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ASPEX Incorporated Participates in ITMA 2019 Barcelona show

ASPEX Incorporated Participates in ITMA 2019 Barcelona show

Update: 28/6/19

Aspex Inc. has recently participated at ITMA in Barcelona with resounding success. Customers have shown keen interest in the latest developments announced including their new multiscanning inspection. Multiple customers visited including some that have used the SpinTrak system for more than 20 years and indicated their satisfaction about it’s performance and usefulness to their process control.


ASPEX INCORPORATED is pleased to announce their participation in the upcoming ITMA show from 20 to 26 June, 2019 in Barcelona Spain. They will be participating in Hall 7 and Stand C 117 demonstrating their latest SpinTrak Spinneret Inspection technology for filament, fiber and nonwovens producers.

Founded in 1978, Aspex Incorporated is the original designer and manufacturer the of the SpinTrak™ Automatic Spinneret Inspection System. The SpinTrak™ family of Spinneret inspection systems are specifically designed to inspect all types of extrusion dies/spinnerets used in filament yarn, staple fiber, spunbond, meltblown and spunlace applications. Over 500 SpinTrak™ Spinneret Inspection Systems are operating in all major textile producing countries in the world. SpinTrak™ enjoys a very big marketshare in the fiber/filament industry and is also used by leading machinery and spinneret companies.

“Aspex Incorporated is a unique company because we were the first to introduce a reliable working system into the market several years back and considered the standard in the industry. Years of working closely with key machinery and spinneret companies has provided Aspex valuable know-how for optimizing the performance, reliability and accuracy in the SpinTrak™. Huge importance in the design of the SpinTrak™ is to be able to perform continuously and accurately in a harsh plant environment. SpinTrak™ systems have a reputation for reliable performance and have proven to work well for an extended number of years. Aspex customizes each SpinTrak™ to offer the most economic solution and maximum performance for their specific process application. Every plant has different processes, specialties, capacity, etc. », stated Gerald Henrici, the company President. Aspex Incorporated now operates three locations to better support their ever expanding market place. New features on the SpinTrak™ will be demonstrated including their latest multiscan technology and a new marking system.

Aspex Incorporated operates their Head Office and factory in New York, USA. They have regional offices in Mumbai and Shanghai to support service and sales worldwide along with a team of agents in most major markets.

See our stand Design here

ASPEX INCORPORATED/USA HISTORY & SpinTrak™ KEY FEATURES

ASPEX INCORPORATED/USA HISTORY & SpinTrak™ KEY FEATURES

1) Some new features which aids in finding deep dirt inside the capillary, wear inspection (subject to spinneret condition), and skewness inspection.

2) Sub-capillary inspection of complex capillaries (not round) shape is one of our strongest features. For example, if we want to inspect trilobal capillaries, then our field of view (FOV) is higher than round capillaries because manufacturing tolerances for non-round capillary shapes are more than round capillary shapes. This explains why it is important to inspect non-round capillaries more accurately. The larger the FOV (more no. of pixels) – the lower the pixel to micron ratio is which provides more accurate measurements.

2a) For example, in trilobal capillaries, there are 3 legs and each leg plays very important role. Therefore, the SpinTrak™ makes more than 30+ measurements (ie. leg length , leg width , angle , radius of every leg).  All geometric measurements are made in the same inspection time like a round capillary. In other systems, many do not make sub-capillary inspection.

2b) In hollow capillary shapse (2C,3C or 4C), we consider every C as separate capillary. 2c) SpinTrak™ can inspect 4 capillaries separately in 1 counterbore and can also inspect 4 different capillary shapes in single spinneret.

In the last 15 years, Aspex inc. gained experience inspecting many new shaped spinneret designs with new or unique capillary shapes.  Some of them are expensive spinnerets ($20,000 / piece). This experience and industry cooperation helped accelerate improvements and new inspection capabilities in the SpinTrak™ system.

3) Having sold more than 500 machines in 30+ countries, Aspex has a very large global presence and SpinTrak™ usage in a wide range of applications.

4)  An important reason the SpinTrak™ has gained wide acceptance and sold in 30 + countries is it operates on a platform of menu driven user friendly software which is available in many popular languages where the  It requires almost zero maintenance with very low spare parts consumption. There is no need to purchase extra spare parts with the machine.

5) At this moment, SpinTrak™ measurements are considered as the “Bench mark” and “trusted” spinneret inspection system by end users and major Spinneret suppliers. SpinTrak™ systems are used by these spinneret manufacturers just to check quality of their new spinnerets.

6) As a testimonial to being the leader in the industry competitors try to emulate, the US court has issued an injunction against one of the competitors who violated our secrets and confidential information. This means that they can also do the same with customer.   In contrast Aspex Incorporated respects confidentiality and secrecy with their customer base like a trusted partner (like spinneret design , their know-how of production ,etc.).

