Dilo presents MicroPunch demo at ITMA 2023 in Milan

All visitors have confirmed that the current commercial and environmental issues concerning sustainability, critical energy supplies at increasing prices, shrinking of water reserves as well as the outlook for fibre material savings should attract the most attention, DiloGroup said in press release.

The abovementioned concerns find an answer in the field of lightweight nonwovens production through Dilo’s brand-new MicroPunch production technology which will become relevant when investments take place for nonwoven production in a weight range between 30 up to more than 100 g/sqm. MicroPunch offers tremendous savings potential for electrical energy and energy from gas heating as no water is consumed.

Furthermore, there is no fibre loss associated with this production technology since trimmed material can easily be recycled within the process. It has been illustrated that depending on the individual costs for electric power, gas, and water, production cost savings may be as high as 25 per cent associated with around 40 g/sqm and even up to 50 per cent for products around 100 g/sqm.

The MicroPunch line consisted of DiloTemafa fibre preparation, opening by a BALTROMIX bale opener, carding willow and dosing opener of the latest design followed by the DiloSpinnbau MultiCard fed by a universal card feeder including the new IsoFeed system for reduced weight variation.

IsoFeed can add the correct amount of staple fibre volume in areas of lower mass in the flock mat plane, thus correcting weight deviations and improving the overall CV value by ca. 4 per cent. The very regular web mass at the end of the card allows a reduction of the average weight by approximately 10 per cent resulting in considerable fibre savings when a minimum weight associated with a high regularity must not be exceeded.

The MultiCard was additionally equipped with the new ‘variogap and speed controller’ which allows an optimum of gap and speed adjustments at the fifth worker and at the doffers. The web quality during the show impressed by superior regularity. This is particularly important when no crosslapper is used as was the case at ITMA where the card fed the following needle punching equipment directly.

The Dilo team installing the complex line within 10-12 days including commissioning demonstrated its capabilities under high time pressure. The team set an example with its efficiency, coordination, and professional attitude, added the release.

The line will be shipped back to the company’s research and demonstration centre where DiloGroup will use it for product development and also in cooperation with customers and their specific fibre and requirements.

The second highlight of DiloGroup’s ITMA demonstration was the introduction to the group’s cooperation with Dell’Orco & Villani and Technoplants for RecycloLine. This is a platform for the three companies involved to engineer and supply complete lines for mechanical recycling of garment waste in order to fulfil current and future requirements to save valuable fibre material instead of wasting, burning, and dumping it.

DiloSystems as a general contractor will coordinate the engineering of individual projects for customers worldwide and will be offering demonstrations of tearing, aerodynamic web forming through air bonding, carding, cross lapping, needling as well as air systems engineering which is to control excessive amounts of dust in such production lines. The engineering will also comprise end-of-line cutting, winding, palletising, and packaging.

Customers will be informed and included in the engineering process in order to decide which method of web forming and consolidation works best for their particular purpose, its quality, and economics. Four demonstration locations in Florence, Ancona, Pistoia (all Italy), and Eberbach (Germany) are available to offer a deep insight into this particular technology including sampling of material from recycled fibre.

The MicroPunch features have also been promoted at INDEX in the past to make interested parties acquainted with its features of high-speed lightweight needling—a breakthrough for significant energy savings.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)