Drying and fixing processes on the stenter frame are among the most energy-intensive processes in the textile industry. Energy price increases and political requirements for minimizing emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases inevitably demand savings in stenter frame treatment in finishing plants. Cost savings are possible in electricity consumption as well as in heat management. What has been lacking so far are systems linked to the plant control system that combine process sensor technology and process data acquisition with quality control. This would allow machine settings and production parameters to be flexibly adapted to frequently varying processes and ensure maximum energy efficiency.
The core innovation of the BMWK project "ExPerTex" consisted in the development of a knowledge-based assistance system as a web application, which textile finishers can access to create a recipe and machine setting optimized for their specific application and machine. DITF's project partners were BRÜCKNER Trockentechnik GmbH & Co. KG and PLEVA GmbH. By integrating adapted sensor technology in the stenter frame, essential characteristic data of a process can be recorded in the form of drying progress curves (TVKs). In the project, the DITF analyzed such TVKs depending on various characteristics such as type of textile substrate, finishing or coating agent. From this, suitable AI algorithms determine the best process parameters for new textiles. Knowledge of a sought-after (similar) textile and physico-mathematical modeling now allow each finishing process to be predicted, thus enabling predictions of how much time and energy a process will require. The work forms an important basis for end-to-end digital twins of products and processes in the textile value chain.
In parallel, the DITF is working on models for evaluating the sustainability of products and processes. Here, too, the results of the project provide the starting point for further work, enabling companies, for example, to determine the product carbon footprint of their product range.
