TEX 2011

SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY
Spring 2012
Physical properties of raw material (cotton):
Fibre Length:
Short staple 1 in. or less
Medium staple 1 1/32- 1 1/8 in.
Long staple 1 5/32- 1 3/8 in.
Extra Long Staple 1 13/32 in. above.
Fibre Fineness:
Micronaire Value Fineness

up to 3.1 Very fine
3.1 to 3.9 fine
4.0 to 4.9 Medium
5.0 to 5.9 Slightly Coarse
6.0 & above Coarse
Fibre Strength:
Pressley value Grading
93 & above Excellent
87 to 92 Very strong
81 to 86 Strong
75 to 80 Medium strong
70 to 74 Fair strong
Below 70 Weak


Fibre Cleanliness:
Trash % Grading

Up to 1.2% Very clean
1.2 to 2% Clean
2 to 4% Medium
4 to 7% Dirty
above 7% Very dirty
Dust:
Grading particle size (micro meter)

Trash above 500
Dust 50-500
Micro dust 15-50
Breathable dust below 15
Chemical deposits:
Secretions: Honeydew
Fungi and Bacteria Decomposition products
Vegetable substances Sugar from plant juices, leaf nectar,
overproduction of wax
Fats, oil Seed oil from ginning, pathogens
Synthetic substances defoliants, insecticides, fertilizers, oil from
harvesting machines.

Flow chart of carded yarn:
Blow room
Input: Cotton from bale
Delivery: lap/ card mat
Carding
Input: Blow room lap/ card mat
Delivery: Card sliver
Breaker
draw frame
Input: Card sliver
Delivery: Breaker sliver
Finisher
Draw frame
Input: breaker sliver
Delivery: Finisher sliver
Simplex
Input: Finisher sliver
Delivery: Roving
Ring frame
Input: Roving
Delivery: Ring Yarn
Blow room
Input: Cotton from bale
Delivery: lap/ card mat
Carding
Input: Blow room lap/ card mat
Delivery: Card sliver
Breaker
draw
frame
Input: Card sliver
Delivery: Breaker sliver
Lap
former
Input: Breaker Sliver
Delivery: Mini lap
Comber
Input: Mini lap
Delivery: Combed sliver
Finisher
Draw
frame
Input: Combed sliver
Delivery: Finisher sliver
Simplex
Input: Finisher sliver
Delivery: Roving
Ring
frame
Input: Roving
Output: Ring Yarn
Flow chart of combed yarn:
Mixing and blending of
cotton fiber in blow room
Mixing:
If different grade of same
fibers are kept together,
then it is called mixing.

Types of Mixing:
1. volume mixing
2. weight mixing
3. hand stock mixing
4. bin mixing
5. mixing by hopper
6. lap mixing
7. card mixing
8. sliver mixing

Blending:
When different fibers of same or different
grades are kept together, then it is called
blending.

Types of Blending:
1. hand stock blending
2. bin blending
3. lap blending
4. card blending
5. draw frame blending
Model of optimum cotton mixing:
The program is written on the basis of principles
of linear programming. The constraints of the
mixing used in the program are cotton fiber
minimum length in mm, strength in grams per
Tex, Micronaire value in a range, maximum
trash percentage, and price per kilogram of the
cotton. Also some of the practical constrains are
considered while formulating the mixing like
maximum and minimum bales to be taken for
mixing from a lot.

The software generated system is, in generally, known as Bale Management.
Some branded software are BIAS, Bale Manager.
BLOW ROOM
Blow room:
Cotton fibre is compressed in a bale of 200 to 250
kg. This highly compressed cotton firbe need to be
open at first as a part of yarn manufacturing. And
there are 1.5% to 7% trash in cotton bale which is
also needed to be removed before further
processing. This process of opening & cleaning is
knows as blow room process. Blow room consists of
a number of m/c used in succession to open & clean
the cotton fibre to the required degree. 40% to 70%
of total trash is removed in this section.

