High speed circular knitting machines can be equipped with thousands of needles, along with their accompanying sinkers, and wear and tear on these components has been estimated to account for around 45% of all faults in production.

Employing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine vision, Spain’s Canmartex, owner of the Jumberca machine brand, has developed a system to completely eliminate needle and sinker problems. Developed in a cooperation with Barcelona-based research institute Eurecat, it will be marketed by new spin-off subsidiary ASB.

“Our system consists of a number of programs powered under the Fabric Brain umbrella, that address various common problems in circular knitting,” said ASB managing director Enric Marti. “It can be supplied as a stand-alone system for circular knitting, both on new machines and retrofitted to existing models.”

“Most importantly, the system can identify any defect in the condition of every single needle and sinker prior to starting up the machine, rather that encountering the fault during production,” added Xavier Planta Torralba, industrial technological area director at Eurecat. “It’s an opportunity to truly move from analogue to digital and Industry 4.0 in circular knitting.”

www.canmartex.com

www.eurecat.org