After the introduction of the Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 in reed 1,000 d/m 6 years ago, Van de Wiele came up with an even higher carpet quality in reed 1200 d/m. Today, the impossible is made possible: Van de Wiele introduces the HCiX2 in reed 1500 d/m, an astonishing high density carpet weaving machine producing handlook carpets with up to 5 mn points per square meter. The three rapier weave structure assures a flexible carpet with no warp yarns visible at the back side, just like hand knotted carpets. The Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 is equipped with several servomotors to produce, at high efficiency, handlook carpets of superior quality.
The three rapier handlook weave structure
In order to weave carpets with a crystal sharp pile side and a back side with no warp yarns visible, Van de Wiele has developed a patented three rapier weave structure as shown in figure 1. By using three rapiers, the production is 50 per cent higher compared to similar qualities woven on a double rapier machine. The three rapier technique gives many other advantages. As only the working pile yarns are moving and the incorporated pile yarns are stationary, the machine has a higher weaving efficiency and the carpets have a cleaner back side. Moreover, a thicker pile yarn can be used. The incorporated pile yarn is perfectly straight, reducing the consumption of dead pile yarn. As all pile tufts go to the back side of the carpet, pile fixation is perfect. Thanks to the three rapiers, some colours switches can be made over the inside pick, eliminating automatically possible mix-contours and double points. When respecting some basic design rules and when using the We@velink Design Master, a perfect design on pile and back side is obtained.
The handlook quality in reed 1500 dents/m
When weaving a handlook quality in reed 1500 dents/m, with a density of 15 pile rows/cm, the result is a carpet with 4.500.000 (pile) points/m². If we slightly increase the pick density to 16,6 pile rows/cm, an astonishing 5.000.000 points/m² is reached. The most common used pile yarns are acrylic, but also yarns like polyester, bamboo, are possible. The weight of the carpet is similar to handlook qualities in reed 1,000 and 1,200 d/m.
The Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 machine
The Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 machine is a three rapier weaving machine, especially developed for weaving handlook carpets. The machine is based on the innovator generation with a strong and rigid frame, equipped with several servomotors for increased flexibility and productivity. Figure 3 shows the HCiX2 handlook carpet weaving machine in reed 1,500 dents/mtr, with 8 colour frames on a width of 3mtr. This revolutionary handlook quality can also be woven on 4mtr width. The Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 is foreseen with a Smart Cutting Motion. This programmable servo driven cutting motion assures a better stability and less mechanical parts and wea programmable servo driven Smart Edges are installed under the cumberboard for easy access and adjustment in the width.
For weaving handlook carpets in reed 1500 d/m, Smart Frames are required. A separate servomotor drives each of the 12 heddle frames (see figure 4). The advantages of this system are numerous as all following parameters can be programmed from the controller in a user-friendly way: Weave structure, timing, lift, dwell,… 2×2 heddle frames are used for the tight warp. This allows putting the tight warp in two layers, leading to a higher weaving efficiency, a better pile height control and carpets with more points that are easy to fold.
The Smart Filling Selector is driven by linear actuators, switching between thick and thin fillings for the outside rapiers. The new filling brakes and updated prewinders guarantee a smooth insertion of the filling. In order to reduce the power consumption of all above mentioned servomotors, the HCiX2 machine has an energy bus. In the energy bus, the energy flow between the different motors is controlled.
The enhanced and reinforced HCiX2 Jacquard machine gives, with only one solenoid per harness band, the four positions that are required for three rapier weaving. The asymmetric settings and the unique possibility to put the pile yarns in layers, increase the efficiency. The big Jacquard capacities, up to more than 48.000 solenoids, allow weaving qualities in different reed densities (from 300 d/m up to 1500 d/m), in and different number of colours. A new quality for instance is the reed 750 d/m, 16 colour frames.
Picture weaving
Apart from traditional designs, the Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 fits perfectly for picture weaving. With this technique, a real picture is converted to a design that can be woven on a high density carpet weaving machine. The result is a photo-realistic carpet with up to 5 mn points/m² and numerous beautiful colour effects, and this with only 8 colours on the creel. An example woven in reed 1200 d/m is shown in figure 5.
This innovative approach opens doors for a potential new market: Instead of the traditional labour-intensive designing of woven carpet, a photo-realistic picture can be processed in real time and converted to a design that fits the weaving machine. In picture weaving, the most time consuming job is to choose the picture you want to weave…
Growing market for handlook carpets
The Handlook Carpet Innovator HCiX2 is a new three rapier weaving machine for weaving handlook carpets with no visible warp yarns at the backside. By using three rapiers, 50 per cent more production is obtained than on a double rapier machine. The HCiX2 machine is equipped with several servomotors for the cutting motion, the edges and the drive of the heddle frames in order to weave high quality carpets at the highest possible efficiency. By introducing the new handlook quality in reed 1,500 dents/m, history is expected to repeat itself, with Van de Wiele once again being the innovator in developing new carpet qualities.