Number of opening machines
Type of beater
Type of beating
Beater speed
Setting between feed roller and beater
Production rate of individual machine
Production rate of the entire line
Thickness of the feed web
Density of the feed web
Fibre micronaire
Size of the flocks in the feed
Type of clothing of the beater
Point density of clothing
Type of grid and grid settings
Air flow through the grid
Position of the machine in the sequence
Amount of trash in the material
Type of trash in the material
Temp and relative humidity in the blow
room department
Process parameter in the blow room:

Objects of blow room process:
To open the compressed layer of bale of cotton or any staple fibres with minimum
damage to the fibres.
To remove the impurities like sand, seed, bits, neps & short fibres present in the
cotton with minimum loss of lint by opening & blending.
To effect a through blending with minimum neps formation.
To convert the mass of cotton fibres into a uniform thick sheet of cotton both
longitudinally & transversely & fed as it in the case of chute feed system or wound
in the form of a compactly built lap with minimum lap rejection.
Intensive de-dusting of cotton fibres to extract micro- dust in order to improve the
working of opened spinning m/c.
Fibre recovery from the waste produced by the various processes during the
conversion of fibre to yarn in order to reduce the consumption of raw material.
Technological performance of a blow room line and influencing factors
Opening: The first operation required in the blowroom line is opening. Tuft weight can be
reduced to about 0,1 mg in the blowroom. The figure indicate that the degree of opening
changes along a blowroom line. This line is a theoretical layout for study purposes only. The
flattening of the curve toward the end shows that the line is far too long. It should end
somewhere at machine No. 3 or (at least) No. 4. The small improvements by each of the
subsequent machines are obtained only by considerable additional effort, stressing of the
material, unnecessary fiber loss and a striking increase in neppiness.
Openness of the fiber material after the various blowroom machine stages; axis A: Degree of opening (specific
volume); axis B: Blowroom stages
Basic operation in blow room:
Cleaning: A blowroom installation removes
approximately 40 - 70% of the impurities. The result is
dependent on the raw material, the machines and the
environmental conditions. The diagram by illustrates
the dependence of cleaning on raw material type, in
this case on the level of impurities.
Figure: Degree of cleaning (A) as a function of
the trash content (B) of the raw material in %
The cleaning effect is a matter of adjustment. It is shown
in bottom figure that, increasing the degree of cleaning
also increases the negative effect on cotton when trying
to improve cleaning by intensifying the operation, and
this occurs mostly exponentially. Therefore each
machine in the line has an optimum range of treatment.
It is essential to know this range and to operate within it.
Figure: Operational efficiency and side effects
Normally, fibers represent about 40 - 60% of blowroom
waste. Since the proportion of fibers in waste differs from one
machine to another, and can be strongly influenced, the fiber
loss at each machine should be known. It can be expressed
as a percentage of good fiber loss in relation to total material
eliminated, i.e. in cleaning efficiency (C
E
):

A
T
= total waste (%); A
F
= good fibers eliminated (%).

For example, if A
T
= 2.1% and A
F
= 0.65%:

Almost all manufacturers of blowroom
machinery now offer dust-removing
machines or equipment in addition to
opening and cleaning machines.

Dust removal is not an easy operation,
since the dust particles are completely
enclosed within the flocks and hence are
held back during suction.

It is mainly the suction units that remove
dust (in this example 64%), dust removal
will be more intensive the smaller the
tufts.

It follows that dust elimination takes
place at all stages of the spinning
process as shown in figure.
Dust Removal:
Fig. 5 Dust removal as a percentage of the dust
content of the raw cotton (A) at the various processing
stages (B): 1 - 5, blowroom machines; 6, card; 7, draw
frames; (a) filter deposit; (b) licker-in deposit; I, dust in
the waste; II, dust in the exhaust air.
Blending:
intensive blending in a suitable blending machine
must be carried out after separate tuft extraction from
individual bales of the layout. This blending operation
must collect the bunches of fibers arriving
sequentially from individual bales and mix them
thoroughly. Multi mixer is the machine of blow room
where the uniform blending is carried out.
Figure Sandwich blending of raw material components
In conventional machineries, lap blending was the most significant one. doubling scutcher is
required in this case; this has a conveyor lattice on which four to six laps (L) could be laid and
jointly rolled-off. Lap blending produces very good transverse blends and also a good
longitudinal blend,
Figure Lap blending on an old scutcher
Even feed of material of the card:
Finally the blow room must ensure that raw material is evenly delivered
to the cards. Previously, this was carried out by means of precisely
weighed laps from the scutcher, but automatic flock feeding installations
are increasingly being used. While in the introductory phase such
installations were subject to problem regarding evenness of flock deliver,
today they generally operate well or at least adequately.








