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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #97912
Title: A NEW STUDY OF AIR-TYPE LINT CLEANER DESIGN

Author
item MANGIALARDI, JR., GINO - RETIRED ARS AG ENGINEER
item Anthony, William

Submitted to: Cotton Gin and Oil Mill Press
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/8/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Immature seeds and seed-coat fragments in lint cotton are sources of trouble in textile processing, and detract from appearance in yarn and fabric. The cotton gin can influence and control to some degree the level of these imperfections. An experiment was conducted to determine if the level of these seed particles can be influenced by the cleaning nozzle settings on flow-through, air-type, lint cleaners used at gins. Seven lin cleaner treatments were conducted that involved a range of cleaning nozzle openings, booster air, and a saw-type lint cleaner. There was a trend toward reduced seed fragments and other trash in the lint when the nozzle opening was increased from 0.715 to 1.150 inches. Immature seeds were not removed when the nozzle opening was narrowed to 0.715 inch. Information obtained will be used to design new air-type lint cleaners or develop air- type cleaner procedures/sequences to reduce the number of seed fragments and other imperfections in cotton. New phases of the study will include using tandem air-type lint cleaning, a redesign of the cleaning nozzle, and use of booster air to enhance fragment and mote removal.

Technical Abstract: Air-type lint cleaners at cotton gins are used to remove some foreign matter from the cotton fibers. The amount of trash taken out by the air cleaner is controlled by opening and closing a cleaning nozzle. This Study assesses the effectiveness of air-type lint cleaners in removing foreign matter, especially seed-coat fragments. The study examined the influence of the machine settings with and without the use of booster air on the amount of seed-coat fragments, motes, and funiculi extracted from ginned lint. Results indicate that increasing the discharge opening from 0.715 to 1.150 inches increased the extraction of seed-coat fragments but overall, waste also increased. The booster fan did not improve removal of seed-coat fragments. About 4.3 pounds of material was removed by the air- type lint cleaner as compared to 20 by the saw-type cleaner. cleaning efficiencies were 17% and 57%, respectively, for the air and saw-type cleaners.