Stenter Machine

Stenter machine is electrical machines used in textile industry for stretching or stentering thin fabrics such as muslin. Stenter  electrical machines are called as stenter hook. In stenter open compactor fabrics enter. Here Cotton fabric shrinks widthwise & weft are distorted due to bletching & dyeing process.

Functions of Machinery and Equipment:

  • Spirility measured by the stenter m/c
  • It works as textile machinery and equipment
  • Stenter m/c control shrinkage property
  • Stenter mc is used for curing treatment for resin, water repellent fabric
  • Heat setting is controled by the stenter for lycra fabric, synthetic and blended fabric.

Parts of Stenter Machine for Textile Industry:

The parts of stenter  electrical machines are given bellow-

 electrical machines
Stenter Machine Parts
  • Paders
  • Cooling drums
  • Burners
  • Heat recovery unit
  • Weft straightner
  • Circulating fans
  • Exhaust fans
  • Winder
  • Clips
  • Pins
  • I.R
  • Roller of Attraction

Specifications of  the Electrical Machines:

Standard specification of a  electrical machines stenter machine given below :

[label type=”label” title=”Specification Name”][label type=”label” title=”Value”]
Product CategoryStenter/Steamer
Machine CategoryStenter Machine
Product NameStenter  electrical machines
Product ModelAccording to Manufacturer
Product ClassNew/Old
OrigineEurope/China/Others
Brand/ManufacturereTerot/Others
Agent of BangladeshVery Essential
Power380v/ 440v/ 500v 3 Ph. 50 Hz.
CertificationSGS
HandLeft or right hand
Nominal Width2000mm
Adjusting Width700 – 1800mm
Nominal Speed10-100m/min
Overfeeding Range10%+30%
Temperature in ChamberWith Thermo Oil – 220 C having mobile therm 594 or equivalent with inlet temperature of 270 C at radiator inlet
Heat SourceOil/Steam/Gas/Electricity
Fabric HeldPins/Clips
DeliveringPlaiting/Batcher
Edge ControllingRed- infrared edging sensor
Guide RailLubricated steel tracks
No. of Chamber3/4/5/6/7/8
DescriptionStenter machine is used for textile finishing product

Technical M/C Specification:

M/C Name = Monforts Montex

Origin = Germany

In Dry chamber –

1) 9 Spindle roller

2) 16 Blower

3) 8 Burner

4) 10 Gripping chain

Here,

Spindle roller help to flow the gripping chain.

Blower spread the hot air.

Burner (gas) generate heat.

This gripping chain can be individually controlled.

Stenter Machine Maintenance:  

Weekly Maintenance Criteria:

  • Clean cent filter of chamber.
  • Check all edges control motors & switch
  • Check all motors, electrical & electronics Parts and instruments.

Fifteen Days Maintenance Criteria:

  • Check & Cleanall electrical machines & electronics appliances
  • Check oil level of gearbox.

Two Months Maintenance Criteria:

  • Lubricate all motors, bearings, chains & necessary Points with grease.
  • Open the burners clean & maintenance work.
  • Refill oil in the gearbox if necessary.

Six Month Maintenance Criteria:

  • Open Clean & adjust duct & heating nozzles.

Yearly Maintenance Criteria:    

Objective:

  1. Application of finishing chemical.
  2. To make fabric ready to dye.

iii. Control of shrinkage.

  1. Fabric width control.
  2. Drying.
  3. Application of dyes.

vii. To Controlling bowing of fabric.

viii. To control skewness of the fabric.

  1. Curing

Fow chart of Stenter:

Fabric inlet

J – Box

Chemical tank

Bianco

Gripping chain

Dry chamber

Cooling r/r

J – Box

Fabric out let

Stenter Machine Process:

Stenter machine process are listed here –

Fabric inlet: Fabric after mercerizing, after dyeing even some time after bleaching & peach come to stenter for different application. Fabric roll is feed into inlet of stenter machine which passes over few rollers & guider to come in chemical tank.

