Oerlikon Neumag will be showcasing its innovative new development, the BCF S8, to a wide audience for the very first time at the Domotex trade fair for carpets and floor coverings that opens its doors in Hannover, today.

The new BCF S8 platform technology is designed to offer manufacturers of BCF carpet yarns decisive arguments for responding to constantly rising cost pressures and the trend for greater efficiency and quality in fiercely-competitive markets. The system is said to achieve “never-seen-before” spinning speeds and is able to simultaneously spin up to 700 filaments and produce fine titers of up to 2.5 dpf. This performance is guaranteed by numerous individual innovations in the new platform and, for the first time, also in a new human-machine interface (HMI)-based control system, which opens the door to the digital age of smart carpet yarn manufacturing wide, the company explains.

“We have succeeded in achieving a new level of greater productivity and even broader product diversity. These allow our clientèle to better cater to changing market requirements and achieve a competitive edge in tough market conditions,” said Martin Rademacher, Vice President Sales Oerlikon Neumag.

BCF S8 performance in numbers

“With up to 700 potential filaments per yarn end, the BCF S8 is raising the benchmark considerably compared to the Oerlikon Neumag S+ BCF system (400 filaments),” the company says. “Oerlikon Neumag guarantees fine titers of up to 2.5 dpf. Furthermore, the process speed is higher than ever before – 3,700 m/min (winder speed). This permits throughputs of up to 15% greater, compared to predecessor technologies.”

BCF S8 innovations

The progress has been achieved with a number of smart innovations, including the optimisation of one key element. The yarn path from the spinning system to the new, large cooling drum has now been almost completely straightened. This yarn path is said to ensure that the individual filaments are subjected to minimum friction, hence once again considerably reducing yarn breaks and optimizing the overall production process.

And the reduced distance between the heating godet duo and the texturing head also has a positive impact on the texturing process. It is designed to ensure a more even twist to the yarn and reduce the compressed air consumption.

The 800-mm diameter cooling drum optimally and gently cools the filaments. And this has a positive influence on the yarn quality. The new cooling drum is now equipped with a V groove for all polymers (PET, PA6 and PP) as standard.

The RoTac3 tangling unit, already established within the market, once again reduces the compressed air consumption by around 50%, while the newly-developed Witras III-37 winder achieves production process speeds of 3,700 m/min.

First intuitively-operable HMI

The new BCF S8 is the first Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment system equipped with the innovative human-machine interface (HMI) for intelligent controlling and monitoring. In this case, the interface between man and machine has been oriented on the daily requirements of users in BCF production.

With its new “look and feel”, it supports intuitive operation and offers direct access to important information as well as actual and target values at each take-up position by means of a touch screen. A completely new “alarm philosophy” also simplifies troubleshooting and malfunction analysis. “This smart HMI system is a logical step in the digitalisation of our products,” explained Dr Friedrich Lennemann, Vice President R&D Oerlikon Neumag.

www.oerlikon.com/manmade-fibers