Textile production has been a vital industry since prehistoric times, but thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the 18th century and the 19th century saw technological advancements that drastically improved the efficiency of the sector. This was due to the introduction of compressed air into the textile manufacturing process
Compressed Air Quality Control For Manufacturing Processes
- Why is compressed air important in the textile industry?
- Why is compressed air quality control important for textile production?
- How can Ingersoll Rand help you ensure oil-free compressed air for high-quality textiles?
Why Is Compressed Air Important In The Textile Industry?
Today, compressed air plays a vital role in the textile manufacturing industry, supporting a wide range of manufacturing processes. From handling raw materials such as wool, cotton, and yarn, to operating a power loom, textile mills, spinning machines, cotton mills, sewing machines, or a carding machine, all factories will require a supply of continuous compressed air. Other uses of compressed air by textile manufacturers include producing fabrics, cotton thread, cotton fabric, and synthetic fibres. It is also used during the weaving process, denim spinning, and for texturing units, amongst other production processes.
Why Is Compressed Air Quality Control Important For Textile Production?
At every stage of the textile manufacturing process, including the wide range of applications listed above, a clean, oil-free, continuous stream of compressed air is vital to ensure the quality of your final textiles, fabrics and products. This means that all textile factories should have a reliable compressed air setup in place. The significant impact of substandard air during the textile manufacturing process equates to fabric wastage and spoilage, as the presence of oil, particulates, moisture or any other contaminant can affect the quality of your textiles. Additionally, substandard air during textile manufacturing can also lead to accelerated equipment degradation. This is because the presence of moisture in the tools involved in the textile manufacturing process can lead to rusting and corrosion. This, in turn, can lead to unexpected equipment breakdowns, increased safety risks in textile factories, and higher maintenance or replacement costs.
How Can Ingersoll Rand Help You Ensure Oil-Free Air For High-Quality Textiles?
To help textile manufacturers ensure Class 0, ISO-certified air for high-quality textiles, we’ve devised a foolproof 5-step plan…
1. Air Audit
The first step to ensuring a continuous flow of oil-free air for your textile production is to revisit the fundamentals of your compressed air system. A comprehensive air audit will identify areas of inefficiency within your system that may be hindering your manufacturing processes. Adjustments can be made to better suit the pressure requirements, air demand, and the needs of each stage of your textile manufacturing process.
2. Oil-Free Solutions
To ensure compressed air quality control for your textile manufacturing processes, Ingersoll Rand offers a complete portfolio of oil-free air compressors. Ensuring optimal efficiency, performance and air quality, you can prevent fabric wastage and improve the longevity of your textile manufacturing equipment. By making sure that only Class 0 ISO-certified air is present at every stage of your textile production, from the handling of raw materials to final fabrics and products, you can keep on top of quality control, all with Ingersoll Rand’s expert oil-free compressors.
3. Air Treatment
With the additional support of Ingersoll Rand’s unmatched air treatment equipment, you can enjoy Class 0, 100% oil-free air for your manufacturing processes. Dryers and filtration systems help ensure that compressed air is 100% free from contaminants, enabling you to produce optimal-quality fabrics and textiles. Here, it is also essential to consider a natural by-product of compressing air: condensate. Left untreated, condensate can impact the quality of your fabrics, but disposed of incorrectly, it can have a detrimental environmental impact. Therefore, condensate management units are used to effectively and sustainably remove condensate from your compressed air. Heat recovery systems can also be employed to recover wasted heat from the compression process to be used in other areas of textile manufacturing. Our oil-free E and ES-Series can have these systems built-in or added to existing installations.4. System Optimisation
System optimisation in manufacturing factories allows for efficient and productive textile production. Compressor controllers are ideal for controlling machine pressure, flow rates, and energy usage. By adjusting your system in correlation to demand, you can save on your costs and ensure a more efficient flow of high-quality compressed air.
5. Monitoring And Management
Textile manufacturers can also ensure air quality through compressor monitoring and management. We understand that your focus is on the daily running of your textile manufacturing facility. This is why, at Ingersoll Rand, we offer our suite of CARETM maintenance packages, as well as our HelixTM Connected Platform. This innovative IIoT solution detects machine issues before they become downtime. You can take this even further with EcoPlant, an advanced control platform that integrates with your compressed air network to reduce downtime and maximise efficiency! This way, you can focus your attention on your textile production, and we’ll deal with the rest!
Sound good? Please contact us for more information on how we can help you optimise your compressed air quality to ensure the production of high-quality textiles.