Introduction of blow room line:
Figure Rieter blowroom line; 1. Bale opener UNIfloc A11; 2. Pre-cleaner
UNIclean B 12; 3. Homogenous mixer UNImix B 75; 4. Storage and feeding
machine UNIstore A 78; 5. Condenser A 21; 6. Card C 60; 7. Sliver Coiler CBA 4
Components of the blow room machine:
Feeding Apparatus:
Feed to a beater with two clamping rollers
Feed with an upper roller and a bottom table
Feed with a roller and pedals
Operating with two clamping cylinders gives the best
forward motion, but unfortunately also the greatest
clamping distance (a) between the cylinders and the
beating elements.
In a device with a feed roller and table the clamping
distance (a) can be very small. This results in intensive
opening.
Where pedals are used (Fig. 12), the table is divided
into many sections, each of which individually presses
the web against the roller, e.g. via spring pressure. This
provides secure clamping with a small clamping
distance (a).
Opening devices:
Opening units can be classified as:
endless path
gripping devices
rotating assemblies
Depending on their design, construction, adjustment, etc., these assemblies exert enormous
influence on the whole process.
1. End less path device:
Spiked lattices is known as endless path device. It
serves as forwarding and opening devices in bale
openers and hopper feeders. They consist of
circulating, endless lattices or belts with transverse
bars at short intervals. The bars are of wood or
aluminum; steel spikes are set into the bars at an
angle and at greater or lesser spacing.
The intensity of the opening action is dependent upon:
the distance between the devices;
the speed ratios;
the total working surface;
the number of points.
2. Gripping elements (plucking spring):
Some manufacturers, for example former
Schubert & Salzer and Trtzschler, have used
plucking springs for opening. Two spring systems,
facing each other like the jaws of a pair of tongs,
are parted and dropped into the feed material and
are then closed before being lifted clear. They
grasp the material like fingers. This type of
gripping is the most gentle of all methods of
opening, but it produces mostly large to very large
clumps of uneven size. This type of opening
device is therefore no longer used.
3. Rotating Devices (Roller with teeth, blades or spikes):
Flat, oval or round bars are welded, riveted or
screwed to closed cylinders.

The rollers are therefore called spiked rollers. Various
spacing of the striker elements are used. These
devices are incorporated mainly in modern horizontal
cleaners, chute feeds, mixing bale openers, step
cleaners, etc., which are located from the start to the
middle of the blowroom line.

At the start of the line, the spacing of the striker
elements on the roller is greater; finer spacing are
used in the middle (to the end) of the line. The rollers
rotate at speeds in the range of 600 - 1 000 rpm.
The grid:
In the final analysis, it is the grid or a grid-like
structure under the opening assembly that
determines the level of waste and its
composition in terms of impurities and good
fibers. Grids are segment-shaped devices under
the opening assemblies and consist of several
(or many) individual polygonal bars or blades
(i.e. elements with edges) and together these
form a trough. The grid encircles at least 1/4, at
most 3/4 and usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the opening
assembly.
The grid has a major influence on the cleaning effect via:
the section of the bars;
the grasping effect of the edges of the polygonal bars;
the setting angle of the bars relative to the opening elements;
the width of the gaps between the bars;
the overall surface area of the grid.
Figure:Two-part grid
The following elements can be used in the grid:

slotted sheets (a): poor cleaning;
perforated sheets (b): poor cleaning;
triangular section bars (c): the most widely used grid bars;
angle bars (d): somewhat weak;
blades (e): strong and effective.
These elements can be used individually or in
combination.
Modern grids are mostly made up of triangular
bars. They are robust, easy to manipulate and
produce a good cleaning effect. The same is
true of blade-grids.