7) The  SpinTrak™ system motorized zoom is offered on the B40-HS model. This means that no operator presence is required for adjusting the zoom level.

7a) The camera for the B40-HS is @1.4 megapixels. This provides a platform for a highly accurate system.

8) It is possible to inspect different spinneret types at a time. For example, Both spinnerets can be different spinneret type (with different no. of capillaries , different capillary size). This is applicable for up to 10 locations.

9) They use very low quality calibration scale and I strongly feel that it’s just for show and they also do not do calibration before inspection. Whereas , Aspex uses very high standard calibration scale (reticle) which is fitted into glass so that temperature variation does not affect. Their calibration scale is open to environment. This means that tool which they use itself is not accurate.

10) In some plants (for example, in China and India) , the customer returned competitor demo systems after trying them and bought SpinTrak™ because of their performance experience. Some positive feedback about the SpinTrak™  compared to competitor trials included the reliability of the software and the accuracty (especially important for smaller capillaries).

11) The important inspection measurements of the SpinTrak™ are based on sub-pixels & sub-microns. This means that our accuracy & repeatability is much better.

12) The first machine for inspecting a fiber spinneret was sold in 1992 & it is still working. This itself speaks about Aspex’s commitment to the product quality and industry support.

SpinTrak™: Automated Spinneret Inspection Comes of Age

SpinTrak™: Automated Spinneret Inspection Comes of Age

Since the early days of the man-made fiber industry, it has been recognized that the spinneret is one of the most important components in insuring successful production. Fiber uniformity, essential for end-user applications, rests on capillary geometry.

Over the years, much effort has been spent to try to control spinneret quality from the time of its initial manufacture, through the demands of day-today production. In recognition of this, spinneret inspection has played a key role in achieving consistent high quality fiber production.

Inspection Methods

Many different inspection technologies have been tried over the years. These can broadly be classified into two categories: contact and non-contact inspection.

In the case of contact inspection, a probe is pushed against the spinneret surface and air or oil is then pumped through the capillary. Deviations in the expected flow are recorded.

Although these methods try to approximate the flow of polymer through the capillary, they are often impractical in a production environment due to the difficulty in maintaining a constant viscosity of the oil or air (temperature and/or humidity dependent), leakage of the seal to the spinneret surface, and the slow, sometimes messy, nature of the inspection. In addition, due to the fact that a probe must firmly touch the surface, there exists the possibility that the inspection process itself may damage the spinneret.

In recent years, non-contact systems employing video based microscopes have been introduced with remarkable success. These systems provide rapid and repeatable measurements involving a minimal amount of spinneret handling. In addition a wide variety of measurements impossible with other techniques are easily available.

The SpinTrak™ System

An example of such a system employing state-of the-art vision technology is the SpinTrak™ family of spinneret inspection systems. They are specifically designed to provide synthetic fiber producers with unmatched speed, accuracy and repeatability for spinneret inspection.

The system is a robust, user-friendly spinneret measurement device designed to be used by both engineering and production personnel alike. It features fully automatic inspection of capillaries as small as 0.020mm to as large as 6mm in diameter.

Three SpinTrak™ models are available to accommodate round spinnerets as small as 10mm in diameter to rectangular spinnerets as large as 500mm x 5500mm. An unlimited number of capillaries on each spinneret can be inspected at rates from 0.3 seconds to 1.25 seconds per capillary.

In the following paragraphs we will illustrate some examples of the measurements possible and their impact on fiber quality.

Types of Measurements

Back light Inspection. For each capillary five basic measurements are made:

  • Total Open Area
  • Maximum Diameter
  • Minimum Diameter
  • Perimeter
  • Profile (a curvature indicator)

These measurements are good for finding defects such as dirt and out of round capillaries and surface damage caused by the impact of tools or poor Spinneret handling.

Spinneret manufacturing defects such as capillaries that are not drilled perpendicular to the surface can be detected by pronounced shading around one side of the capillary.

SubCapillary inspection can easily measure features of complex shaped capillaries. Leg length and width or lobe radius can be automatically inspected. Yarn characteristics are directly related to this geometry.

Edge wear, characterized by uneven rounded edges, can also be automatically detected.

Front light Inspection

This type of inspection can find capillary edge wear caused by polymer flow or poor cleaning techniques, as well as edge chips and fractures caused by thermal shock, metal fatigue or other metallurgical problems. In addition, inorganic deposits such as TiO2 can be seen.

Back-Front light Inspection.

By inspecting the capillary first with back light, then with front light, the worn edge (seen in the black ring above) can be measured. This allows an objective determination of wear to be made.

