Yarn Manufacture I: Principle of Carding & Drawing

Prof. R. Chattopadhyay
Department of Textile Technology
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Lecture – 02
Card Feed Zone

So, today we are going to discuss Card Feed Region.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:22)

The objectives of the card feed region is to ensure uniform feeding of the lap or the
fibrous mat to the carding zone, to transform large tufts into small tuftlets, and to extract
impurities or neps left in the lap or the tufts.
(Refer Slide Time: 00:45)

The feed system to the carding machine is of two types: lap feed system and continuous
or chute feed system.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:00)

The lap feed system is depicted in the figure. It consists of a lap roller, a feed plate, a
feed roller and the lap is resting on the lap roller. Lap is basically a sheet of tufts which is
rolled into the form of a cylinder. The lap rest on the lap roller, which is usually made of
wood and the lap roller gets its drive from some source. As the lap roller rotates, the lap
which is resting on it also turns and the lap is unrolled.
The lap being very flimsy has to be supported before it reaches the licker-in. And hence,
the feed plate exist which acts as a support. The lap moves over the feed plate because, it
is being pushed or unrolled by the lap roller. And then, it comes in between the feed
roller and the feed plate. The feed roller is positively driven. And hence, the frictional
grip of the feed roller on the lap sheet will pull the lap and the lap will move forward and
will be presented to the licker-in which is turning at high speed.

The typical lap weight can vary between 500 to 800g/m, the lap roller diameter could be
around 15 centimeter, the feed roller is around 6 centimeter and the licker-in diameter is
typically 23 centimeter. The licker-in speed could be 800-1200 rpm. In modern machines
it can go up to 1600 rpm.

(Refer Slide Time: 03:20)

The advantage of lap feed system are as follows. There is a greater control that can be
exercised on the regularity of the feed as production of uniform lap sheet in scutcher is
relatively easy. The next point is the system is flexible, that is different material can be
processed on different cards as the cards are not linked together to a common supply of
fibers.
(Refer Slide Time: 03:47)

Let us analyze the feed system. In the diagram, the plate is represented by the rectangle,
the feed roller is shown in the diagram, in between are the mat of fibers. Now let the feed
roller is pressed on the feed plate by a force P or the P is the normal force, the frictional
force F1 is acting on the top surface of the lap and the feed roller, and F2 is the frictional
force acting in between bottom surface of the lap sheet and the feed plate. Therefore, lap
sheet is experiencing a frictional force from the feed roller surface and also frictional
force from the stationary feed plate.

Now, against these frictional forces, the lap has to move forward. Let μR is the
coefficient of friction between the feed roller and the lap. And the μF is the coefficient of
friction within the feed plate and the lap. Under steady state conditions, the equations can
be written as follows.

F1 = μR P

F2 = μF P
(Refer Slide Time: 05:22)

Now, the condition for uniform feeding is F1 > F2.

And therefore, it can be written that μR P > μF P since, P is the normal force which is
constant can be eliminated and can be written as μR > μF. That means the frictional
coefficient between the feed roller and the feed plate must be more than the feed plate
and the lap sheet. Now, in order to increase this friction the feed roller surface is usually
grooved whereas, the feed plate top surface is very smooth to reduce the friction.

Now look at the geometry of the feed plate. The region of the feed plate is very
important since the teasing of the lap very much depends on this geometry. The feed
plate which is rectangular plate, the front face of the feed plate is little inclined forward
towards the licker-in. So, that a wedge shaped space is created between the front face of
the feed plate and their licker-in wire points.

Now, from the geometry of this region let ‘a’ be the length of the horizontal plateau
which is from A to B, ‘b’ is the length of the front guiding surface, β is the inclination
angle of the guiding surface shown in the diagram. ‘l’ and ‘lm’ be the staple length and
the modal fiber length, and let ‘d’ be the thickness of the lap. Now, ABCD this whole
region can be written as the length of ABCD = l / 4; which is 25 percent of the fiber
length.

For efficient opening of the lap the region,

AE = a + b = lm

lm = the modal fiber length

ABCD has the part ‘a’ plus the length CD and the arc BC is shown by the equation

(Refer Slide Time: 08:59)

Now, the same equation we can write that;

And this can be simplified and the steps are given.