Blades have been used as grid elements for
a long time (the mote knife), almost always in
combination with triangular section bars.
Grid adjustment:

Three basic adjustments:

Distance of the complete grid from the beater;

width of the gaps between the bars
(a=closed, b=open);

setting angle relative to the beater envelope
Conventional Machine of Blow room line:
Bale breaker:
Opening is mainly emphasized in this
machine rather cleaning.

This machine is designed to take layer
of cotton directly taken from bale and
tear them apart leaving the cotton
partially opened.
Porcupine opener:
The cotton fed by the previous
opener is carried forward by the
feed lattice.

16 circular disc are mounted on
the shaft of this opener. 14 to
18 striker blades are riveted
alternatively on each circular
disc.
The compressed sheet of cotton delivered from the feed roller is heavily beated by the
rapidly revolving striker of the porcupine beater against grid bar.

Because of this beating action, the cotton is effectively opened and extracted trash
particles are passed through the spacing of the grid bar.
Step cleaner:
The material falls into the feed hopper and
passes to the first beater.

From there it is transported upward by the
six (sometimes three or four) beater rollers,
each carrying profiled bars.

The beaters are arranged on a line inclined
upward at 45.

Elimination of impurities takes place during
the continual passage of the material over
the grids arranged under the rollers
Air Jet cleaner:
Object of this cleaner is to
open and clean the cotton, but
this cleaning unit introduces
the idea of dirt separation from
cotton by air force.
The function of the Kirschner
beater section is to open and
clean the cotton and prepare
the cotton for air jet section.
The tuft of cotton from the kirschner beater section is entered in to the aero dynamic
constricting duct.

The air current from the booster fan carry the cotton toward the bend in the duct.
The duct makes a sharp turn of about 120 degree.
Axi flow Cleaner:
This is known as dual roller cleaner.

This machine has two beaters having 6 to 8
rows of spikes with flattened edge which
perform cleaning action.

Beater speed is 400-600 rpm.

Material through entire length of first beater pass
over the grid bars where trash is collected and
comes in contact with second beater.
Scutcher:

To feed the material to card is very important because it should be homogeneous,
uniform from card to card, fulfill this requirement scutcher machine is used.

It is less problematical. No need of using pipes to provide the material to separate
machine.
It can be provide
universally and this can
be used with many
blends.

Less economical as
compared to chute feed
system.

Its function is to clean the
material and form a
uniform lap for card.
Kirschner beater:
In this type of beater, instead of beater bars,
pinned bars (pinned lags) are secured to the
ends of the cast-iron arms.

The relatively high degree of penetration
results in good opening. Kirschner beaters
were therefore often used at the last opening
position in the blowroom line.
Modern Kirschner openers are often
designed as closed rollers rather than three-
armed beater units. The design is simpler
and the flow conditions are more favorable.
Beaters with pinned bars
Rollers with pinned bars
Modern Blow room line
ABO= Automatic Bale Opener
CPC= Crosrol Pre-Cleaner
CBO= Crosrol Blending Opener
CFC= Crosrol Fine Cleaner
CDR= Crosrol Dust Removal
Trutzschler Blow room line:
1 2 3 4
5 6
1= Automatic Bale opener BLENDOMAT BO-A
2= TUFTOMAT SYSTEM
3= Metal Detector
4= Universal Mixture MX-U
5= SECURO PROOF SP-FPU
6= Universal Cleaner CP-U
Rieter Blow room line:
The UNIfloc A 11 processes the fiber material gently and
efficiently into microtufts, from which impurities can be
removed very readily in the subsequent processes.
The UNIfloc is designed for output of up to 1 400 kg/h (carded sliver).
Bales are laid down over a length of 7.2 to 47.2 meters.
The UNIfloc can process up to 4 assortments simultaneously.
The width of the take-off unit can be selected between 1 700
and 2 300 mm.
Uniclean B12
The UNIclean B 12 pre-cleaner
cleans the microtufts in the first
cleaning stage immediately after
the UNIfloc A 11
The UNIclean is designed for output
of up to 1 400 kg/h (carded sliver).
Fiber yield with simultaneous
efficient cleaning is up to 2% higher
than on conventional units.
Pre-cleaning without nipping and the
use of mote knives results in fiber-
preserving cleaning.
The large dedusting surface ensures
intensive dedusting even at high
production performance.
Unimix B76
The B 72 / B 76 mixing machine
guarantees homogeneous, intimate mixing
of the bale feed in a minimum of space,
even with unfavorable bale lay-down.
Eight mixing chambers ensure not only
effective mixing, but also high production
performance.
The easy addition of an opening or cleaner
module provides flexibility with the
capability to respond to changes in market
conditions.
Bypass facility for the cleaner module (e.g.
with man-made fibers) for rapid mix
change.
Uniflex B60
1= Filling Chute
2= Perforated drum
3= Feed zone
4= Grid
5= Opening Cylinder
6= Delivery
Material comes from preceding machine and
then filling the chute. Thus in the chute, a very
homogeneous batting lay down is formed both
lengthwise and crosswise.

