Author
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Le, Sanh |
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Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 7/8/2008 Publication Date: 11/1/2008 Citation: Le, S. 2008. Performance of a Modified Cylinder Cleaner, Part I. Journal of Cotton Science. 12: 253-263. Interpretive Summary: The saw-type lint cleaner is the standard equipment used domestically to reduce trash level and improve fiber appearance after ginning. Unfortunately, this highly effective lint cleaning machine also causes fiber damage and reduces yield. To maintain our technology lead and competitive advantage in the global market, we need to develop new lint cleaning technology to improve fiber quality and yield. The new cleaner must also reduce fiber damage to preserve fiber length to meet market demands. An alternative cleaner, a modified cylinder cleaner, was developed to meet the challenges. The modified cleaner was tested at a research ginning facility. Test results showed that the modified cleaner increased yield by 14.0 lb per bale with fiber quality and appearance comparable to that from a standard saw-type lint cleaner. The modified cleaner has a potential of increasing the value of the 20 million bales of U.S. cotton by $7 per bale. Technical Abstract: A chisel-shape grid bar with a sharp cutting edge was designed and installed in a modified cylinder cleaner. The cleaner’s seed cotton and lint cleaning performances were evaluated in two tests. Results indicated that a cylinder cleaner with narrowly spaced chisel-shape grid bars connected in series with a lint cleaner with one cleaning point could potentially gain a maximum of 6.4 kg/bale of fiber compared to a saw-type lint cleaner without compromising color and other fiber properties. The tests also showed no significant difference between the manual and labor saving suction pipe packing methods in splitting seed cotton into test lots. |