If CD is considered to be zero, then

(Refer Slide Time: 09:44)

If, d = 3mm is thickness of the lap, the length of the fiber (l) is 30mm in that case β = 18˚
that is the inclination angle of the front face. And the case, if d is 3mm and the length of
the fiber (l) is 32mm then β = 0˚. Therefore, feed table configuration must be changed
with the length of fiber. For long fibers it may be necessary to shift the point of entry of
the licker-in teeth into the lap further in order to increase the distance CD.

Now, after going through this analysis we can conclude that there is a possibility of
differential combing of the lap sheet, the length of the top layer of the lap which is
exposed to licker-in action is given by this equation.

= ;

Length of the bottom layer exposing licker-in action is also shown by this equation.

= ;

Now, if these two are compared then we see that because

Hence we can conclude that fibers belonging to top layers are subjected to more number
of revolutions of the licker-in, than the fibers situated at the bottom layer. Thus, fibers
will receive differential treatment by the licker-in teeth depending upon their location in
the lap. And for very thick lap the bottom layer may not get combed at all or teased at all.

Hence, there is a limit to the thickness of the lap that we can produce on blow room line
too thick a lap will mean that the tufts which are there in the bottom part of the lap will
never get combed properly or never get teased out properly by the licker-in teeth. And
hence, they will move as it is. And therefore, the teasing action, the opening actions or
the cleaning actions will get affected, if the lap sheet is made too thick. Hence, there is a
limitation to the maximum thickness of the lap sheet that we can produce.

(Refer Slide Time: 12:57)

Now, we will see the front face of the feed plate. And there are two types of feed plates,
long nose type and short nose type.

Now, long nose type the front face is suitable for long length fibers, whereas, the short
nose type which is available suitable for medium or short length fibers. Hence, whenever
we want to switch over from short and medium length fibers to long length fibers we
need to change the feed plate. The same feed plate if we use then that could be a problem
with the processing of the fibers.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:00)

In the new designs, there are some changes in the design of this feed plate. Now here, the
problem with the older design is with the lap is presented against the direction of rotation
of the licker-in teeth. And therefore, the fibers bend and are subjected to very high level
of stress, because they have to follow the curvature which is changing of the feed plate.
And hence, lot of stress will be acting on them, and hence many fibers are damaged.

To avoid such high level of stress on fiber during feeding, sharp bend of fiber is to be
avoided. Especially, if we want to process the fibers at high speed in the new design
therefore, the directional rotations of the licker-in teeth and the feeding direction of the
lap sheet is exactly similar. And this is what has been shown in this diagram.

The lap which is being fed will be moving over the feed roller. And the feed plate is
placed not at the bottom of the feed roll, but on the top. And hence, the lap is squeezed in
between the feed plate and the lap roller in between the gap, and then they are following
the curvature of the feed roller and then they are approaching the licker-in. And
therefore, if we look at the line of actions of the licker-in teeth and the feeding directions
of the lap sheet, then we will see there that they are actually moving in the same
directions. And hence, the level of stretch will be little less in this case.

So, this is the advantage of new designs. And therefore, in all modern carding machines
the lap feeding system has been changed to this new type of feeding regiment.
(Refer Slide Time: 16:20)

Now, from here we move to continuous feed. The earlier one was lap feed system, that is
used to produce lap on the blow room line and then these laps needs to be transported to
the carding machines and then we used to feed them to the carding machine. So, this is
basically a discontinuous operation.

Now, in the continuous operations, the lap formation part of the blow room no more
exist; the blow room is connected directly to the carding machines. And therefore, the
whole process of opening, cleaning till carding has become continuous and hence, we
call it continuous feed system. So, this is also known as chute feed system. In chute feed
system, several cards are fed simultaneously by a single source of material i.e. the blow
room.

There is central distribution system that feeds tufts to several vertical chutes connected to
a set of cards. Depending upon the production rate of the blow room 6-10 cards are
connected to the distribution system, because typically, a blow room line may be
producing at the rate of 500-700kilo per hour and if a card produces between 50-60kg
per hour, then one blow room line will be able to feed 6-10 carding machines.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:09)

And in the diagram, we see that the material is coming from the blow room. And then
there is a distribution duct and these distribution duct is connected to card 1 to card to 2
to card 3 and goes up to card n, which may be either 10 cards or 8 cards or 9 cards. And
from this duct the tufts will fall into the chute number 1 connected to card 1. It will also
fall to the chute number 2 connect to the card 2 and so for so on, it will go up to the chute
number n connected to card n.