The material is carried further by a perforated
drum (2) and a plain drum.

The feed roll (3) supplies the material to the
opening cylinder (5).

A grid (4) made of carding segments and knives
forms the cleaning surface and extracts
impurities.
Jute spinning procedure
Carding Machine
Carding Machine
In modern installations, raw material is supplied via pipe ducting into the feed chute (of
different designs) (2) of the card. An evenly compressed batt of about 500 - 900 ktex is
formed in the chute. A transport roller (3) forwards this batt to the feed arrangement (4).

This consists of a feed roller and a feeder plate designed to push the sheet of fiber slowly
into the operating range of the licker-in (5) while maintaining optimal clamping.
The portion of the sheet projecting from the feed roller must be combed through and
opened into tufts by the licker-in. These tufts are passed over grid equipment (6) and
transferred to the main cylinder (8).

In moving past mote knives, grids, carding segments (6), etc., the material loses the
majority of its impurities. Suction ducts (7) carry away the waste. The tufts themselves
are carried along with the main cylinder and opened up into individual fibers between the
cylinder and the flats in the actual carding process.

Operating Principle of carding machine
The flats (10) comprise 80 - 116 individual carding bars combined into a belt
moving on an endless path. Nowadays some 30 - 46 (modern cards about 27) of the
flats are located in the carding position relative to the main cylinder; the rest are on
the return run.

During this return, a cleaning unit (11) strips fibers, neps and foreign matter from
the bars. Fixed carding bars (9) and (12) are designed to assist the operation of the
card. Grids or cover plates (13) enclose the underside of the main cylinder. After the
carding operation has been completed, the main cylinder carries along the fibers that
are loose and lie parallel without hooks.

However, in this condition the fibers do not form a transportable intermediate
product. An additional cylinder, the doffer (14), is required for this purpose. The
doffer combines the fibers into a web because of its substantially lower peripheral
speed relative to the main cylinder.

