Textiles: fiber preparation – Working – Crush rolls
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-22
2002-07-23
Calvert, John J. (Department: 3765)
Textiles: fiber preparation
Working
Crush rolls
C019S200000, C019S205000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06421883
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The invention is concerned with the layout of the blowing room of a spinning mill. In this description the term “blowing room” also includes the card room, which takes over fibre materials from the traditional cleaning devices of the blowing room for further processing.
It is not feasible economically to adapt the blowing room in advance for a predetermined fibre material. Blowing rooms therefore are designed to process different kinds of material (varieties) whereat the end user can change from one variety to another or can even process different varieties practically at the same time (“multi-variety-operation”).
Controllable blowing room lines are disclosed in the following publications:
DE-A-3,244,619—Trützschler
DE-A-3,44,942—Trützschler
EP-A497,535—Crosrol
EP-A-303,023—Rieter
EP-A-311,831—Rieter
EP-A-548,023—Rieter
Blowing room lines still comprise a number of machines which receive the fibre material one after each other. It is known that there exist complex reciprocal effects between the different operating parameters (for instance such as the through put flow volume of fibre materials and aggressiveness of the fibre treatment) and the achievable characteristics of the supplied fibre material (normally in the form of flocks from the cleaning machines or sliver respectively—or at the most a fibre web—from the card). These complex reciprocal effects led to proposals which aim to simplify the setting of the single machine. This is for instance described in EP-A-399,315 or EP-A-641,876, GB-A-2210970 and EP-A452,676. The application GB-A-2210907 for instance, describes a device which serves the optimization of the cleaning or operating parameters respectively of the succeeding fibre processing machine. The degree of contamination of the fibre flocks is continuously monitored and based on the measured values the operating parameters of the succeeding fibre processing machine are adjusted automatically. Improvements of the possibilities to adjust the machines, or of the line respectively as a whole, allow an optimization of the prevailing circumstances, however, they cannot overcome a certain phenomenon: the higher the throughput flow volume, the more difficult it is to achieve the desired characteristics of the supplied product.
It has recently been suggested to transfer the so called “fine cleaning” from the traditional blowing room to the card room, whereat the filling chutes of the individual cards are to be laid out as cleaning machines—see for instance EP-A-810,309. This allows to reduce the throughput flow during the fine cleaning stage without having to reduce the effective production of the whole line.
It is also known for instance from U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,262 to monitor the fibre material during processing in the blowing room, for instance in the form of a flock stream and to activate a switching means in dependence of the detected results. In the case of an arrangement according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,262, a transportation path is to lead from the switching means into a waste container. The flock flow is diverted to the waste container if metal parts are detected by the monitoring apparatus. Thus the machines that follow in the line are to be protected against foreign matter. In DE-A-197 22 537 there is also a device described which succeeds the bale opener and which serves the extraction of foreign particles. The separation is accomplished with the application of an image processing device. Said device measures the brightness level and/or the colour of the transported material and compares it with set values. Material which does not comply with the set value is discharged. In the meantime, such monitoring apparatuses have been further developed in particular regarding their sensory capabilities. Examples of new devices which operate with optical sensors are disclosed in EP-A-396,546; EP-A-824,607 and DEA-4340173. One has also to expect further developments of the (optical) sensors.
SUMMARY
It is an object of the present invention to suggest new blowing room arrangements which allow a better adaptation of the treatment of the fibres to the effective requirements. Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
Accordingly, an embodiment of the invention provides a flock transportation device with a switching means for the flock stream, with a monitoring apparatus which detects the degree of contamination whereat the monitoring apparatus carries out an evaluation which determines the cleaning requirements of the detected materials and which controls the switching means accordingly.
The invention further comprises a fibre processing method which requires several transportation paths with different characteristics. Via a common supply means the fibres are allocated to the transportation paths, whereat within the common supply means the condition of the fibres is detected. Afterwards, the fibres are let to one or to the other transportation paths depending on the measured results.
The invention also comprises a fibre processing installation with several transportation paths, which are equipped for different treatment characteristics, and with a common fibre supply means for the mentioned transportation paths. A monitoring apparatus is provided in order to detect the condition of the fibre being supplied through the supply means. The installation also includes a controllable switching means in order to switch the flock stream to the different transportation paths depending on the measured results.
A “transportation path” is to be understood as the route through which a single fibre flock travels from the bale opener up to the end product (for instance in the sliver after the card). Everywhere a material supply leads through a switching means or through a switching apparatus into two or three branches, then as many new transportation paths are established. A transportation path is actually characterized by its sub-sections. Each sub-section comprises one or several treatment stages (a treatment stage according to the technology is being defined and can consist of one or several machines, for instance the fine cleaning). Depending on how the switching means or the switching apparatus respectively are set, the flocks flow through different sub-sections and thus through a transportation path with one treatment characteristic which is characterized by its sub-section. A sub-section can of course belong to several transportation paths. In a first embodiment the end products of the single transportation paths are processed separately. According to a second embodiment of the invention, however, it is intended that the end products of individual transportation paths, which actually possess different characteristics, are being mixed again partly or as a whole (for instance the end product of a transportation paths with a low quality is being mixed with several end products of high quality). With an only partial mix this way, one thus obtains practically several end products (or “product lines”) with different fibre characteristics at the same time. This is kind of multi-variety operation. A second kind of such a multi-variety operation can be realized with a central control means and is described in the following paragraph.
A further type of embodiment of the invention, besides the different transportation paths with different treatment characteristics, a central control means. Said control means can, in addition to the monitoring apparatuses, control the single switching means and the switching apparatuses. It is also possible that the control means processes and/or registers the evaluations of the monitoring apparatus centrally. The preferred features of such a fibre processing installation includes the possibility that the transportation paths can partly be predetermined. Thus several “product lines” with different compositions (qualities respectively) in the end products can be formed. It is for instance possible th
Faas Jürg
Schneider Ulf
Stäheli Christoph
Calvert John J.
Dority & Manning
Maschinenfabrik Rieter AG
Welch Gary L.
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