So, the material from the blow room, the small tufts which are generated there; they will
be moving along this duct and will be gradually falling into the chutes and the chutes
will get filled up with time. And these vertical chutes which are connected to the carding
machines will now feed the material to the carding machine.
(Refer Slide Time: 19:23)

Now, chute also could be of two types; one is single piece chute, without any opening
system within them and there could be double piece chute, with an opening system
inbuilt. Now double piece chutes are more common nowadays. The single piece chute is
shown in this previous diagram.

(Refer Slide Time: 19:48)

Now, what we see here, that there is a vertical chamber connected to the carding
machine. So, we see here that is vertical chamber here, and then the column of material
or tufts with variable heights is maintained within this chamber. And then there is a
delivery roller at the bottom; delivery roller will now deliver these accumulations of tufts
within this chamber which is connected to the carding machine. So, this system is very
simple, and there is no additional opening or cleaning unit, within this the material is
directly fed to the carding machines.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:53)

Now, in the double piece chute there is one column of material at the top through which
this material from the blow room line is falling into this chute, and from there as the
material accumulates they are delivered to a small beater. And the beater has got some
teeth on its surface and it will be able to open the tuft little bit and all those tufts will now
fall into the bottom chute.

So, basically there are two chutes; one at the top and one at the bottom and in between
there is a small beater and this beater is going to further open or break the tufts.

Now, as the tufts fall here, in this chute there is an air escaping route that is the tufts are
conveyed from the blow room to the chute by air. And therefore, when the air and the
tufts enter this chute the air has to escape. And therefore, in the one side of the chute
there are lots of perforations through which the air will escape and a column of material
will be accumulating on the top chute.

Similarly, as it comes to the bottom. Again the tufts are falling into this chute, and here,
with time a column of material will be built and this column of material is now
pressurized by an air. So that there little compression we create on the tufts. And now
these tufts will be now delivered by this set of rollers and it will now reach the feed roller
of the carding machines and then from the feed rollers, the tufts will be now fed to the
licker-in.

So, this is how the double piece chute is going to work and double piece chutes are more
common nowadays.

(Refer Slide Time: 23:16)

So, between these two types of feeding if you try to understand; what are the advantages
or disadvantages of the continuous feed system versus lap feed systems. The
disadvantages with lap feed systems is that the very purpose of breaking tufts in the blow
room is defeated by transforming well open tufts into compressed sheet or lap. That is in
the blow room we open the tufts, we make them smaller and smaller, but in order to form
a lap what we do that we bring all those stuffs together and transform them into a very
compressed sheet, which we call lap. So, there purpose of opening is defeated, because
of the compressions that the fibers are going to receive at the time of lap formations.

Second thing is whenever a lap runs out in a carding machine a new lap needs to be
introduced. The last portion of the running lap and the beginning of the new lap are
joined together manually which becomes a source of fault in sliver and it also generate
waste. So, because one lap gets exhausted, the new lap we have to bring, and then we
have to join these two ends. And when you do that, there will be some thickness
variations. And therefore, as the material passes through the machines this sliver that will
be produced will also show some thickness variations.

The lap needs to be transported manually from blow room to a card room. Since, these
transportation process some laps might get damaged, to store the laps we need additional
space, these are some of the disadvantages of the lap feed system. And therefore, we are
trying to get rid of this system in the modern mills.

Now, disadvantages with the continuous feed system is that the lack of flexibility. Since,
8-10 cards are fed simultaneously by the same material supplied by the blow room. And
hence, if I want to use 4 or 5 cards the rest of the cards remain idle. So, that is the
disadvantage in the continuous feed system. I have to make use of all the carding
machines which are connected to a single blow room line all the time. Otherwise some
other machines will remain idle, if the lot size is small.

Then generation of re-workable waste due to running out of the system when changing
from one stock to another, lot of re-workable waste is generated. And difficulty in
ensuring even feed, leading to medium to long term sliver mass variations. That is one of
the serious problem with the continuous feed system that the sliver that will produce will
have long time variations in mass, because the feed material is not as uniform as a lap
otherwise would be in. Hence, to make the system commercially successful the machine
manufacturers have developed auto levelers which are connected to most of the modern
carding machines.

