Wide weaving machines traditionally enhance the weaving width by increasing the shuttle’s initial velocity. However, this approach introduces challenges like pronounced equipment vibration, elevated noise levels, heightened energy consumption, and a reduced lifespan. Moreover, its efficacy in significantly widening fabric is constrained. Addressing these concerns, this paper proposes a wide-width warp insertion solution that involves driving the high-temperature superconducting shuttle to achieve high-speed horizontal flight through a traveling magnetic field. The inductive weft insertion system structure of wide weaving machines comprises an insertion guideway with an iron core and wound electromagnetic coils. The shuttle consists of a high-temperature superconducting block and a conductive plate, serving as the driving element. By establishing the equivalent circuit of the weft insertion guideway and the suspended shuttle, the calculation formula for the dynamic driving performance of the weft insertion guideway is obtained. Utilizing a transient 3D magnetic field simulation model, the impact of parameters like the current frequency, shuttle conductive plate thickness, and suspension gap on weft insertion performance is explored. Successful wide-width weft insertion motion is achieved by controlling coil input current parameters. Finally, an experimental platform is constructed to validate the correctness of the weft insertion system structure and simulation model through practical experiments.

Compared with the traditional needle driving method, hybrid maglev needle driving is a new weft knitting machine technology, which alleviates the problems of noise, heat, and needle breakage. However, in the structure of needle arrays, magnetic disturbance between permanent magnet knitting needles leads to unstable needle control. Therefore, this paper attempts to solve this problem through a performance analysis of hybrid maglev needle driving. Based on the structure, the magnetic force distribution model of permanent magnet knitting needles is established. Aiming at the magnetic interference between magnetic arrays, a magnetic shielding material, silicon steel with a high permeability, is proposed to optimize the driving structure of a magnetic levitation needle array. Through simulation and experimental analysis, the influence of different silicon steel thicknesses on magnetic field shielding is analyzed. It is concluded that the optimal value of a silicon steel sheet is 1 mm and that the optimal gauge of hybrid maglev knitting needles is 8 mm. Finally, compared with the theoretical and simulation analysis, the experimental results have indicated that the proposed optimized structure of the gauge of hybrid maglev knitting needles is correct and effective.

Wide-width weaving machines typically employ the method of increasing the shuttle’s initial speed to achieve a broader weft insertion. However, this approach not only leads to issues such as significant equipment vibrations, high noise levels, increased energy consumption, and reduced lifespan but also has limitations in achieving substantial increases in the fabric width. The article proposes a wide-width weft insertion method based on high-temperature superconducting magnetic levitation technology. It utilizes the levitation characteristics of high-temperature superconducting shuttles in a permanent magnet array’s magnetic field to levitate the shuttle. The shuttle is then propelled by a traveling wave magnetic field generated by an array of electromagnetic coils, enabling wide-width weft insertion. Based on the required thrust values and weaving speed for the shuttle insertion process, the structural parameters of the weft insertion guideway were calculated. A superconducting suspended weft insertion structure was designed, and a mathematical model between the weft insertion guideway and the shuttle was established. Subsequently, a simulation model of the weft insertion guideway was created using Simulink, and the model was simulated, verified, and analyzed using the field-oriented control algorithm. The simulation results indicate that the operating speed of the levitated shuttle and the driving force for weft insertion meet the requirements for high-speed wide-width weaving.

To address the issues of friction, heat generation, and noise associated with traditional shuttle systems during flight, this article proposes a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) shuttle that stably levitates above a Halbach permanent magnet guideway (PMG) without energy consumption. The levitation force experienced by the superconductor is closely related to the dimensions of both the PMG and the superconductor. To ensure the stability of the shuttle’s levitation during the weaving process, an optimization method that considers both the levitation force and material usage is proposed. The ratio of the levitation force per unit length of the superconductor ( F _Z ) to the PMG’s height ( h _pm ) is defined as F _h , with the optimal height of the PMG occurring when F _h is maximized. Based on this, simulations were conducted to analyze the trend of levitation force changes with variations in guideway’s width, height, and superconductor material’s thickness. Finally, an experimental platform was built to verify the accuracy of the simulation results. The findings indicate that rational optimization of guideway dimensions can enhance the system’s levitation performance while optimizing material usage, with the optimized guideway providing significantly enhanced levitation force. This study offers theoretical and practical guidance for the design and application of HTS levitation guideways.

In recent years, electromagnetic weft insertion has been widely studied due to its excellent speed controllability and low energy consumption. However, the yarn tension in the process of electromagnetic weft insertion is affected by many factors. In order to improve the fabric quality, this study takes three typical yarns, which are wool yarn, cotton yarn, and nylon yarn, as examples to study the yarn tension in the process of electromagnetic weft insertion and explore the variation rules of yarn tension under different materials and different weft insertion speeds. When constructing the yarn tension model, the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm in ORIGIN software is used for data fitting. The experiment shows that the yarn tensions of the three materials all have maximum values and change positively with the weft insertion speed. In addition, this study establishes a yarn tension model, whose R ² value exceeds 0.95, indicating a good model fitting effect. And the relationships between the maximum value, average value, standard deviation of tension, and speed are iterated respectively, providing a theoretical basis for the establishment of electromagnetic weft insertion strategies and optimal control.