Memminger-IRO details electronic yarn feeding at 38.88m annual cycles

A single Memminger-IRO yarn feeding device can perform approximately 38.88 million start-stop cycles per year, the German company told a medical textiles technical event on 7-8 October 2026 at Groz-Beckert in Albstadt, Germany. The Vandewiele subsidiary used that figure to frame the mechanical and electronic demands that industrial knitting places on yarn feeding systems today.

Bennet Weisbach of Memminger-IRO delivered the presentation, titled The Vital Signs of Yarn Feeding – Precision in Tension Control, at The Loop – Chapter One: Medical Textiles. He outlined developments in the company's EFS electronic yarn feeding technology, focusing on accurate tension regulation, high-speed responsiveness and integration with knitting machine control systems.

How does the tension control loop work?

The technology rests on a continuous, millisecond-based control loop that regulates yarn tension through a relationship between measured tension and motor speed. Weisbach broke yarn feeding into four functions: measuring, calibrating, controlling and stabilising yarn tension. Together they underpin consistent yarn delivery as knitting machines run faster and process a wider variety of yarn types.

Individual settings let manufacturers establish working tension, relaxation tension and recuperation tension according to the requirements of each knitting process. Calibration follows two paths: temperature-based calibration during the power-on sequence and time-based calibration during operation, both helping to maintain measurement accuracy.

The EFS sensor technology accommodates variations in yarn surface properties, elasticity and hardness, with settings tailored to individual materials. The presentation separated operating requirements for elastic and semi-elastic yarns, rigid yarns and high-performance materials such as aramid and glass fibres — a distinction that matters most in technical textile applications, where yarn properties and processing demands vary considerably.

What response speed does high-speed knitting require?

Memminger-IRO demonstrated the scale of the responsiveness problem with a worked example. At a carriage speed of 1 metre per second and a fabric width of 1 metre, the system theoretically needs to respond to five tension adjustments from zero to 40 cN and back during each knitting cycle. That performance matters in applications with frequent changes in yarn demand, complex knitted structures and high-speed machine operation.

The company also presented positive drive technology that combines precise motor control with automatic yarn winding. The system uses a highly dynamic, compact motor, with the full loop of the winding wheel utilised and four yarn revolutions on the winding wheel. Automatic yarn winding adjusts to demand, which helps avoid incorrect operation.

The motor loads are substantial. Memminger-IRO cited a yarn delivery rate of 1,500 metres per minute — equivalent to 90 km/h — alongside a motor speed of 10,000 rpm, or roughly 167 revolutions per second.

Why does annual cycle count matter for sourcing?

The 38.88 million start-stop cycles figure derives from a carriage speed of 1 metre per second, a fabric width of 0.5 metres, 300 operating days per year, 24-hour production and 75% machine utilisation. Memminger-IRO then extended the arithmetic to reproducibility: at 38.88 million cycles, 2.5 metres of yarn per cycle and a loop factor of five, one feeding device processes more than 97.2 million metres of yarn annually. Holding tension accurately across that volume, the company argued, is essential for repeatable fabric characteristics and minimal variation between production runs.

The company also addressed yarn take-up functionality, illustrating different take-up positions for its EFS 920 and EFS 820 systems, with figures of up to 700 mm and 220 mm respectively.

What does digital connectivity add?

The systems communicate over the CANopen protocol and integrate with machine controls through interfaces such as Ethernet or MQTT. That enables full integration with knitting machine control systems, including the programming of tension values directly within knitting patterns. Production data and device information, including serial numbers, can be stored to support traceability and process monitoring — a capability with direct relevance for medical textile producers who must document process history.

Memminger-IRO closed by positioning electronic yarn feeding and tension control devices as more than conventional machine accessories, arguing they contribute directly to process security, performance, precision, product quality, reliability and compliance. For knitted fabric manufacturers weighing equipment investments, the presentation frames the decision: specify feeding systems rated for the cycle counts and traceability requirements their technical yarn programmes actually demand.