So, the deficiency of the continuous feed system is overcome by having the auto levelers
connected to most of the modern carding machines. Now, we will discuss about the
licker-in or the taker-in region.

(Refer Slide Time: 27:45)

Now here is a diagram which shows the licker-in region. Now the purpose of the licker-
in or the taker- in their names are interchangeable, you will find that in some textbooks
they are mentioned as licker-in and some text books they are mentioned as taker-in it
means the same.

So, in the diagram we can see the licker-in here. The purpose of the licker-in or the taker-
in is to tear apart the lap into minute tufts without damaging the fibers. To lead the tufts
on dirt eliminating parts for elimination of trash particles short fibers etc. and to transfer
the fibers to cylinder surface. So, the purpose of the licker-in is mainly to tear apart. So,
that small tufts we call them tuflets are fed to the cylinder, where the maximum
separation of fibers is going to take place.

Licker-in is typically has a diameter of 10inch, it is a cylindrical, and there are large
number of wire points or pins, on its surface, it rotates at a speed in 800- 1600 rpm, and
its surface speed could be 16 meters per second or more. And that could be almost
600000 wire points that will pass through the lap fringe per second when the licker-in
rotates.

Therefore each licker-in tooth will tease out minute tufts from the lap sheet or from the
feed mat. And they are then passed over two important elements which are there at the
bottom of the licker-in, they are known as mote knife and carding mote knives and some
associated bars.

(Refer Slide Time: 30:19)

Now, what happens that the trash particles which are there in the tufts they are teased out
and the trash particles being heavy in nature are thrown away and they accumulate in the
trash boxes shown in the diagram and because of the centrifugal force these trash
particles will be thrown away. Whereas, the fibers will be passed over the grid bars
which are there then the other diagram shows licker-in under casing part, where you see
there is a mote knife and these are the grid bars. So, as the fibers or the small tufts move
over them the tufts will experience some kind of friction between the mote knifes and the
grid bar surface.

So, because of this friction the trash particles which are still there on the surface of the
tuft will be removed. And most of these trash particles will now fall due to gravity
actions below the licker-in, and these below the licker-in part is completely enclosed and
we allow the particles to fall down and accumulate.

Now, when the trash particles are falling not necessarily only the trash particles will fall,
there are some fibers which would also fall. Therefore, the licker-in waste that we
generate below the licker-in will contain both lint and trash particles shown in the
diagram, so there is a lint part and there is a trash part. And generally, you see that the
ratio between lint and trash is typically 50:50.

So, the purpose of licker-in is to basically, open the tufts further and create minute
tuflets, typical weight of those tuflets could between 1-2 milligram, there could be some
fibers which shall will be almost at a single fiber stage and all these minute tuflets, will
now move towards the cylinder and they will be picked up by the cylinder. The top
surface of the licker-in if you see the diagram, there is a plate or a cover this is to protect
the licker-in or to protect the persons who are working there and this part is always
covered.

(Refer Slide Time: 33:26)

The intensity of the opening by the licker-in is extremely important because by

increasing or decreasing the opening we will be able to extract more trash or less trash
but there is always a danger that if we increase the opening intensity, there is a chance
that many fibers may get damaged. So therefore, we have to balance or optimize the
speed so that we extract trash particles, but we have to ensure that the fibers also do not
get damaged. So, some balance has to be there.

Now the intensity can be changed by adjusting following parameters one is the lap linear
density or the thickness of the lap, second thing is degree of openness of the tufts in lap,
degree of orientation of fibers in the lap. The licker-in parameters is the wire point
density, the angle of the inclination of the licker-in teeth and the speed of the licker-in.

The third parameter important parameter is the setting. There is the distance between the
licker-in and the feed plate at the closest approach. The other thing is the speed over the
licker-in as mentioned earlier and the material throughput rate that is at what speed I am
feeding the material or how much material I am feeding per unit time.
Hence, these are the important three parameters feed material, the licker-in, and the
process parameters, through which will be able to change the intensity of the opening
actions. So, depending upon the nature of fiber whether they are short or medium or
long, how much trash is there we have to adjust the intensity of the opening. And there
are certain norms in the industry. And generally, in the industry these norms will be
followed in order to ensure that sufficient cleaning takes place without damaging the
fibers too much.

Thank you.