S Nishanth, a final year student in Salem’s Sona College of Technology, has spurred a breakthrough in textile designing. Punch cards, which are a key element in Jacquard looms and are made manually, have been given a digital makeover. These punch cards are instrumental in determining intricate designs on fabrics such as silk and brocade.
After a lot of trial and error over a period of two years, Nishanth conceptualised and perfected the Novatex Electric Cylinder. This device digitises and eliminates the need of reconfiguring thousands of punch cards which are needed for each new design.
Weavers can now create complex designs on fabrics in an inexpensive manner as well as switch patterns instantly, said the young inventor.
A punch card is a piece of stiff paper holds the information which determines the specific patterns for the fabric. Punch card makers take a week to convert patterns received from the designers which is a time-consuming process. This increases the costs involved in manufacturing as well as keeping designs stagnant.
Digitisation simplifies the process significantly. First, the designer creates the pattern on graph paper using a software which is uploaded to a pen drive. The drive is then attached to the Novatex Cylinder which then helps to create the design easily.
The device is set to be unveiled by September 2023 and will cost around Rs. 60,000. Initially it will be sold in Tamil Nadu before moving to other states. Nishanth’s company Novatex Technology is being incubated by IIT Madras Incubation Cell led by Ashok Jhunjhunwala.
This is a part of its collaboration with Sona College’s Business Incubation Cell in Salem. “This innovation will find application in the textile industry and will benefit the fashion designers as well as the small weavers in producing more designs at lower cost,” said Chocko Valliappa, Vice Chairman, Sona Group of Institutions.