A stripping device (15) draws the web from the doffer. After calendar rolls (16) have
compressed the sliver to some extent, the coiler (18) deposits it in cans (17). The
working rollers, cylinder and flats are provided with clothing, which becomes worn
during fiber processing, and these parts must be reground at regular intervals.
Licker-in
This is a cast roller with a diameter usually
of around 250 mm. Saw-tooth clothing is
applied to it. Beneath the licker-in there is
an enclosure of grid elements or carding
segments; above it is a protective casing
of sheet metal. The purpose of the licker-
in is to pluck finely opened tufts out of
the feed batt, lead them over the dirt-
eliminating parts under the roller and
then deliver them to the main cylinder. In
high-performance cards, rotation speeds
are in the range of 800 - 2 000 rpm for
cotton and about 600 rpm for synthetics.
Carding Bar
An aluminium carding profile (1) consists of 2 carding bars (2). One of the advantages of bars
is that they can be provided in different finenesses, e.g. they can become finer in the through-
flow direction. Different manufacturers use differing numbers of elements (between one and
four) per position. Special clothing is required that must not be allowed to choke. Most
modern high-performance cards are already fitted with these carding aids as integral
equipment; all other machines can be retrofitted by, for example, Graf of Switzerland or
Wolters of Germany.
In use are also other carding devices of different design and with different components, e.g.
mote knives (4) with guiding element (5) and suction tubes (3), etc.
Cylinder
The cylinder is usually manufactured
from cast iron, but is now sometimes
made of steel. Most cylinders have
a diameter of 1 280 - 1 300 mm (Rieter C
60 card 814 mm, speed up to 900 rpm)
and rotate at speeds between 250 and
500 (to 600) rpm. The roundness
tolerance must be maintained within
extremely tight limits the narrowest
setting distance (between the cylinder
and the doffer) is only about 0.1 mm. The
cylinder is generally supported in roller
bearings.
Clothing configuration between main
cylinder and doffer
flat
The cylinder is followed by the doffer, which is
designed to take the individual fibers from the
cylinder and condense them to a web. The
doffer is mostly formed as a cast iron (or steel)
drum with a diameter of about 600 - 707 mm.
(680 mm on Rieter machines) . It is fitted with
metallic clothing and runs at speeds up to
about 300 m/min.
Doffer
Point density (Number of points per unit surface area)
The populations of the main cylinder and doffer clothing have to be adapted to
each other. In general, the higher the point population, the better the carding
effect up to a certain optimum. Above that optimum, the positive influence
becomes a negative one. This optimum is very dependent upon the material.
Coarse fibers need fewer points, as they need more space in the card clothing;
finer fibers must be processed with more points, since more fibers are present if
the material throughput is the same. Point density is specified in terms of points
per square inch or per square centimeter, and can be calculated as follows:

Base width (a1)
This influences the point density. The narrower the base, the greater the number
of turns that can be wound on the cylinder and, correspondingly, the higher the
point population.
Height of the clothing (h1)
The height of metallic clothing on the cylinder today varies between 2 mm and
3.8 mm. The height must be very uniform. It can also exert an influence on the
population, since shorter teeth for a given tooth carding angle leave space for
more teeth. Where shorter teeth are used, the fibers are less able to escape into
the clothing during carding and better carding over the total surface is obtained.
Clothing with smaller teeth is also less inclined to choke with dirt particles.
Tooth pitch (T)
The population is also determined by the tip-to-tip spacing.
Carding Angle ()
This is the most important angle of the
tooth as it determines :
the aggressiveness of the clothing; and
the hold on the fibers
The angle specifies the inclination of the
leading face of the tooth to the vertical.
It is described as positive , negative or
neutral. The angle is neutral if the
leading edge of the tooth lies in the
vertical (0). Clothing with negative
angles is used only in the licker-in when
processing some man-made fibers.
Since the fibers are held less firmly by
this form of tooth, they are transferred
more easily to the cylinder and the
clothing is less inclined to choke. Carding
angles normally fall into the following
ranges:
licker-in: +5 to -10
Cylinder: +12 to +27
Doffer: +20 to +40

Fig. Positive (a) and negative (b)
carding angle
The tooth point
Carding is performed at the tips of the teeth
and the formation of the point is therefore
important. For optimum operating conditions
the point should have a surface or land (b) at
its upper end rather than a needle form. This
land should be as small as possible. To
provide retaining power, the land should
terminate in a sharp edge (a) at the front.
Unfortunately, during processing of material
this edge becomes steadily more rounded;
the tooth point must therefore be re-
sharpened from time to time. Formation of
a burr at the edge (a) must be avoided during
re-sharpening. The tooth must only be
ground down to a given depth, otherwise
land (b) becomes too large and satisfactory
carding is impossible the clothing has to be
replaced.
Fig. The tooth point
The base of the tooth
The base is broader than the point in order
to give the tooth adequate strength, and
also to hold the individual windings apart.
Various forms can be distinguished. In order
to mount the wire, the normal profile ((a)
for the licker-in, (b) for the cylinder) is
either pressed into a groove milled into the
surface of the licker-in (a) or is simply
wound under high tension onto the plain
cylindrical surface of the main cylinder (b).
(d) represents a locked wire and (c)
a chained wire. Both can be applied to
a smooth surface on the licker-in; in this
case a milled groove is no longer necessary.

