Industrial Design
Enclosure Design: LMW Ring Frame
Client: Lakshmi Machine Works
Textile Ring Frame LRJ9 /SX is one of the most essential machines in the process of creating yarn. It is one of the last machines out of the seven that are responsible for converting raw cotton into finished yarn.
Aims & Objectives
Research to understand the development of Ring Frame design.
Current design trends analysis.
Competitor benchmarking to understand language of design as applied to industrial machines of this nature as well the design strategy adopted by different brands.
Syntactic, Pragmatic, and Semantic Analysis of the machine.
Formulation of attributes, design directions.
Exploration of structural, assembly level, and material natures as applied in the machine.
Ring Frame LRJ9 Configurations
Main configuration
with Additional units - Suction, Tube loader, Pot area.
Primary Users
Mill Workers
Responsible for day to day operations of the machines. These workers work in 2/3 shifts daily, depending on the scale of the mill.
Machine Operators (Technicians)
The machine is operated by these technicians who are responsible for configuring the machine, setting the specifications of the yarn, etc.
Cleaning Staff
Keeping the machine and its surroundings clean is an essential in smooth functioning of the mill.
Secondary Users
Mechanics
Occasional Repairs, Breakdowns, Servicing, etc.
Customers
Interested in purchasing the machine for their mill.
Research | Usability
Tasks performed during the operation of the ring frame
The main advantage of ring spinning is that it produces finer and stronger yarns than other spinning techniques due to good fibre control, orientation and alignment during spinning. It is also a very flexible system that can spin a wide range of fibre types.
Formulating attributes for Ring Frame's form development.
Sleak
Multiple Ring Frame machines are placed parallel and close each other in the textile mill.
An attempt to reduce visual mass could be one way to help the environment feel less cramped.
Clean
The usage environment is kept strictly dust free to maintain the quality of the produced yarn.
A cleaner look will add to the trust in the quality and performance of the machine.
Precise
The machine operates with many small moving parts, the assembly and functioning of which requires accuracy and precision.
Can we express this quality through its enclosure?
Ideation | What does the enclosure communicate?
Ideation | Machine Layout
Ideation | Usability - Endstock
Neatening it up with grids
Using grids made a huge difference in the overall uniformity and cleanliness of the enclosure. Even the small elements such as the screws, handles, buttons, etc. were taken into serious consideration.
Images courtesy of Muji, Braun, Creative Boom.
The simplicity and attention to detail in products by Muji, Braun, Apple were of great inspiration and were often given as examples to the engineering teams.
Ergonomics
- Display Height, Inclination
- Panel Screw Heights
- Handles
- Emergency Buttons
Engineering Refinements
Alignment of keys around the upper vent
Final Concept
Front - Back - Side continuity
This prototype was prepared for the exhibition IMTA 2019 to be held in Barcelona, Spain.
Prototype for IMTA 2019
Phase 2 for this project was planned in order to further show potential of industrial design intervention on this machine and the company.
Multiple areas in the machine were identified for further development. A future vision for the company was the goal of this second phase.
