The energy consumption prediction of the direct cabling machine based on balloon theory

When the direct cabling machine produces cord, the active yarn feeder is usually used to control the balloon shape to reduce the energy consumption in the process of twisting. In order to rationally allocate the resources in the production workshop of direct cabling machine, the work proposed a prediction method of energy-consumption reduction for direct cabling machines based on balloon theory. The energy consumption of direct cabling machine with different balloon configuration parameters can be obtained. The prediction method consists of three main steps: (1) Analyze yarn force under the high velocity based on yarn balloon kinematics. (2) Take the energy consumed by the direct cabling machine corresponding to a balloon shape as the energy consumption benchmark. (3) Compare balloon shapes that need to be predicted with the referenced balloon shape to obtain the energy consumption prediction in a ratio. A mathematical balloon model was established on the MATLAB platform to test the influences of different working conditions on the prediction method. The simulation results showed that the influences of the yarn linear density, twist, and spindle speed on the method could be neglected. An experimental platform was built to test the energy consumption of the direct cabling machine under different working conditions and verify the rationality of the method. The results showed that the difference between the predicted energy consumption and the experimental results is acceptable.