Fig: Formation of the tooth base and
mounting on the drum
Tooth hardness
In order to be able to process
as much material as possible
with one clothing, the tooth
point must not wear away
rapidly. Accordingly, a very
hard point is needed,
although it cannot be too
hard because otherwise it
tends to break off. On the
other hand, to enable winding
of the wire on a round body,
the base must remain flexible.
Each tooth therefore has to
be hard at the tip and soft at
the base. A modern tooth has
hardness structures as shown
in Fig(Graf).

Fig. Metal hardness at various heights in the wire:
A, hardness (A1 = Rockwell, A2 = Vickers); B, tooth
height from the tip to the base
The material supply should operate with the
greatest possible degree of accuracy as it has
a direct effect on sliver evenness.
The main regulating position is the feed;
adjusting the feed roller speed (5) usually
performs auto leveling.
Virtually all auto leveling devices exploit this
possibility; adjustment of the delivery speed is
hardly ever used.
A distinction should also be drawn between:
short-term leveling systems, regulating lengths
of product from 10 - 12 cm (rarely used in
carding);
medium-term leveling systems, for lengths
above about 3 m;
long-term leveling, for lengths above about
20 m (maintaining count).

In addition, regulating can be performed by
open-loop or closed-loop control systems
Auto leveling equipment for carding
machine
Medium term auto leveler:
An optical measuring device
detects relative variations in the
cross-section of the fiber layer on
the main cylinder over the whole
width of the cylinder.
The measuring device is built into
the protective cover above the
doffer.
The device measures reflection of
infrared light from the fibers.
After comparison with the set
value, a difference signal is
generated and passed to an
electronic regulating unit.
This operates via a regulating
drive to adjust the infeed speed of
the card so that the depth of the
fiber layer on the main cylinder is
held constant.
Long term auto leveler:
This is the most commonly used
principle of card autoleveling and
serves to keep the sliver count
constant.
Measuring is performed by
a sensor in the delivery (at the
delivery roller).
The pulses derived in this way
are processed electronically so
that the speed of the infeed roller
can be adapted to the delivered
sliver weight via mechanical or
electronic regulating devices.
Long-term autoleveling is an
integral part of modern cards, and
in any case used in production of
carded yarns and in the rotor
spinning mill.
Technical data of three high performance card
Grinding:
Cylinder

Flats

First grinding after
[kg]

80 000 - 150 000

80 000 - 150 000

Each additional
grinding after [kg]

80 000 - 120 000

80 000 - 120 000

The operating life of clothing is quoted in terms of the total throughput of material.
For the cylinder it normally lies between 300 000 and 600 000 kg, but it can be
higher in some circumstances.

Processing of materials therefore considerably wears down the teeth they
become rounded at the top and lose their aggressiveness.

The direct result is a continuous increase in the nep content of the sliver.

The points must therefore be sharpened from time to time, in order to give a better
shape to the edges by grinding them. Each new grinding operation reduces the
number of neps, but the level never returns to that prior to the previous grinding

The deterioration in quality from one
grinding interval to the next arises from
the fact that the teeth are ground down
to successively lower heights, the lands
at the teeth points become steadily
larger, and softer metal layers are
gradually exposed.
The interval is best selected depending
on the mills nep limit (c).
Since the doffer clothing works much
less than that of the cylinder, it should be
ground only half as often, or even less
frequently.
The clothing on the licker-in should not
be ground; it should be renewed after a
throughput of 100 000 - 200 000 kg.
Frequency of grinding:
Fig. Increase in neps between grinding
periods: A, number of neps in the web; B,
grinding interval; b, general rise of the
lower nep level; c, mills limit for neps
Draw Frame
Main task of D/F
Equalizing: One of the main tasks of the draw frame is improving evenness
over the short, medium and especially long term. Card slivers fed to the
draw frame have a degree of unevenness that cannot be tolerated in practice.
Parallelizing: To obtain an optimal value for strength in the yarn
characteristics, the fibers must be arranged parallel in the fiber strand. It is
mainly the draw frame's task to create this parallel arrangement.
It fulfills this task by means of the draft, since every drafting step leads to
straightening of the fibers. The value of the draft must be adapted to the
material, i.e. to several fiber parameters, mainly:
the staple length;
the mass of the fibers;
the volume of the strand;
the degree of order (parallel disposition).

