HOHENSTEIN, a textile-testing services provider, has been the leader in compression and functional-wear testing for decades. HOHENSTEIN required a sensitive digital sensor for the new HOSYcan testing system that would enable determining the compression power of textiles in a more customized and precise way. They opted for HBM’s FIT5A sensor because it measures force very accurately. Additionally, the measurement results can be conveniently analyzed and visualized owing to the included PanelX parameterization and analysis software. This enables the HOSYcan testing system to be started up easily and quickly.
“When it comes to compression testing of textiles, we have been leading the way in the industry due to over 50 years of experience,” says Florian Girmond, the Managing Director of the Consumer Tests unit of HOHENSTEIN Laboratories GmbH & Co. KG.From his tower room at the Hohenstein castle, Florian Girmond enjoys the view of the entire HOHENSTEIN Group facilities, which, since its establishment in 1946, has had its headquarters on the premises of the Renaissance castle in Bönnigheim, Germany. More than 600 of the company's worldwide staff of over 1,000 work at the German headquarters. The independent textile testing institute is run by the third generation of the Mecheels family and it holds important accreditations and certifications as a test facility. The laboratories’ range of testing and service offerings includes the testing of fit and workmanship of products, the development of functional wear, and the certification of personal protective equipment (PPE). Compression tests are primarily performed on medical textiles and sportswear, which involve the measurement of the pressure and pressure gradients that a textile exerts on a body part.
“HBM technology has always been integrated into the HOSY,” explains Gunther Kretzschmar, who has worked for HBM Sales and has also been the contact for Hohenstein for over 20 years.
“The FIT5A has an excellent transient response and provides a stable measured value almost immediately owing to the use of integrated filter technology,” emphasizes Gunther Kretzschmar. “This enables the data at the individual measurement points to be retrieved faster. The complete testing procedure to which a textile test specimen is subjected can be completed more quickly.”
“An additional advantage of the FIT5A is that it enables completely new test sequences to be designed due to its fast data acquisition,” says Florian Girmond. “Now we can also simulate motion and measure the textiles’ corresponding compression behavior.”The testing unit applies CAN bus technology to simultaneously transmit the measured values provided by the 20 tension testing units to the analysis software. “We knew right from the start that we would use a digital sensor with the CAN bus technology,” says Florian Girmond. “It is less sensitive to the electromagnetic fields emitted; for instance, those from nearby electric lines or radio waves.” The new CAN bus system enables the measured data to be processed directly in the sensor’s electronics and transmitted to individual channels. Additionally, the FIT5A swiftly measures and boasts of an overload protection of 1,000 percent of its capacity. This is important since the measurement is determined by the strain that the fabric is subject to and not by the force that is applied to achieve this. For this reason, the sensor’s overload range is achieved with certain textiles such as inelastic knee bandages; however, it is essential that the system continues to provide precisely measured data after exiting the overload range again.