Developments in Automatic Control of Sewing Parameters

Advanced sewing machines should be able to set up automatically, detect sewing faults, and self-adjust to required settings. In order to achieve this objective, a sewing machine has been instrumented with sensors, so that wave forms of needle penetration and withdrawal forces, presser-foot compression force, and sewing thread tensions can be captured and analyzed. This study makes it possible to understand the dynamics of sewing at the various interfaces—sewing thread / fabric, sewing thread / sewing ma chine, fabric/sewing machine—and to develop a computer program and adequate hardware to control the sewing operation through an "on-line adaptive control system." In addition, the equipment can also be used to develop sewing specifications, for quick set up, and to test sewability.