Over half a dozen direct felt lines installed in the U.S.

The opening and blending machinery can change and, according to the fibers to be processed, can be adapted to suit the material. The line offers bale openers with electronic weigh pans or bale openers in continuous feeding, with the mixing equipment bemamixer to open the tufts of fibers coming from the bale openers and with special oblique wings on the blending cylinders, mixing different fibers together. After the first opening and blending, fibers are blown to a special double section opener and cleaner bemaopen before feeding stock into a double distribution system using transport fans.

The Direct Felt line is composed of a double system that comprises a ‘T’ bar junction on the end of the opener tube. Each end of the ‘T’ piece is equipped with a fan, which draws the fiber stock left or right into one of two bemablow feeding units that meter the fiber stock into the left and right channels of the bemaformer feed tower.

The bemamultiscale system measures the mass of batt passing over it via a series of load cell sensors (four along the working width). Short-term variations in length and across the width of the batt are recorded and fed back into the control system, which takes compensating action in the top part of the bemaformer. Before going into the oven, the edge-cutting unit bematrimmer can cut on the right and the left sides and adjust the fleece to feed into the oven. The two edges sucked will be blown in the system again so that there is no waste fiber. The final stage is a thermobonding oven equipped with a double belt to calibrate the product during the thermobonding.

This new system is able to use poor materials and all kinds of waste, while running at high production. It can use even new staple fibers and natural fibers without any major adjustments to the line.