With Emtec’s Haptic Analyzer, More Parameters Can Be Measured
Interview: Özge Çağıl Sütcü
Emtec Electronic, a testing device manufacturer for the textile and nonwovens industries, showcased the enhanced features of its redesigned and adapted Tactile Sensation Analyzer (TSA) at ITMA 2023.
We interviewed Alexander Gruener, Global Marketing and Business Development Manager of Emtec Electronic, for our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Gruner, who answered our questions, talked about the features and usage areas of the new TSA.
The highlights of the interview are as follows:
Gruner: “The Turkish market has been an important market”
Emtec was founded in 1995 and our company’s routs are the pulp and paper industry. Emtec’s main target has always been the development of solutions for the paper industry, which have not existed before. By this a number of different test devices (lab and online) we have been developed over the past 28 years, some of them have become industrial standard, some of them are recommended methods. Today, as emtec employs 40 people in Leipzig, Germany and we are represented via a sales and service network of around 30 independent representatives. All products are developed and manufactured at our Leipzig location. With emtec’s TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer, a device that has originally been developed for the tissue paper industry to measure haptic parameters, the company seriously started its activities in the textile industry in 2018.
Our are active in more than 80 countries and main markets are Europe, Asia and North America, but in general, emtec has no limitations. We export our products to all places where they are needed.
The Turkish market has always been an important market. Not only since we are active in the textile industry. We have many satisfied customers from the Paper Industry. In general, I have the feeling that Turkish people think innovative, and they are open for new ideas and technical solutions.
Gruener: “Customer support, service and the flexibility in the work make emtec special”
In many areas, we do not have competitors, because the solutions that emtec provides are unique and often no one else has tried to find a solution for this specific problem. But of course sales processes take longer, because potential buyers need to be convinced. The will to optimize and being innovative as well as great customer support, service and the flexibility in the work with our customers make emtec special.
Gruener: “A great benefit is the haptic library will be a big benefit in the future”
The new TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer is an improved version of the “old” model. It has a modern look, but more important, allows the measurement of further parameters, which couldn’t been measured with the previous version. The TSA generally measures softness, smoothness, flexibility, recovery and elasticity, the new version allows the measurement of the thermal hand shake (warm vs. cool touch) and the insolation. Additionally a high resolution picture is taken of the sample, which can be used for further analyses. A great benefit is the virtual haptic library that we have developed together with our partners from Black Swan Textiles, which will be a big benefit for the industry in the future.
The upgraded TSA has been designed to help textile manufacturers looking to scale up their businesses to meet key industry challenges. Emtec said these include putting an objective number on the way a fabric subjectively feels to the touch, digitising the results, then making these results easily searchable and reproducible from anywhere in the world.
It measures softness by simulating the sensory capacities of the human hand via sound analysis
It measures softness by simulating the sensory capacities of the human hand via sound analysis.
Alexander Gruener said: “For garments especially, there is a strong need to quickly and reliably reproduce certain haptic qualities that consumers prefer. The TSA provides a simplified solution to achieve maximum comfort.”
The upgraded TSA now determines the surface thermal conductivity, the thermal isolation and takes a picture of the sample, in addition to the established haptic parameters softness, smoothness, flexibility/elasticity and springback behaviour. The portable lab device then calculates an objective hand-feel value for the samples and stores all the data Emtec single TSA in a digital haptic library. To reproduce the results, any operator can then measure a sample and use standardized key descriptors to search the library for existing fabric matches. This eliminates time wasted due to sample confusion, unclear descriptions, long shipping routes or language barriers.
All of the data is digitally available in a fabric library
“From our conversations with industry professionals, we know that – beside the softness, smoothness and flexibility of a fabric – it is an increasingly important benchmark for wearing comfort to know whether a fabric feels warm or cool to the touch,” explained Gruener. “Now, textile manufacturers can add this factor to their repertoire of haptic requirements. The fact that all of the data is digitally available in a fabric library also means that any user can compare samples, exactly reproduce the results and achieve the desired tactile comfort of their fabrics, without shipping samples halfway across the world.”
2022 was a good year, after two years with Covid 19 that haven’t been easy. Yet it is hard to say where the journey will go. There are too many uncertainties to be sure what will come. All that I can say is that we continue to work as hard as we always did to reach the best possible success.
Lately, we exhibited at the ITMA fair, 8–14, in Milan, Italy. The show was great, especially since visitors have really been interested in the news that we could show. We made a lot of very valuable contacts at the show.
