Open profile or closed profile track: how to pick the right one for your mill
We make open profile and closed profile track, and which one is right for your mill depends on what you spin and how you run the floor. Here is how the two differ and how we help you choose.
The two profiles
In a closed profile track the wheels run inside an enclosed section, so the rolling parts sit inside a box, out of sight from the floor.
In an open profile track the section is open on one side, so the wheels, the bearings and the brackets can be seen from below.
Both carry the load and both do the job. Where they differ is in day to day maintenance, and that difference only shows up a few years after the system goes in. Neither is simply better than the other. Which one suits a mill depends on what it spins and how it likes to run its floor, and we make both.
Finding a fault
Something in an overhead system will eventually start running rough. A bearing gets noisy, a bracket shifts, a wheel picks up a flat spot.
With an open profile, a technician walks the line and looks. The part is visible, usually audible, and within reach, so in most cases the fix is to change that one bearing or bracket in place, in a few minutes, without disturbing the track on either side.
With a closed profile the rolling parts are protected inside the section, which some mills prefer. It also means that to reach a suspect part you open the section up, which is more of a planned job than a quick change. The trade is protection on one hand against ease of access on the other.
Fluff, and how much your fibre throws off
Every spinning mill has fluff in the air, and it settles on whatever sits above the floor. How much there is depends a great deal on what you are spinning. A 100% cotton mill throws off noticeably more fluff than one running polyester or a poly cotton blend.
On an open profile, fluff that lands on the track tends to fall clear or collect where it can be seen and cleaned on a normal round. We can also build suction and brushing into the system, so most of it is dealt with as the system runs. Where a fibre throws off a lot of fluff, that self clearing behaviour is worth having.
On a closed profile the section keeps the running parts protected, and in a mill running cleaner blends, where there is simply less fluff about, that enclosure is often the more comfortable choice. With less lint in the air there is less to gather inside.
So the fibre is one of the first things we ask about.
Which one for your mill
Because it comes down to the fibre, the floor and how you prefer to look after the system, we do not push one profile as the answer for everyone. We supply both, and we tell you what we would fit and why for your case.
There is one situation where the choice is already made. If a mill already runs a closed profile system and wants to extend it or add a section, matching the existing profile is almost always the right thing to do, because mixing profiles in one installation causes problems of its own.
If you are specifying a new system, it is worth settling this deliberately with our engineers rather than taking whatever a quotation happens to list. It is a decision you live with for the whole life of the installation, and it is one we are glad to talk through against your own fibre mix and floor.
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