Real-Time Yarn Breakage Detection in the Warping Machine

In the warping process, one of the most crucial elements determining production efficiency are break detectors. Due to the high warping speeds, they must ensure not only reliability but also very low response times. Currently, the most commonly used detectors are mechanical systems that detect the lack of yarn tension, and with the development of electronic systems, it has also become possible to measure the tension directly in the tensioners themselves. To significantly reduce the costs of such systems, a method has been proposed that will allow for the analysis of the recorded image and, on this basis, to determine not only the fact of breaking but also to indicate the exact location of the broken ends of the yarn, which will provide the operator or robotic systems in the future with a completely new, unobtainable earlier information. In this interdisciplinary project, the goal was to achieve the highest possible speed of real-time analysis. To achieve this, the techniques of filtration, adaptive thresholding, morphological transformations were used, and the thinning process, which had been used for years, was improved. During the experimental work, the possibility of detecting breaks for different types of yarns, both with different linear densities and colors, was examined. The results showed that this method worked well, but more importantly, it also tested and identified its limitations. The final results also showed that this method allows not only the installation of such solutions on new machines but also the modernization of old ones.