The Hannover Messe trade fair took place from April 1 to 5 under the motto "Industrial Intelligence - networking man and machine in the age of AI". With more than 500 application examples for Industry 4.0 and machine learning and 6,500 exhibitors from 75 countries, it was clear that the topics of Industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence are occupying manufacturers of goods worldwide. Terms such as sector coupling, collaborative robots (COBOT), lightweight construction, platform economy and 5G also represent much-discussed trends among experts.

The HSZG was represented together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (IWU) Zittau at the joint stand Research for the future represented. Current research projects from universities and research institutes from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia were presented to the general public.

Among other things, the HSZG presented the IPM developed image processing system for the inspection of reed sheets in the textile industry (REBID). This test stand is capable of automatically detecting damage to reed leads. These come from the company KSO-Textil GmbH Olbersdorf.

How does the application work?

The function of the reed plates is to ensure that the textile threads run evenly so that they can then be accurately warped onto a dividing warp beam. Over time, the thread guide causes wear on the reed lead needles.

In the long term, the wear leads to damage to the textile threads and can cause production to come to a standstill. If the damage goes unnoticed, it can also lead to complaints from customers. It is therefore necessary to check the various reed leads regularly. Until now, this has been done manually by experienced employees, with the reed lead needles being scanned for irregularities under a magnifying glass using aids. The newly developed image processing system reduces the workload on employees and cuts inspection times.

The reed leads are scanned individually by a digital camera and the image content is interpreted and evaluated by an inspection algorithm. As a result of the evaluation, the reed lead is classified into one of three condition-describing categories. With the introduction of the test bench, a preliminary stage of Industry 4.0 can be installed in a regional company. At the Hanover Trade Fair all sides benefited from its appeal on the international markets.

Authors: Dr. A. Seeliger, Ms. V. Müller-Seelig, Ms. K. Sprechert, Mr. C. Vogel