Rapid Prototyping of Ring and Compact Yarn with the IMDS LabSpinner

The SKF laboratory ring spinning machine was the most versatile machine of its kind; however, it was discontinued by the company more than a decade ago.  It used a now obsolete DOS based notebook for parameter setup and conventional microprocessor control.  Moreover, the programming source codes were lost.  Therefore, as the old computers failed there was no way to make the system work again.  Yet the high-quality mechanical parts of the machines could be easily be repaired and maintained.  A unique feature is the individually motor driven spindles, controlled by inverter, going beyond 25,000 RPM. To reclaim this valuable laboratory tool, we undertook a reverse-engineering project that completely replaced the electronic control system and brought it into a state-of-the-art, MS Windows environment.  All spinning parameters may be adjusted on line, while the spinning process is running. Then this newly available spinner was further modified to utilize the Suessen compact spinning system, thereby enabling rapid evaluation of fiber spinning performance with both conventional and compact ring spinning.