A preliminary study of a cloth guiding mechanism for automatic sewing system
International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology
ISSN: 0955-6222
Article publication date: 24 February 2012
Abstract
Purpose
In the trend from mass production to mass customization, more flexible production systems are required. In the clothing field, many studies about automatization of sewing processes have been done into producing small amounts of various kinds of products. The purpose of this paper is to propose a versatile guiding mechanism of a cloth for an automatic sewing system.
Design/methodology/approach
Real sewing processes were referenced for the mechanism, and curved stitch is formed holding a point on a cloth. This mechanism consists of a solenoid for holding a cloth and a roller to prevent deformation of the cloth. When a cloth is sewn with the mechanism, the trajectory of the stitch is unstable because of anisotropy of a cloth. A precise trajectory was obtained by adding a device to control the pressure of the roller for holding a cloth and keeping a tension properly applied to a cloth.
Findings
It was found out that shearing property is the most related to the stability of sewing trajectory. If the tension for guidance applied to a cloth is constant, deformation of the cloth was observed and it was the cause of unstableness of sewing trajectory. By controlling the tension for guidance applied to a cloth properly according to the direction of the cloth, precise sewing trajectory was obtained.
Originality/value
There have been some studies in which sewing conditions were dynamically controlled according to the mechanical properties of a cloth. To these studies, here it was proposed that sewing conditions were kept constant by controlling the guidance of a cloth according to its mechanical properties.
Keywords
Citation
Inui, S., Yamada, T., Horiba, Y. and Hashimoto, M. (2012), "A preliminary study of a cloth guiding mechanism for automatic sewing system", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 6-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/09556221211194309
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited