Chapter Four

Draw frame
Introduction
 Draw frames are used after carding in yarn manufacturing process.
 It has greater influence on quality, especially in yarn evenness.
 In case of combed yarn manufacturing, draw frames are used before as well
as after combing.
 Breaker draw frame (before combing):
 During this process 6-8 slivers produced by carding machine are
doubled and parallelized to produce one sliver.
 Finisher draw frame (after combing):
 It is used to give further strength and stability to the sliver.
 High performance draw frames currently produce over 400 kg of sliver at each
delivery. 2
 Some Terminologies in Draw Frame

 Drawing: is the term applied to the operation involving the doubling and roller
drafting of slivers.
 Doubling: is the combination of several slivers that are attenuated by a draft equal
in number to the slivers combined, and resulting in one sliver of a similar count.
 The purpose of doubling is reduction of sliver irregularity and improve blending
or mixing.
 Roller drafting: is the process of attenuating the count of a material using a
combination of pairs of rollers.

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 The task/ objectives of the draw frame

 The draw frame has the following objectives to attain:

 Improvement in material evenness/ Equalizing
 Parallelizing fibers
 Blending
 Dust removal

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Cont…

 Improving material Evenness (Equalizing)

 Draw frame primarily improves medium term and especially long term sliver
evenness through doubling and drafting.
 The number of doublings lie in the range 6 to 8
 Drawing is done in two stages; at breaker and at finisher draw frames
 Therefore, two passages of drawing with eight ends (sometimes six) each time
would produce a single sliver.
This helps in reducing variations and increases the evenness of the sliver.

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Cont…

 Parallelization

 To achieve an optimal value for the strength of yarn, fibres must be arranged
parallel to each other and along the axis of yarn.
Draw frame fulfils this task by way of the drafting rollers.
 Since, every drafting step leads to straightening of the fibers.
 The amount of draft to be applied immediately after the card cannot be very high.
 Because,
 The fibre entanglement is very high and
 The strand is thick.
 If possible, not above 8, thereafter can increase from machine to machine.
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Cont…  Mixing /Blending

 Drawing is the final stage of quality improvement in a spinning plant before yarn is
spun.
This is by providing the degree of compensation of raw material variation by
mixing/blending
This result is exploited in particular, in the production of blended yarns comprising
cotton/synthetic or synthetic/synthetic blends.
 At the draw frame, metering of the individual components can be carried out.
 As an example, to obtain a 67:33 blend, four slivers of one component and two
of the other are fed to the draw frame.
However, these slivers must have the same linear density.
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Cont…
 Dust removal

 Dust is steadily becoming a greater problem both in

processing and for the personnel.
 Dust removal can only be carried out to a significant
degree when there are high level of fiber/fiber or
fiber/metal friction.
 Therefore draw frame is a good dust removing
machine.
 On high performance draw frames equipped with a
appropriate suction system, more than 80% of the
incoming dust is extracted.
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Operating principle of Draw Frame

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Cont…

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Cont…

 Four to eight card or draw frame slivers are fed

to the drafting arrangement (3).
 A feed roller pair (2) is located above each
2 2 3
can (1) 4
5
 Used to feed the sliver to the drafting
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arrangement without inserting false drafts.
 Drafting arrangement (3) drafts the carded or 1 1 7
combed sliver.
 The slivers running into the drafting arrangement
leave it, after a draft of 4 to 8, as a web requiring
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significant cohesion.
 Cont…

 This sliver is then guided through a tube (4) via

passage(6) of the tube into a can (7), in which it
must be laid in clean coils with optimum
utilization of the space in the can.
 To enable the can to take up as much material as
2 2 3
4
possible, the sliver is compressed by passing it
5
through calendaring rollers (or discs) or grooved
6
discs(5).
1 1 7

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 Operating devices of Draw Frame
I. Creel (sliver feed)

 Used to feed the material to the drafting section without

inserting false draft.
 By using driven roller or roller pair provided above
each can, one for each sliver.
 Short creels for cans up to 600 mm diameter or long creels for
larger cans up to 1000 mm diameter
 The creel must be designed:
 To avoid false drafts.
 To stop the machine upon a sliver breakage/exhaust 13
Cont…

 The stoppage is achieved by infeed roller pairs which serve as electrical contact
rollers for monitoring the sliver.
 If the sliver breaks, the metal rollers come into contact because;
 The insulating sliver is no longer present between them and the machine is
stopped.
 The slivers should lie closely adjacent, but not on top of one another, as they run
into the drafting arrangement.

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II. The Drafting Arrangement

 Drafting is the process of attenuating or increasing the

length per unit mass of slivers.
 The drafting arrangement should be:
 Simple, uncomplicated construction
 Stable design for smooth running at high speeds
 Flexible to handle different types of fibres
 Able to control fibres properly to produce a uniform sliver
 Easy to operate and adjust the settings
 Easy to maintain and clean

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 Elements of the drafting arrangements in
short-staple spinning are:
Bottom rollers
Top rollers and
Fiber guiding devices.

