Retrofitting machines makes sustainable sense, says BTMA
Member companies of the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA) are making a critical but seldom-acknowledged contribution to a more sustainable textile industry – giving existing machines out in the field a much-extended life.
BTMA estimates there could be 90,000 jet dyeing machines in operation worldwide and between 60-70% of them are outdated.
BTMA CEO Jason Kent said: “At this year’s ITMA 2023 it was clear that many new technologies are being developed that will do much to reduce resource consumption, but the reality is that faced with extremely tight margins, many textile companies are not in a position to invest in new capitally-intensive projects.
“Outdated but mechanically sound machines used to be simply scrapped, with few other options, but this has now completely changed.”
Adaptive Control Solutions’ Plant Explorer central control system pulls together the control and monitoring of production plants, storing it in a standard Microsoft SQL Server database.
Managing director Richard Armitage said: “We have successfully automated many makes and types of dyeing machine and found that the flexibility of PC-based controllers has allowed us to help customers in other parts of the dyeing and finishing plant as well, including with stenter frames and dryers. Our non-proprietary approach means that all this equipment can be monitored from a simple web-browser on the company network, while sophisticated integration and automation is going on in the background.”
In a recent project, FTS Dyers, based in Langholm, Scotland, had its existing radio frequency dryers fully rewired and equipped with new PLC control and sensors by Adaptive. Many of the original parts on these machines have been replaced over the years, with their longevity down to a skilled team of engineers. Now, however, they have been fully automated and connect with similarly upgraded dyeing vessels and controllers all linked to a central computer system.
“Many of the machines we have successfully upgraded date back to the 1970s and some as far back as the 1950s,” says Armitage.
Garnett Controls has been a pioneer in the retrofit market since 1990, with installations in the fields of blending, carding, nonwovens and spinning. Its systems include the Microweigh XL and Rollaweigh weight control systems.
The latest retrofit drive systems come with sophisticated data collection to continually monitor and record performance whilst providing easily accessible historical information. The systems are supported both through a well-established network of agents and associates as well as directly via remote access.
“We’ve been installing the most advanced retrofit drive systems internationally for many years and we continue to develop our products as new technologies emerge,” said managing director Mark Baldwin. “Our retrofit systems are fully supported internationally by an experienced team and customers have reported achieving energy savings of up to 40% depending on the type of machine.”
Tatham is another BTMA member offering retrofit services for OEM carding machines, crosslappers, needlelooms, blending systems, spinning frames and twisting and winding units. The company’s TS Drive System is designed to run the motors at their optimum performance levels enabling considerable energy savings in the region of 30% to be achieved.
Moisture measurement and control systems which are retrofitted onto a wide range of production lines are the specialism of Streat Drycom. The Drycom system continually measures the moisture content of textiles and nonwovens during production and automatically controls the energy and/or speed of ovens and dryers in order to maintain the optimum moisture content.
BTMA’s Jason Kent added: “Most machines already in operation worldwide function flawlessly mechanically and BTMA members can offer many options via upgrades and automation to secure their production going forward, ensuring a sufficient margin of profit is retained by keeping them going. The cost-effective longevity of retrofitted machines makes sound and sustainable sense.”