Stenter Machine Fabric inlet
Fabric inlet

Chemical mixing tank: Chemical is mixed according to required for processing in the machine. Few typical recipes are shown below:

A typical recipe for soft finish: Fabric construction: 88×38/10×10, oxford

  1. Sapamine cws: 12 gm/lt
  2. Argafix t-8 : 12 gm/lt

iii. Acetic acid: 1 gm/lt

  1. Temperature: 60 – 70 ‘C
  2. Fabric speed: 50 m/min

A typical recipe for water repellent finish: Fabric construction: 116×52/16×16, Twill

  1. Ultra gaurad 600 : 20 gm/lt
  2. Phobal RHP: 60 gm/lt

iii. Phobal XAN: 10 gm/lt

  1. Paraset VA : 15 gm/lt
  2. Appriton EM: 40 gm/lt
  3. Acetic acid: 1.0 gm/lt

vii temperature: 150 – 160’C

vii. Fabric speed: 60 m/min

A typical recipe for Teflon finish: i. Olephobal CO – 70 gm/lt

  1. Phobal RHP _ 10 gm/lt

iii. Hydrophobal XAN – 6 gm/lt

  1. Acetic acid _ 1 gm/lt
  2. Temperature _ 170-180°C
  3. Speed – 30 m/min

Chemical tank: Here according to finish required from the mixing tank chemical comes to bath for padding. Here there is three bowl padding system followed by squeezing. Pressure is around 2.5 to 3 bar.

Skewing & bowing control unit (bianco): In this unit both bowing & skewing is controlled by means of mechanical application. Here there are two types of roller. The bend roller is called bowing roller & the number of bowing roller is 3. That can move upward & downward direction. When the bowing is in downward direction then the roller moves upward to control it. There are also three parallel rollers which is called skewing roller. The amount of skew allowable is settled in the control panel. According to this the roller moved forward & backward to control skewing. If left side is moves forward in the fabric then in skewing roller moves backward to control this. This bowing & skewing is measured by sensor which is shown in the panel board. It is done in the entry level.

stenter bowing control unit bianco
bowing control unit bianco

After passing those rollers it also passes through another sensor which gives a clear idea how much bowing & skewing remain. The machine can run both manual & automatic mode. In case of dyed fabric generally it is run automatically because here bowing problem is minor & skew can control according to setup. But in case of printed fabric or yarn dyed fabric, the machine is run manually because here bowing & skewing control is more important. A simple negligence during operation can provide an unwanted design.

Chain gripping/ stretching unit: Here by means of mechanical application fabric shrinkage & width is controlled. Fabric comes from skewing bowing control unit is passed below two short expander rollers which ensure fabric open width entry. There is also few wheel brush for brushing the selvedge & to ensure proper gripping if the stenter gripping unit is pin type. If the unit is clip type then that is gripped automatically.There are ten gripper, , nine spindle roller, sixteen blowers. Here in chain two options can be provide:

  1. Over feed

Ii. Under feed

Over feed: If the fabric width is higher than required & can not controlled in next stage then initially that is controlled slightly in this unit through over feed. Here the chain width is lower than the fabric width so that in heating zone fabric become relaxed. igher the over feed higher the shrinkage.

Under feed: If the fabric width is lower than that required then under feed is given. It is also called stretching. Through that fabric width cam be increased as required.

Stenter Under feed
Under feed

Heating zone: After stretching unit fabric pass through heating unit. Here heat is provided according to finish. For Teflon finish temperature is around 180’c & for soft finish temperature is around 130-150’C. In this unit there are eight burners & sixteen blowers. Through hot air passing fabric is dryed. Here there is a screening unit to make safe heating & blower unit.

Cooling roller: After heating the fabric is passed over two stainless steel roller through which continuously cool water is passed. Due to this purpose fabrics become cool.

Fabric outlet: Finally the fabric is passed over through folding roller to fold on the storage bench. Then the fabric is ready for next process.

Stenter Fabric outlet
Fabric outlet

Monforst Stenter Machine

From control panel all types of instruction can be provide to the machinery. This machine has a full manual control panel. The operator controls every process by control switch.

Monforst Stenter Machine
Monforst Stenter Machine
M.K. Noman, B.Sc in Textile Engineering, BUTEX