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 Cont…

 Bottom rollers:

 Bottom rollers are made of steel.

 They are positively driven.
 They are fluted to improve their ability to carry
Fig: Bottom Roller
the fibers along.
 Flutes may be:
 Axial/ plain flutes (a)
 Spiral (inclined) flutes (b)
 Knurled flutes (c)

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Cont…

 Knurled flutes are used on rollers receiving aprons to improve

transfer of drive to the aprons.
 In draw frames, spiral fluting is used mostly because:
i. It offers more even clamping of the fibers and lower noise
levels in running
ii. Its draft defects are minimized in the subsequent
processes.
iii. Top rollers can roll on them more evenly with less jerking
and therefore, spiral fluted rollers are preferred for high
speed operation.
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Cont…

 The diameter of the bottom rollers in draw frames lies in

the range 20 - 90 mm but,
 Normally diameters between 25 and 50 mm are used.
 The drafting arrangement may include 3–6 bottom rollers.
 Distances between rollers of the drafting arrangement are
adjustable and are adapted to fiber lengths.

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 Top rollers:

 Top rollers can be one-piece( draw frame) or twin rollers (roving

and ring frames).
 They run in friction with bottom rollers
 Diameter of top rollers lies in the range 25 - 40mm.
 Top rollers are coated with synthetic rubber.
 Hardness of this coating is specified in terms of degree
shore.
 They are characterized as follows:
 Soft: 65°-75° shore
 Medium: 75°-80° shore
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 Hard: Above 80° shore
 Soft coats surround the fiber strand to a greater extent than
harder ones and thus guide the fiber better, but wear out
more quickly.
 A soft coating is therefore used where good guidance is
necessary, i.e. where few fibers have to be moved with high
draft levels (e.g. at the front rollers of the ring spinning
machines).
 Otherwise, harder coatings are used.
 Ball bearings are used most exclusively in top roller
mountings.

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 The top roller synthetic rubber is periodically ground (called buffing);
 In order to maintain the roundness and smoothness as the coatings wear out
during spinning.
 The grinding operation has a roughening effect on roller surface which leads to
formation of laps when processing sensitive fibers.
 For better smoothness after buffing, roller coatings can be treated with:
i. Applying a chemical film such as lacquer or another smoothing medium
ii. Acid treatment
iii. Irradiation by UV-light

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 To clamp the fibers, top rollers must be forced at high pressure towards the
bottom rollers.
 This pressure can be applied by:
Dead weights ( now obsolete)
By Spring weighting (more common)
Pneumatic (Rieter) – mostly used in modern draw frames.
 Magnetic weighting (Saco Lowell)
 Hydraulic systems (hardly used)
 Nowadays only spring weighting and pneumatic weighting are used.

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 Fiber guidance in the drafting zone

o Aprons:
 Used to guide and transport fibers during drafting.
 They are made of leather or synthetic rubber.
 They are usually about 1mm thick
 They extend as closely as possible to the nip line of the
front rollers
 The guiding length, referred to as the cradle length,
must be adapted to the staple length.

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o Pin Control:
 Is used only in the case of processing long fibers.
 Helps to minimize fiber entanglement and nep
formation, particularly with fine fibers.
 If pins penetrate through an already tensioned sliver,
the pressure between the fibers will be increased
and so a better friction obtained.

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 The amount of inter-fibre and fibre-metal pressure
depends on:
Pin length,
Thickness,
Population density and depth of penetration
Fibre density of the sliver processed

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o Pressure bar:
 Pressure bar “A” deflects the sliver as it
approaches the front roller nip and,
 Applies lateral pressure which helps to
control the floating fibers by:
 Preventing them running fast until
nipped by front pair of rollers.

o Staggered roller arrangement:

 In many modern draw frames of short staple spinning, fibre
control is achieved by staggered roller arrangements usually
coupled with a pressure bar. 27
 Types of drafting arrangement used on draw frames

 Types of drafting arrangements used in draw frame:

3-over-4 roller drafting arrangements
3-over-3 roller drafting arrangements with pressure bars
4-over-3 roller drafting arrangements with pressure bars
5-over-4 roller drafting arrangements
 Drafting is carried out almost always in two drafting zones, seldom in three.
 Break drafts ranges between 1.05 and 2.5, but usually between 1.15 and 1.70
 Total drafts are between 3.5 and 12, but the normal total draft is between 4 and 8.
 In many modern draw frames the draft is no longer adjusted by exchanging gear
wheel but; by simple setting of variable speed or stepping drives or by individual
motors. 28
 3-over-4 roller drafting arrangements

 The characteristic feature of this arrangement is

engagement of the middle pressure roller with two bottom
rollers.
 The two bottom rollers are mounted in a common cradle
and are not adjustable relative to each other.
 The basic concept can be improved by the insertion of a
pressure bar in the main drafting zone.
Fig: 3-over-4 Roller Drafting
 This type of arrangement is used mainly in the combing Arrangements
room, but also still to a small extent on draw frames.

