Techtexil announces innovation prize winners
02/05/2013
Four projects have been selected for an award in the ‘new applications’ category. The Institute for Textile and Process Technology in Denkendorf, Germany, four German companies – TAO Trans-Atmospheric Operations, TINNIT Technologies, Wagner Tragwerke and Arnold Group – and the Blum Laboratory produced an energy-autarkic [self-sufficient] textile membrane construction based on the fur of a polar bear.
Italian companies D'Appolonia and ZipLast, Instituto Tecnològico del Plastico und Industrial Sedò from Spain, Spanopoulos Brothers Group from Greece and Czech company Safibra developed 'Refresh', a textile-based water bag, which makes it possible to transport large quantities of fresh water by sea.
The EMPA research institute and the Swiss Paraplegic Centre and Schoeller Textil, both from Switzerland, won for their new type of a medical bed sheet for decubitus prevention, which reduces the friction for people who are bed-ridden for lengthy periods.
Belgian exhibitor Beaulieu Technical Textiles won over the judges with 'Ökolys', a woven, bio-degradable and compostable agro textile that combats weeds and protects the soil.
The Techtextil Innovation Prize in the 'new technologies' category went to German exhibitor LIBA Maschinenfabrik for its new multi-compact woven fabric. The Textile Research Institute of the State of Saxony, Germany, was given an honourable mention for its circular woven fabric with variable cross section.
There are two winning projects in 'new materials': Massebeuf Textiles, Bluestar Silicones and MDB Texinov from France have developed a silicone-based warp knitted textile which is remarkable for the elasticity of its structure and its excellent resistance to temperature changes. Devan Chemicals from Belgium has developed a new masterbatch formula for dyeable and printable polypropylene, which, for the first time, enables the fibre to be coloured by conventional processes.
In the 'new processes' category, the Textile Research Institute of Thuringia-Vogtland in Germany received its award for a new and fully automated process for manufacturing luminous textiles with embedded LEDs. The manufacturing technology, which was developed in collaboration with Tajima enables the completely automated assembly of building components on a textile base. CEA-Leti / DSIS from France receive the second prize for their innovative e-thread technology, which incorporates electronic component materials in threads.
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