Needle punching progress for paper machine felts!

The ITMA '99 in Paris was an excellent shop window for FEHRER's latest technological developments. One of the most exciting is the " Multi-Motion Drive" (MMD) system, which opens up new perspectives for the papermaker felt industry.

The interest shown in the MMD system in Paris was such, that FEHRER decided to immediately install the machine in its demonstration centre. In the meantime, numerous FEHRER customers have visited Linz to conduct their own trials, in order to evaluate the range of possibilities offered by this advanced technology.

The main feature of the MMD system is combined vertical and horizontal needle movement, which means that the needles no longer stop the felt during penetration. This results in increased evenness of the felt surface and the subsequent major customer advantage of higher paper quality.

The NL18/ MMD machine in the demonstration centre has a working width of 2.6 m. It incorporates both a tension carriage and an automatic board exchange system.

As the machine is designed for paper machine felt testing, FEHRER has equipped it with a needle pattern, which is among the most popular in the paper machine felt industry.

One other feature, which is more than worthy of mention, is the needle force measurement system. The needling process forces are gauged on-line and immediately displayed. With the help of this data, it is not only possible for FEHRER customers to make a precise choice of needle, but it facilitates the design of machines for special heavyweight materials.

To quote Hannes Pum, the FEHRER AG's chief engineer, "The highly positive results of initial MMD system testing have clearly shown that FEHRER's development work of the past few years is certain to contribute to further advances in products for the papermaking industry."