The analysis and redesign of circular knitting machine sinker
component was completed for the highest speed machine in the world. The
sinker in combination with the knitting needle complete the knitting operation.
Detailed finite element analysis and fatigue analysis were completed to
produce design curves for existing design variables and machine clearances.
A new design was obtained from the historical data on previous design considerations
by the client. The study reproduced the best attributes of the earlier designs
and combined them to provide the required machine durability to exceed 10E9
cycles. Forensic studies from a surface scanning electron microscope
were applied to the analysis. An in-house experiment was designed for validation..
The viability of the analysis based design solutions included specific manufacturablity
specification in terms of tolerances on clearances
to ensure the machine's required fatigue durability.