

the working management module (122) comprises a setting file of knitting machine working comprising the plurality of knitting machine working marks and a plurality of working parameter values respectively corresponding to one of the knitting machine working marks, and is configured to receive one of the plurality of fabric file (113) from the second communication module (121), and

the plurality of working parameter values of the working management module (122) are configured to

control a plurality of members (21) of the circular knitting machine (20) to knit a fabric;

characterized in that

the working management module (122) is configured to map the plurality of setting parameter values corresponding to each of the knitting machine working marks in one of the plurality of fabric files (113) to the plurality of working parameter values corresponding to each of the knitting machine working marks in the setting file of knitting machine working without any code conversion.
The fabric file release system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of setting parameter values and the plurality of working parameter values are respectively character codes represented by numbers only.
The fabric file release system according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of knitting machine working marks are further respectively selected from the group consisting of a rolling tension, a yarn feeding direction, an oil injection time, a clearing speed and an inching speed.
The fabric file release system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the file release end (11) is a cloud database, a server or a personal computer.
The fabric file release system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first communication module (112) is in information connection with the second communication module (121) by Internet, Bluetooth communication or near field communication.
The fabric file release system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of members (21) of the circular knitting machine (20) are a plurality of motors respectively connected to the working management module (122).
The fabric file release system according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of motors is respectively selected from the group consisting of a stepping motor, a servo motor, a brushless DC motor, a brushed DC motor, and a variable frequency motor.