Capillary Depth Inspection.

By inspecting the beginning of the capillary in the counterbore, and then the exit at the spinneret surface, the length of the capillary can be measured. Capillary length uniformity can then be found.

System Operation

All SpinTrak™ models are fully automatic and come complete with a spinneret platform, a motorized microscope magnification system, and Windows 7 Professional based system controller running SpinTrak™ software.

To start, spinnerets are loaded onto the inspection platform, the serial numbers are entered, and automatic inspection begins. Using its advanced machine vision technology, the SpinTrak™ inspects 100% of the capillaries on each spinneret, magnifying and independently calculating measurements for each capillary.

Based on such criteria such as the tolerance base for each measurement, the number of allowable failed capillaries per spinneret, and the number of allowable plugged capillaries, each spinneret can simply be qualified as either (Passed) or (Failed). In addition, SpinTrak™ provides graphs and pictorials of capillary data, helping to identify cleaning and extrusion problems.

Before each inspection run, the SpinTrak™ automatically calibrates the optical measurement system, assuring high accuracy and repeatability. Also, when new spinneret types are added to the production process, SpinTrak™ automatically learns the capillary locations by scanning the surface at low magnification.

These and other essential features, in a user-friendly software environment, allow fiber producers total control over spinneret inspection.

Manual vs. Automated Spinneret inspection systems Which is right for my plant?

Manual vs. Automated Spinneret inspection systems Which is right for my plant?

By Shoshana Biro, Software Engineer, Aspex Incorporated

Although the Spinneret appears to be essentially a simple, precisely-made extrusion die, it is one of the most critical elements of fiber making. Since they are at the very heart of the fiber-making process, plugged, dirty or damaged Spinneret capillaries can have a large impact on overall plant profitability.

Cleaning failures, damage from handling, and wear from polymer flow are the primary causes of poor Spinneret quality. Since these are everyday problems, inspection is a necessity to prevent less-than-perfect Spinnerets from being installed. There are several possible choices of inspection systems, of varying levels of sophistication. How does one select the system most efficient to their plants needs?

Systems can be categorized in many ways, but that most directly related to cost and plant productivity issues is automation. Manual systems range from the purely optical (microscopes, optical comparators and hand-held magnifiers) to video based microscopes that display a magnified image on a television monitor. On these systems the operator generally moves the Spinneret from capillary to capillary using hand-operated positioning knobs while looking at a magnified image of the capillaries. These systems rely on the operator’s ability to find hard-to-see defects among the hundreds or thousands of capillaries viewed each day. The subjective judgment of the operator is the deciding factor as to how many capillaries are defective, and until which point it is acceptable to use the Spinneret in production. In these systems, small quantities of dirt will remain undetected. In addition, the inspections are often compromised by time pressure due to the Spinneret being urgently needed. As a result, random inspection of a few capillaries rather than a complete inspection may be done, or the inspection may be stopped before finishing. Since defective capillaries are easily missed, the entire process is highly fallible.

While the initial cost of these systems is moderate, labor costs tend to be high, especially when there are many capillaries to inspect or production requires large numbers of Spinnerets to be inspected. These factors, when combined with lost productivity, can make the true cost very high.

Fully automated systems rely on computer-based machine-vision technology to reliably and objectively inspect every capillary. The capillary pattern for each Spinneret type is stored, as are pass/fail criteria that are used to judge a clean capillary. Using a motorized table the computer automatically moves the microscope from capillary to capillary while making inspections. The measured results are then compared by the software to the predefined standards and the Spinneret is determined to have passed or failed the inspection. The system also allows the operator to automatically go back to just the defective capillaries for re-cleaning and reinspection. During the inspection process itself the operator is free to do other jobs, minimizing labor costs.

Although the initial cost of these systems is significantly higher than manual systems, the advantages provided in having every capillary inspected in an objective and measurable way rapidly amortize the investment due to the improved efficiency of the plant, with higher first-quality product yield, longer spinpack life, fewer spinpack start-up failures, as well as savings on inspection labor and overtime. In addition, automatic systems can allow for the tracking of Spinneret history, which will point out problem Spinnerets, track Spinneret wear, and indicate the efficacy of the cleaning operation. By analyzing stored test results it is possible to create and evaluate “what-if” scenarios that can help to increase overall plant yield and quality, and reduce customer damage claims. Of course, buyers must be certain that the software they are receiving has all these capabilities, as some may not.

