Four driving forces for the advance of dyeing and printing equipment

The year of 2017 saw an obvious improvement in the sector of Chinas textile machinery industry and an increase of the main business income and gross profit. Besides， foreign trade in textile machinery products grew in number. Taking into account statistics of China Textile Machinery Association， during the period of January to August in 2017， the main business income of textile machinery industry reached 8.21 billion yuan， a year-on-year increase of 12.46%； the total import of textile machinery reached $2.252 billion， increasing by 32.61% over the same period of the previous year； and the total export reached $2.117 billion， an increase of 6.48%. From January to August， the import of finishing machinery after dyeing and printing was worth 307 million US dollars， an increase of 33.81%， while the import was worth 404 million US dollars， growing by 6.00% from the same period of the previous year.

In recent years， improvements have been witnessed in the automatization， energy-saving and emission-reduction， and manufacturing quality of domestic dyeing and printing equipment. Among them， a great number of cutting-edge equipment claimed an 85% market share.

Great progress has been made in the field of online detection and control technology for process parameters； applications of on-line detection and automatic distribution system of concentrated alkali and hydrogen peroxide， tension synchronous control system of combined machine， and production online monitoring system of setting machine have been achieved； treatment equipment of pre-fabric and continuous dyeing production lines have been equipped with on-line monitoring system， waste water recovery equipment； and equipment of teaming， washing， and drying are improved in terms of heat preservation and energy-saving and emission-reduction. Furthermore， continuous scouring and washing equipment for knitted fabrics of high quality and high efficiency have already been in the place with traditional， intermittent scouring and bleaching equipment for knitted fabrics， which can save more water. Besides， the appearance of dyeing and printing equipment is more and more pleasing to eyes， and the industrial design concept is integrated into the product development. The washing ratio of intermittent dyeing machine reached a lower level， with air jet bath ratio up to 1：3 and overflow machine reaching 1：4； developments of vapor-liquid combined nozzle technology and single tube air supply technology brought an obvious decrease of airflow electro-mechanical consumption. Clean energy such as steam provided heat for dyeing and printing setting machine， with waste gas purified. The dryer equipped with a temperature and humidity monitoring instrument optimized setting process， decreased the energy consumption and reduced emission. Digital ink-jet printing machine was more effective， with its printing speed reaching 150 or even 1，000 square meters per hour. In addition to those， the integration of digital inkjet printing machine with big data， cloud computing， internet and other cutting-edge technologies changed the long process of traditional garment production and realized the individualized customization of clothing by connecting garment design， production with fabric production.endprint

Bobbin digital automatic dyeing technology and complete sets of equipment developed jointly by Shandong Companion Group Co.， Ltd. and General Research Institute of Mechanical Science， for example， won an honor of the first prize at the 2014 Annual National Science and Technology Progress. Counting on the equipment， the bobbin yarn is loaded and disassembled by a full-automatic mechanical arm. There was an automatic delivery of bobbin loader； automatic proportioning of dyed and chemical materials， chemi- cal and feed materials， dyeing， dehydration， drying and transportation are fully monitored by the central control system

Although the improvement in domestic dyeing and printing equipment， the industry still faces four problems in its development： restricting factors such as technological process， auxiliaries and dyes impending the improvement of domestic dyeing and printing equipment and lengthening process； the low percentage of innovation and R&D investment of dyeing and printing machinery industry and less research on basic theory of dyeing and printing machinery in universities and research institutes， projects of cross-domain technology in particular； aimlessness of dyeing and printing machinery development， and the production capacity of middle and low end products growing with less technical assistance and with a high degree of homogenization of special basic products； dyeing and printing machinery products being in unstable operation which caused energy waste and exacerbated environmental pollution.

Dyeing and printing machinery should highlight in its development the environmental protection， energy saving， digital monitoring and intelligence， so that a standardized trade order and an improvement of domestic dyeing and printing equipment industry are prospected.

Specifically， the development trend of dyeing and printing machinery technology and products can be detected in the following aspects. While developing continuous dyeing and printing machinery process configuration， it develops short process equipment and technique. The equipment of desboiling and bleaching， mercerizing machine together with continuous rolling and dyeing equipment， is equipped with numerical control device， realizing a precise control of fabric tension and accurate monitoring of hydro and steam consumption. Spray， oscillation， ultrasonic and other parts are added to the washing unit to improve the washing efficiency. The sealing of the steam box is improved with strengthened capability of heat preservation as so to reduce the heat loss. Quality of rubber for rolling mill is improved to get approach to the reduction of rolling surplus ratio （Bolloway Micro-Hole Roller）. Efficiency of hot air drying is improved to reduce energy consumption. Problems such as the precision control of tension and the solution of knitting fabric crimping being dealt with， continuous scouring and bleaching of knitted fabrics and washing equipment will replace some intermittent equipment. Research on continuous treatment of chemical fiber filament fabric is under way， and continuous equipment may replace some batch equipment for mass production of chemical fiber filament fabric. Circular screen and flat screen printing machine - still underpinning printing equipment - will be digitalized in a few years and will count on real time monitoring to ensure the stabil- ity of flower precision. A digital energy consumption monitoring system for stenter setting machine is in place to reduce heat loss such exhaust gas emission. Wet treatment equipment will be generally equipped with waste water filtration and reuse equipment， and equipped with waste heat recovery equipment as well； and setting machine is equipped with waste gas waste heat recovery and purification equipment with the aim to maximize the utilization of waste heat and reduce energy consumption. Furthermore， the intermittent dyeing and printing equipment will continue to develop the low wasting ratio technology， study the low water consumption technology in the process of washing after dyeing， popularize the automatic distribution technology and products of dyes and auxiliaries， and reduce the chemical pollution.endprint

It is notable that digital ink-jet printing machine is popular with textile machinery industry. Customized textiles and digital print production increasing in number， the output of digital ink-jet printing machine will increase at a faster speed. The sight of digital jet printing + circle （flat） screen combination machine eventually flooding into the market can be prospected.

In addition， the application scope of the stenter setting machine extends from the traditional woven fabric mechanism to various types of fabrics， such as knitted fabrics， non-woven fabrics. Taking into account the great market demand， we deem that the production is expected to remain at 1，200 units per year or more in the next three years.

Generally， the improvement of manufacturing quality and technological adaptability， together with a high success rate， is always the goal of the development of dyeing and printing machinery， with environmentally friendly being its main line. The application of digital control and intelligent technology will effectively enhance the ability of traditional machinery， and even completely change the operation mode. While the progress of dyeing materials and dyeing technology will lead the future road of dyeing and printing technology， and may change the direction of dyeing and printing machinery in a moment.endprint