Abstract
Saw-type lint cleaner (STLC) was most efficient lint cleaner in cotton ginning. However, STLC damaged fiber quality. An air-bar lint cleaner (ABLC) was developed and evaluated to preserve cotton fiber quality. The ABLC used pressurized-air to remove non-lint materials from cotton fiber. During lint cleaning process, non-lint materials attached to the fiber were blown off the fiber without the fiber making aggressive mechanical contact with a grid bar in conventional saw-type lint cleaner (STLC). It was expected using this concept that the fiber quality could be preserved by reducing the damage from mechanical impact of the fiber against the grid bar. Preliminary testing of the ABLC prototype showed that ABLC generated less lint waste and had a higher turnout rate than STLC. Use of ABLC could save 2.8 kg of lint in each 225 kg bale of cotton. The High Volume Instrument (HVI) analysis indicated the fiber properties in fiber length, uniformity, short fiber content, and color were not significantly different between ABLC and STLC. However, the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) tests showed STLC had better performance than ABLC in fiber length and short fiber content while the trash and dust content with ABLC was lower than the STLC. More research was necessary to further prove the concept of ABLC and improve its performance in preserving cotton fiber quality.
Highlights
The U.S cotton industry must improve production efficiency and fiber quality to remain competitive with foreign cotton and synthetic fiber production
The air-bar lint cleaner (ABLC) was tested in comparison with a conventional saw-type lint cleaner (STLC)
The ABLC was a new type of lint cleaner that used pressurized-air to assist in removing non-lint materials from lint cotton in ginning process
Summary
The U.S cotton industry must improve production efficiency and fiber quality to remain competitive with foreign cotton and synthetic fiber production. Textile mills are demanding higher quality cotton as spinning technology changes and processing rates increase. Improvements in cotton ginning offer significant potential for increasing production efficiency and fiber quality, benefitting the entire industry from producer to textile mill. Machine-harvested cotton contained a lot of foreign matters (Funk et al, 2005). Cylinder cleaners and stick machines were used to remove the large particles of the foreign matter in seed-cotton before the gin stand to separate cotton fiber and seed. After fiber-seed separation, lint cleaners were used to remove smaller particles that remain in the cotton. Saw-type lint cleaner (STLC) was most efficient lint cleaner in cotton ginning. STLC damaged fiber quality by increasing nep level, reducing fiber length, and increasing short fiber content (Thomasson et al, 2007; Gordon & Bagshaw, 2007)
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