CAD/CAM for Complex Woven Fabrics. Part I: Backed Cloths

This is the first paper of a two-part series dealing with the establishment of mathematical models of two types of complex woven-fabric structures, i.e. backed cloths and multi-layer fabrics, for CAD of weaves used for such fabrics and for CAM by generating an instruction code for controlling the shedding mechanism of a loom. Part I describes the mathematical models and automatic generation of both warp- and weft-backed-cloth weaves. A backed-cloth weave is mathematically expressed as a 2D binary matrix, which can be obtained from certain combinations of two single-layer weaves in the form of a 2D binary matrix. These combinations produce the backed cloth, which is free from interference between the component weaves. A Windows-based CAD/CAM program is written to implement these models. Part II deals with multi-layer fabrics.