Blending: In addition to the equalizing effect, doubling also provides a
degree of compensation of raw material variations by blending, which occurs
simultaneously.
This result is exploited in particular in the production of blended yarns
comprising cotton/synthetic or synthetic/synthetic blends.
For example, to obtain a 67:33 blend, four slivers of one component and two
of the other are fed to the draw frame. Of course, these slivers must have the
same hank.
Dust Removal: Dust is steadily becoming a greater problem both in
processing and for the personnel involved. It is therefore important to remove
dust to the greatest practical extent at every possible point within the overall
process.
Dust removal can only be carried out to a significant degree when there are
high levels of fiber/fiber or fiber/metal friction, since a large proportion of these
very small particles (dust) adhere relatively strongly to the fibers.
Such friction arises especially on the card and the draw frame; in the latter
case, mainly owing to the drafting operation. The draw frame is therefore a
good dust-removing machine. On high-performance draw frames equipped
with appropriate suction systems, more than 80% of the incoming dust is
extracted.
Draft
Factors dependent upon the fiber material:
mass of fiber in the strand cross section;
degree of order of the fibers (parallel disposition);
shape of the cross section of the fiber strand;
compactness of the fiber strand;
adhesion between the fibers dependent upon
surface structure,
crimp,
spin finish,
compression of the strand;
fiber length;
evenness of distribution of fiber lengths (staple form);
existing twist in the fiber strand.

In all types of drafting arrangement, the factors that affect the draft are:
Factors dependent upon the drafting arrangement:

diameter of the rollers;
hardness of the top rollers;
pressure exerted by the top rollers;
surface characteristics of the top rollers;
fluting of the bottom rollers;
type and form of fiber guiding devices, such as pressure rods, pin bars,
aprons, condenser etc.;
clamping distances (roller settings);
level of draft;
distribution of draft between the various drafting zones.
Draft through a roller drafting arrangement
The Drafting Operation:
During drafting, the fibers must be moved
relative to each other as uniformly as possible
by overcoming the cohesive friction.

Uniformity implies in this context that all fibers
are controllably rearranged with a shift relative
to each other equal to the degree of draft.
But what is practical, drafting operations always
run irregularly, and each draft stage will therefore
always lead to an increase in unevenness.
Drafting is mainly done by roller-drafting arrangements (above figure).
The fibers are firmly nipped between the bottom steel rollers and the
weighted top pressure rollers.
If the rollers are now rotated in such a way that their peripheral speed in the
through flow direction increases from roller pair to roller pair, then the
drawing apart of the fibers, i.e. the draft, takes place. This is defined as the
ratio of the delivered length (L
D
) to feed length (L
F
), or the ratio of the
corresponding peripheral speeds:



where v = peripheral speed of cylinder, D = delivery and F = feed. The
drafting arrangement illustrated has two sub drafting zones, namely:
a break draft zone (B): V
B
= v
2
/ v
3
, and
a main draft zone (A): V
M
= v
1
/ v
2

The total draft is always the product of the individual drafts and not the sum:

How the draft is happened:
Auto Leveler:
Classification of Auto leveler:
1. open-loop control can compensate variations of short (to medium) wavelength,
2. closed-loop control can compensate only medium and long-term variations.
Fig Leveling draw frame with open-loop control
This system permits very
precise leveling of very short
lengths.
A second advantage is the
ability to measure far greater
sliver masses due to the
lower in feed speed
(corresponding to the
amount of draft).
Recording becomes more
precise.
In practice, draw frame
leveling using open-loop
control is now predominant.