Textiles: fiber preparation – Working – Carding
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-22
2003-09-02
Welch, Gary L. (Department: 3765)
Textiles: fiber preparation
Working
Carding
C019S105000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06611994
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The present invention relates to the application of fiber length measurement in the blowroom or carding room of a spinning mill. In conventional blowroom lines and in the subsequent carding room the same textile fibers, e.g. cotton, chemical fibers or mixtures thereof (assortments), are often processed over prolonged periods of time. The settings of the textile processing machines are usually only adjusted to or optimized once for the respective assortments of the material and then not changed any more. Such adjustments of operating parameters are usually cumbersome and require a relatively high amount of time. For the new setting of optimal operating parameters of the production line it may be necessary under certain circumstances to take samples of fiber material at different locations and to analyze the same partly with complex and time-consuming measuring methods in the laboratory (e.g. the measurement of the shortening of the staple fiber, nep count, share of short fibers). Textile processing plants with the aforementioned adjusting possibilities therefore come with the disadvantage that smaller (temporal) deviations in the processed fiber material qualities cannot be considered, which results in respective quality losses in the end products of the process stage (e.g. shortening of the staple fiber). This occurs because on the one hand one is not able to perform a sufficiently quick measurement in order to determine the deviation and, on the other hand, because a new setting of the machine would take too long. An additional factor is that it is currently no longer economically viable to adapt a blowroom or a carding room to only one specific fiber material right from the start. Blowrooms are currently designed for the purpose of processing different types of materials (assortments). A rapid new setting of the textile processing machine or adaptation to the new material to be processed is therefore an advantage. This requirement of rapid adjustability of the blowroom line and the carding room additionally increases the aforementioned disadvantages of a conventional textile processing line.
The textile industry has recognized these problems to a certain extent. In DE-A-196-51-893 a method and an apparatus are described in which the staple fiber length and the nep count is measured in a carding machine. The determined measured values are used for setting the operating parameters of the carding machine. The nep count figures and the fiber length distribution are determined for the optimization of the production and linked with one another. An open-loop or closed-loop counter defines the optimal operating parameters on the basis of said linkage. The measurement is performed on-line (measurement of the staple diagram and nep count). The following two operating parameters (actuating variables) are adjusted: The distance of the clothings from the flat and the swift (carding gap) and the speed of the swift. The control or determination of the optimal setting values is made on the basis of stored data fields of characteristics/characteristic curves which also contain the pertinent machine setting data. The input data are compared with these data fields of characteristics/characteristic curves. The fiber samples require for the analysis are sucked off. Suction can be performed according to this specification at the following locations: at the doffer, at the stripping roller, at the crushing rollers or at the licker-in. The staple which is measurable online is measured with the help of a fibrograph (fiber tuft curve).
Specification DE-A-196-51-891 further describes a method and an apparatus in which the fiber staple is measured twice. Partial quantities of the fibers are taken at the entrance and the exit of the carding machine (e.g. they are sucked off). The fiber shortening amount is determined from the differential values of the measurement. Depending on the value, the working elements which influence the carding gap are newly set or optimized (influencing the carding intensity). The taking of fiber samples occurs at the following places: at the doffer, at the stripping roller, before or after the crushing rollers, on the swift or licker-in. The samples are evaluated automatically and online, i.e. the staple diagram is determined from the values. The evaluations are used as input data for the open- and closed-loop control devices which determine the optimal machine setting data. The optimal machine setting data concerning the carding gap are sent online to the working elements or actuators of the carding machine which control the distance between the clothings of the cylinder and the flat. The open- and closed-loop control devices also comprise stored characteristic curves in this case too. A fibrograph and a fiber shortening sensor are provided for the fiber length measurement.
SUMMARY
The invention is based on the object of providing a method and an apparatus which, among other things, eliminates the aforementioned disadvantages and further improves the processing of fibers both in the carding room as well as the blowroom. Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
The object is achieved by the characterizing features of the claims. The method in accordance with the invention and its apparatus allow controlling the processing of fibers or flocks in an optimal way. This means that the fibers or flocks are processed as optimally as possible by maintaining the lowest possible damage to the fibers (fiber shortening) or nep formation. In addition, the apparatus in accordance with the invention and its method allow a rapid and automatic adjustment of the fiber processing to fluctuations in the fiber material quality (fluctuations caused by different material quality or properties of the individual fiber bales) and to fiber materials to be newly processed (i.e. acceleration of the adjustment of the machines to assortments to be newly processed).
Such improvements in the blowroom and carding room lines are enabled by the features of the claims in accordance with the invention. The measurement of fiber material properties (in particular online measurement), their evaluation and the respective influence of certain actuators (see below) constitute further additional important measures for the realization of the invention.
The invention accordingly provides a method and an apparatus in a textile processing machine, in particular in a blowroom machine or carding machine, in which the nep count and/or the fiber length (staple) is measured and evaluated before and/or after a working element. A nep sensor and a fiber-length measuring apparatus are provided respectively and perform the measurements (with the fiber-length measuring apparatus taking a small fiber quantity as a sample). In addition an open-/closed-loop control unit is provided which receives the measured values for fiber length and/or nep count from the sensors as input values and determines therefrom the optimized machine setting data. The open-/closed-loop control unit also works here preferably with stored data fields of characteristics or data records. The specific machine setting data or parameters are output to one or several actuators influencing the nep count and/or the fiber staple of the textile processing machine. This can be understood insofar as several actuators can also be controlled in combination in order to change one or several settings of the machine. It is also possible in a further embodiment of the inventive idea that the measurements are performed on a working element, whereas the influenced actuators belong to another upstream or downstream working element, which means that actuators of other textile processing machines are also understood as being among the same. A very important element of the invention is that the open- or closed-loop control can be performed on-line and automatic, i.e. during the operation without any outside influence by the op
Artzt Peter
Bischofberger Jürg
Faas Jürg
Gresser Götz Theodor
Jehle Volker
Dority & Manning
Maschinenfabrik Rieter AG
Welch Gary L.
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for fiber length measurement does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for fiber length measurement, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for fiber length measurement will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3086541