Roy V. Baker

Development of Experimental Cotton Dust Analyzer

ABSTRACT AN experimental cotton dust analyzer was developed for measurement of the dust-generation potential of lint cotton. High-velocity air jets are used in the analyzer for release of dust from a thin batt of lint. The dust is then sized by a 100-micrometer screen and collected on a glass fiber filter for gravimetric analysis. Laboratory results indicated that differences in dust-generation potential measured by the cotton dust analyzer were similar to those measured by experimental card room techniques. However, additional refinements and testing are needed for establishment of concrete relationships between results with the cotton dust analyzer and the potential of various types of cotton for dust generation.

Effect of Moisture Conditioning on Ginning Performance and Fiber Quality of High Plains Cotton

ABSTRACT TYPICALLY low relative humidity conditions during harvesting and ginning of cotton on the High Plains of Texas usually result in a lint moisture of 5 to 7 per-cent when the cotton arrives at the gin. Under those conditions it was found that drying cotton, either with or without moisture restoration at the feeder, was dis-advantageous because the dried cotton was generally worth less than the undried cotton. When these losses in bale value were combined with the cost of fuel for the driers, the failure of drying to improve ginning rate, and the adverse effect of drying on fiber and yarn quality, the use of driers was not justifiable under the circumstances encountered in these experiments. Moi-ture restoration after drying and cleaning tended to par-tially offset the bale weight and quality losses, but not the fuel cost disadvantage.

Performance Characteristics of Saw-Type Lint Cleaners

ABSTRACT EXPERIMENTS were conducted to measure per-formance characteristics of saw-type, controlled-batt lint cleaners under operating conditions similar to those existing at cotton gins processing machine-stripped cotton. Small-scale equipment and techniques were developed to investigate the effects of batt weight, combing ratio, saw speed, feed bar-to-saw clearance, grid bar-to-saw clearance, and feed roll-to-feed bar tension on cleaning efficiency, lint wastage, and fiber quality. Batt weight, combing ratio, and saw speed were found to be the most important variables affecting cleaning efficiency and lint wastage. However, these variables had little effect on fiber quality. Variations in feed bar-to-saw-clearance, grid bar-to-saw clearance and feed roll-to-feed bar tension produced only small effects upon the dependent variables. Results indicated a potential for improving cleaning efficiency and reducing lint wastage by proper selection of batt weight, combing ratio, and saw speed. Prediction equations were devel-oped to aid in the selection of these three variables.

Performance of Conventional and New Lint Cleaners

ABSTRACT CLEANING efficiency can be improved without causing unacceptable increase in damage to fiber. A basis on which to continue developing equipment for commercial use exists.

Confirmation of Sources of Cotton Gin Noise by Multivariate Analysis Techniques

ABSTRACT MULTIVARIATE analysis was used to analyze an extensive set of cotton gin noise data to determine the sources and characteristics of the noise. Factor analysis showed that there were four independent noise components in the gin. Three components definitely identified as to source were: doffing brush noise, fan noise, and impact noise from cotton in the conveying system. Very high frequency noise was the fourth com-ponent. Factor analysis also showed that the major noise component identified as brush noise was eliminated by changing to an experimental long-bristle type of doffing brush. Stepwise discriminant analysis of the data showed that the noise at a given location in the gin was depen-dent on the nearby noise sources and that the gin stand was a major source of the very high frequency noise. Time and environmental conditions were found to have no significant effect on measured noise levels.

Conveying Machine-Stripped Cotton with an Inclined Wire Belt

HE feasibility of conveying and elevating machine-stripped seed cotton using an inclined wire belt conveyor was investigated. Conveying performance was satisfactory at belt inclinations up to 25 deg. Problems that adversely affected conveying performance were apparent at angles of 27 to 30 deg, and these problems became steadily more severe with increasing inclinations. Cotton could not be conveyed at inclinations greater than 37 deg. Aeration by forcing air downward through the cotton on the open mesh wire belt enhanced its conveying ability, but forcing air upward through the belt and cotton was detrimental to conveying. Density of the cotton on the belt varied with flow rate and ranged up to about 35 kg/m3. Conveying capacity was about 8 kg/s/m of belt width (300 lb/min/ft) with a 40 cm batt depth at a belt speed of 30 m/min.

Cotton Lint Quality Protection Potential of Tighter Boll Types

ABSTRACT GRADES of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) lint are lowered from color deterioration, dust and foreign matter contamination by exposure of open cotton bolls to adverse weather while waiting for harvest and by present harvesting methods. Modern ginning techniques can only partially maintain original grade potentials by dispersing the off color spots and partially removing foreign matter contamination. One possible solution to grade loss is to develop a more protective boll-type in cotton cultivars. The effect of a highly protective boll type was simulated by harvesting mature unopened bolls, removing the trash, leaf, and bracts before these bolls opened and by comparing a primitive strain of semi-closed boll cotton to standard machine-stripped varieties. Results showed that contamination of the seedcotton was practically eliminated by the experimental unopened boll procedure. Some bur particles remained in the ginned lint. Grade, lint brightness and degree of yellowness of the unopened boll and semi-closed boll cotton were preserved at a higher level than that of comparable machine-stripped cotton. Fine dust was reduced in the unopened boll cotton by as much as one-half of that found in comparable machine-stripped cotton.

Experimental Dual-Saw Lint Cleaner

ABSTRACT EXPERIMENTS were conducted to evaluate the performance of a dual-saw lint cleaner equipped with an airblast lint transfer nozzle. The airtlast system successfully transferred over 99.6 percent of tie lint from the upper saw to the lower saw at lint feed rates as high as 1380 kg/h/m (927 lb/h/ft). The performance of the dual-saw lint cleaner compared favorably to that of a conventional tandem lint cleaning system. While these two lint cleaning techniques had similar effects on fiber quality measurements and nep content, the dual-saw cleaner outperformed the conventional lint cleaners in the trash removal category. These results demonstrated the technical feasibility of a dual-saw lint cleaner for cotton ginning applications, and indicated that multiple-saw lint cleaners could potentially improve gin-cleaning performance in the future.

The Potential of New Seed Cotton Cleaning Principles

ABSTRACT THREE new seed cotton cleaning machine principles were evaluated. These principles were (a) an air feeding technique which forces a thin stream of cotton to impact on a counter rotating saw, (b) a saw cylinder design featuring smooth raised ribs between recessed saws, (c) rotating resilient rollers in place of grid bars around the saw. Experimental machines based on these new principles produced higher cleaning efficiencies than did a conventional saw-grid cleaning cylinder, but they also lost a greater amount of seed cotton. Results suggest that the three cleaning principles exhibit sufficient potential to warrant further consideration. Additional research, however, is needed to determine optimum feed system design, saw cylinder surface configuration, roll construction and reclaiming method.

Heat Recapture for Cotton Gin Drying Systems

ABSTRACT IN surveys of five commercial cotton gin plants we showed that a large pool of hot air collected in the upper part of the building. This hot air originated from heat losses through conduction from hot surfaces of the gin drying systems and from motor cooling. Calculations of the volume and heat content of this air indicated that reclaiming the hot air might provide up to 30% of the heat needed for the gins drying systems. One gin was equipped with heat recapture pipes on the drying systems intakes and we measured an average heat savings of 16.7% over what was required for heating outside air. Heat savings from moving the intake point up into the hot air pool was 6.4% and the remainder of the heat savings was from having the air intakes inside the building.