BRIO®: Dryer that dries & relaxes to stabilise knits

BRIO® is a unique stabilizing dryer that allows to dry and proactively relax every type of knitted fabric, giving extremely high degree of stability.
Designed and manufactured by Biancalani, BRIO® is the unique stabilizing dryer that allows-in a natural and completely safe way-to dry and proactively relax every type of knitted fabric, giving extremely high degrees of stability which were previously considered impossible to reach.

Introduced on the market only three years ago, BRIO® has already become one of the standard treatments which are essential to market segments with extremely high standards of quality applied to the final knitted product and its stability. ´Brio isn´t just a drying machine; it´s a fusion of experience and know how with research and validation´, says Rossano Biancalani, CEO at Biancalani s.r.l., ´Even an apparently simple concept requires a huge attention to details in order to be practically implemented: transforming the basic idea of shaking the fabric into a machine that delivers near-zero shrinkage residuals, required a long process of preliminary lab research and a thorough validation in the field. The result is something we are proud of, and is now an important building block of what will represent a substantial part in the future development of our business strategy.´

Functionally, BRIO® can be considered as the ultimate evolution of the traditional drum tumbler drier with better performances and without the drawbacks of the drum. Compared to (a set of) drum tumblers, BRIO® yields better shrinkage values, with a higher productivity (for similar purchasing cost or floor occupation), lower consumption/production ratio, lower labour requirements, no knots, no risk of crease marks, no overdrying, no defects at all.

In the drum tumbler the fabric tends to twist and get tangled in knots, generating uneven tensions in the different areas of the fabric, and making the drying process inefficient because some parts will take more time to be dried than others (which risk to be overdried). Moreover, the relaxing action of a drum tumbler comes from the fabric falling from the higher section of the drum onto the lower part, which simply follows the force of gravity, and therefore is somehow limited.

At Biancalani s.r.l., the designers explain that in BRIO®, the ´magic´ happens inside a tray, where the wet knitted fabric (either tubular or open) lays in a semi-open state and is shaken vigorously (hence the name of this machine), so that the vertical acceleration-which can reach several times the force of gravity-is applied and evenly distributed on the whole fabric which-also due to this shaking action-slowly and gently ´flows´ like a stream, obtaining an intense and completely natural stabilising action.

This natural relaxation process (as opposed to a forced compaction) gently and firmly guides the knits to their ultimate state of relaxation, which the final user of the garment will-wash after wash-enjoy for a very long time.

The fact that the fabric always flows in parallel and flat inside BRIO®, without any side force (such as those involved in drum tumblers, which tend to generate local areas of micro-tensions), ensures a perfectly homogeneous shrinkage, a reduction of the residual spirituality in tubular knits, all without any risk of knots, without crease marks, and without any friction onto the fabric itself.

All this is complemented by a high efficiency drying process designed by Biancalani specifically for this application, which takes place inside a chamber where a combined set of air streams dries the fabric while continuously spreading and repositioning it, in order to ensure that the drying action is uniform and efficient, and to further contribute to its relaxation.

Such drying, being applied on the fabric in a semi-open form and through high-speed air flows, ensures extremely low power consumptions, and contributes to m