An example of this type of system is the SpinTrak™ Spinneret inspection system by Aspex. The system is fully automated, operates unattended, tests 100% of the capillaries, inspects as quickly as 3 capillaries per second and both provides several repeatable measurements of every capillary and stores them for either future comparisons or export to spreadsheets via the LAN. The benefits of these capabilities and the long lifespan of the SpinTrak™ system is the reason that the SpinTrak™ systems are now found in many plants around the world and why every SpinTrak™ owner with multiple plants has ordered additional units for their other plants.

When making the decision of which type of system to purchase you must consider all of the costs involved. Making the decision based only on initial price may cost much more in the end. You must try to evaluate all of the cost factors involved: labor, the risk of spinpack start-up failure, spinpack lifespan, cleaning expenses, transportation and product quality. While these expenses will vary from plant to plant, the total benefits offered by automated inspection usually far outweigh their higher initial cost.

Determining the Right Spinneret Inspection System for Your Plant

Determining the Right Spinneret Inspection System for Your Plant

Although the Spinneret appears to be essentially a simple, precisely-made extrusion die, it is one of the most critical elements of fiber making. Since they are at the very heart of the fiber-making process, plugged, dirty or damaged Spinneret capillaries can have a large impact on overall plant profitability.

Cleaning failures, damage from handling, and wear from polymer flow are the primary causes of poor Spinneret quality. Since these are everyday problems, inspection is a necessity to prevent less-than-perfect Spinnerets from being installed. There are several possible choices of inspection systems, of varying levels of sophistication. How does one select the system most efficient to their plants needs?

AUTOMATED VS. MANUAL SYSTEMS

Systems can be categorized in many ways, but that most directly related to cost and plant productivity issues are automation. Manual systems range from the purely optical (microscopes, optical comparators and hand-held magnifiers) to video based microscopes that display a magnified image on a television monitor.

On these systems the operator generally moves the Spinneret from capillary to capillary using hand-operated positioning knobs while looking at a magnified image of the capillaries. These systems rely on the operator’s ability to find hard-to-see defects among the hundreds or thousands of capillaries viewed each day. The subjective judgment of the operator is the deciding factor as to how many capillaries are defective, and until which point it is acceptable to use the Spinneret in production.

In these systems, small quantities of dirt will remain undetected. In addition, the inspections are often compromised by time pressure due to the Spinneret being urgently needed. As a result, random inspection of a few capillaries rather than a complete inspection may be done, or the inspection may be stopped before finishing. Since defective capillaries are easily missed, the entire process is highly fallible.

While the initial cost of these systems is moderate, labor costs tend to be high, especially when there are many capillaries to inspect or production requires large numbers of Spinnerets to be inspected. These factors, when combined with lost productivity, can make the true cost very high.

Fully automated systems rely on computer-based machine-vision technology to reliably and objectively inspect every capillary. The capillary pattern for each Spinneret type is stored, as are pass/fail criteria that are used to judge a clean capillary.

Using a motorized table the computer automatically moves the microscope from capillary to capillary while making inspections. The measured results are then compared by the software to the predefined standards and the Spinneret is determined to have passed or failed the inspection. The system also allows the operator to automatically go back to just the defective capillaries for re-cleaning and reinspection. During the inspection process itself the operator is free to do other jobs, minimizing labor costs.

ADVANTAGES

Although the initial cost of these systems is significantly higher than manual systems, the advantages provided in having every capillary inspected in an objective and measurable way rapidly amortize the investment due to the improved efficiency of the plant, with higher first-quality product yield, longer spinpack life, fewer spinpack start-up failures, as well as savings on inspection labor and overtime.

In addition, automatic systems can allow for the tracking of Spinneret history, which will point out problem Spinnerets, track Spinneret wear, and indicate the efficacy of the cleaning operation. By analyzing stored test results it is possible to create and evaluate “what-if” scenarios that can help to increase overall plant yield and quality, and reduce customer damage claims. Of course, buyers must be certain that the software they are receiving has all these capabilities, as some may not.

An example of this type of system is the SpinTrak™ Spinneret inspection system by Aspex. The system is fully automated, operates unattended, tests 100% of the capillaries, inspects as quickly as 3 capillaries per second and both provides several repeatable measurements of every capillary and stores them for either future comparisons or export to spreadsheets via the LAN.

The benefits of these capabilities and the long lifespan of the SpinTrak™ system is the reason that the SpinTrak™ systems are now found in many plants around the world and why every SpinTrak™ owner with multiple plants has ordered additional units for their other plants.

When making the decision of which type of system to purchase you must consider all of the costs involved. Making the decision based only on initial price may cost much more in the end. You must try to evaluate all of the cost factors involved: labor, the risk of SpinTrak™ start-up failure, SpinTrak™ lifespan, cleaning expenses, transportation and product quality. While these expenses will vary from plant to plant, the total benefits offered by automated inspection usually far outweigh their higher initial cost.