BTMA - British Textile Machinery Association

On-line control systems for the nonwovens and fibre-related industries are the key products manufactured by Garnett Controls. The company specialises in retrofitting new controls and quality systems to existing machinery, to improve quality, efficiency and productivity.

The Garnett Controls product range includes:

Fibre Weight Control Systems

Garnett’s Rollaweigh volumetric fibre feed control system has become an industry standard for the accurate feeding of fibre to cards and blending lines.

The system has a dual control system to automatically correct both long and short-term variation and is in operation within the factories of leading nonwovens producers all over the world. The system ensures that process lines run at optimum throughput while maintaining critical quality thresholds. Operator interface is via full colour touch screen.

The Microweigh XL8 microprocessor-controlled weigh pan system has proved extremely popular internationally, with the highest accuracy and unrivalled reliability.

The Microweigh XLM offers the additional feature of online moisture control.

Garnett produces control systems for all stages of fibre processing, including:

• Proclaimer fibre reclamation systems for the recovery of selvedge fibre in nonwoven and filling industries.
• Cutting systems for mattress production and associated on-line processing.
• Microblend, for the feeding of fibre during blending.
• Microflow, for the automatic and accurate spraying of lubricant and precise control of card feeding,
• Inspection systems, monitoring and control of card output in web, sliver, roving or batt forming.
• MetAlert on-line metal detection systems.
• Filling systems for pillows, quilts and cushions, as well as quilt rolling equipment.
• Energy saving control panels that can be retrofitted in order to upgrade existing equipment. The latest technology in controls can significantly reduce energy consumption as well as provide in-depth diagnostics and production data along with the latest safety features complying to international regulations.
• Mill Wizard production monitoring systems as low-cost yet highly-integrated network solutions. Provides real-time production management information. This popular system is modular, which allows phased and economic implementation within a plant. Additional modules can simply be added to expand the system.
• Machine improvements, including new intermediate feeds, crossfeeds, centredraws etc., for woollen cards, replacement drive systems, new electronic cop-lifting arrangements for spinning frames, on-line waste reduction, reclamation and recycling.
• Hopper feeders with the latest drive and control technology.
• Machinery safety adaptations to the latest standards.

Laboratory Instruments

Laboratory instruments for testing and quality control are jointly produced with sister organisation Wira Instrumentation for the testing of textile and nonwoven products and components.

Wira continues to increase its share of the testing instrumentation market and offers the world’s most extensive range for carpets and floorcoverings from a single in-house manufacturer.

Wira’s instruments are the subject of many international testing standards and its products are in daily use around the globe by some of the world’s leading fibre processors.

A range of testing instruments for the nonwovens industry has also been developed.

On-line moisture measurement and control

Jointly-produced with sister organisation Streat Instruments, are on-line moisture measure and control systems for the fibre, food and industrial sectors, as well as agriculture and sports turf applications. Off-line instruments are also available for use in labs and on-site testing in production plants.

The latest Drycom products - based on proven reliability throughout the international textile industry - are being increasingly incorporated into the control systems of textile processing lines.

The increasing awareness of the importance of moisture control during processing has spurred further developments, resulting in new products that have increased flexibility for a wide range of applications.

Full product listings and PDF downloadable literature are available at the company’s website.