Ingo Berbig Scientific Assistant Chemnitz University of Technology
Reichenhainer Straße 70 09126 Chemnitz Germany ingo.berbig@mb.tu-chemnitz.de www.lastspitzenkompensation.de www.innozug.de
Development of Multi-Functional Narrow Fabric as
Tension Member for Winch Operations
Ingo Berbig, David Holschemacher, Tobias Schneiderheinze, Markus Michael Chemnitz University of Technology
Today’s requirements on modern tension and suspension elements exceed purely mechanical stress. There is a de-mand for the integration of additional functions, espe-cially for the use in winch operations, which motivates the presented development project regarding a multi-functional narrow fabric. This narrow fabric enables to join several functional elements, e.g. electric conduc-tors, signal transmitters and tension members, in one mechanical component. Developments of the functional elements, of the design of the woven structure and of the purpose-built manufacturing technology have been the main focusses.
The special challenge is to apply particularly light and equally powerful tension and suspension elements. These narrow fabrics not only need to withstand the enor-mous loads of winding, but also maintain their function. This function divides in the mechanics of winding and the function of energy and signal transmission. Further, the textile tension and suspension elements need to be suffi-ciently equipped so that they are resistant to external in-fluences such as humidity, insolation, precipitations, ag-gressive media (mining) etc.
The narrow fabric corresponds to the following structure: Tension members in the form of braided ropes alternate with electrical cables. Due to the larger cross sectional area of the rope, load relief of the electrical cables dur-ing potential benddur-ing or winddur-ing is ensured. The fabric is built in such a way that any additional elements are equally joined in warp direction The plain weave is used
as the prevailing weave. In so doing, stratification can be avoided. If warp raising or lowering is exchanged for the adjacent elements (rope and cable), the danger of layer formation arises. The adjacent ropes are pulled together to such an extent due to the weft yarn tension so that the ropes might arrange on top of each other. For later use, this case must be eliminated.
The production of a multifunctional narrow fabric re-quires special technology. In the course of the produc-tion, high demands occur particularly on the weaving ma-chine regarding the flexibility of mechanics and control. In the context of the manufacture of a multifunctional narrow fabric, the integration of the functional elements to the weaving process also proves to be particularly criti-cal. While the ropes being a load-bearing element need to be pretensioned before their integration, the cables be-ing a non-load-bearbe-ing element can be processed with-out any pretension. At the same time, it is necessary to realize a preferably symmetrical shedding. This problem has to be solved by the targeted selection of different guide tracks through a stretching unit. In comparison to warp and weft yarns, the functional elements have con-siderably larger diameters and bending strengths, which also require certain adjustments: Special heddles need to be developed, the process of the deduction is to be adapted to the limited mechanical resilience of the ca-bles integrated in the fabric composite and the provision of the functional elements requires a respective special-ized creel.
