Rieter

Effects on the traveler

Index

All of the forces mentioned here act on the traveler. Since the forces themselves and their angles of attack are constantly changing, the attitude of the traveler on the ring is also changing. These analyzable variations are reinforced by sudden sharp forces arising from the balloon or from the friction conditions between the ring and the traveler. Quiet, uniform, stable running of the traveler is therefore impossible. This is one of the great problems in ring spinning.

A still bigger problem is the development of heat. Since the traveler has no drive of its own but has to follow the spindle, its movement must be braked. However, braking without generation of heat is not possible. Accordingly, very high temperatures arise in the traveler. They reach more than 400°C. The problem here is actually not so much the generation of heat as its dissipation. The mass of the traveler is too small to enable it to transmit the heat to the air or to the ring in the time available.

These various explanations show that it is not easy to achieve considerable improvements in the interplay of the ring, traveler, and yarn under present conditions. Even with complete new designs of ring and traveler as introduced by the Rieter company, the traveler speed is limited to about 50 m/s (180 km/h).