Process for the uniform dyeing of textile material webs with the aid of a uniform pre-drying

A process for the uniform pre-drying of damp textile material webs in an infrared pre-drying tunnel, subsequent to a continuous wet treatment operation in the dyeing or finishing of fiber materials, including:

• measuring a moisture content remaining on said textile material web, wherein, in the course of a material run, immediately following an infrared pre-drying tunnel for the continuously fed material, several measuring positions are arranged transversely to the transport direction of said material;
• determining the residual moisture at these positions on said textile material web, by means of a contactless method, whereby measuring values in form of pulses are obtained;
• transmitting said measuring pulses with low inertia to a control element of the preceeding pre-dryer;
• and controlling the heating power of several separately controllable heating fields, distributed across the width of said drying tunnel, said controlling being in a correspondent relationship with measured values of the moisture obtained at a measuring position.