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3-over 3 roller drafting arrangements with pressure bars

 The most widely used form of drafting arrangement for draw

frames.
 This design is used because of the realization that the
drafting arrangement runs more smoothly, the larger its
rollers.
 For a given circumferential speed, larger rollers can be
operated at lower revolutions. Fig: 3-over-3 roller drafting
arrangements
 However, enlarging the rollers simultaneously increases the
nip spacings.
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 Accordingly, in the main drafting zone, a special guide
system is needed, at least for short fibers;
This is the guide rail or pressure bar [P]
 It can operate from below or from above.

Fig: 3-over-3 roller drafting

arrangements

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4-over-3 roller drafting arrangements with pressure bars

 This is also a 3-roller pressure bar drafting arrangement, but

a fourth roller [G] with somewhat lower loading is added to the
delivery roller to act as a guide.
 This leads the web in a curve around the grooved roller
directly into the delivery trumpet, and facilitating the formation
of the sliver.
 The top rollers are uniform in diameter and are large in order
to keep the strain imposed on them low.
Fig: 4-over-3 roller
drafting arrangements

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 5-over-4 roller drafting arrangements

 In this arrangement five pneumatically loaded pressure

rollers rest on two large (90 mm) and two small (28 mm)
bottom rollers.
 The pressure rollers have diameters of 39 mm.
 Drafting is carried out in zone B (break draft) and zone A
(main draft).
 The nip spacing can be adjusted by radial shifting of rollers
2 and 4. Fig: 5-over-4 roller

 In the main drafting zone, a pressure bar ensures firm drafting arrangements

guidance, specially for short fibers.

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 Factors that affect the amount of draft

 Factors dependent upon the fiber material:

Mass of fiber in the strand cross section;
Degree of order of the fibers (parallel disposition);
Shape of the cross section of the fiber strand;
Compactness of the fiber strand;
Adhesion between the fibers :
Fiber length;
Evenness distribution of fiber lengths (staple form);

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 Factors dependent upon the drafting arrangement:
Diameter of the rollers;
Hardness of the top rollers;
 Pressure exerted by the top rollers;
Surface characteristics of the top rollers;
 Fluting of the bottom rollers;
Type and form of fiber guiding devices, such as pressure,Rods,
pin bars, aprons, condenser etc.;
Clamping distances (roller settings);
Level of draft;
Distribution of draft between the various drafting zones.
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 Draft and Attenuation

 A carded sliver contains 20,000-40,000 fibers in its cross-section.

 In a yarn, the number of fibers in the x- section is approximately 100.
 Therefore, while converting a sliver to a yarn, fibers must be distributed over
a greater length.
As a result, the cross section is gradually reduced.
 This gradual reduction of the cross section is called “attenuation” and
happens:
Because of extending fiber strand to a longer length by slippage of fibers
over one another.
 Drafting is increasing length per unit weight.
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 Draw Frame Draft Calculation

 Draft =
Break draft = =
𝑉1 𝑉2 𝑉3
Main draft = =
 Total draft = mechanical draft = main draft *break draft
=

 Surface speeds of the given roller = 𝝅 *diameters of the given roller*Rpm of

the given roller
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 Actual Draft = [Direct system]
 Actual Draft = [Indirect system]
 Attenuation = Draft*
 Actual draft = Mechanical Draft*
 Where,
 W : is the percentage waste.

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III. Delivery and Coiling of Sliver

 Material coming out of the drawing frame does not have

much cohesion.
 The drafted material is immediately converged through a
tube (1) and guided to the trumpet (2).

t
pe
um
 The sliver is immediately condensed by calendar rollers

Tr
following the trumpet.
 It is necessary in order to fill up the can with more
material.

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  Sliver coiling:

 Two rotary movements are required for cycloidal

coiling of the sliver.
 One rotatable plate(R) must be rotated above
the can.
 To lay sliver in form of a cycloidal coil.
 While, the can plate (C) itself must rotate at
slower rate than plate(R)
 Which helps in proper deposition of drawn
sliver in the spiral arrangement.

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 Can changers

In modern high-performance draw frames, full cans are changed automatically with
empty cans.
These reduce the burden on personnel, enable more machines to be allocated to
one person and increase efficiency.
 Can changers are classified into:
 Single-step changers
 It give higher machine efficiency, because full cans are replaced by empty ones at
full speed, i.e. without stopping the machine.
 Multiple-step changers
 It give lower machine efficiency, because the machine is stopped during can
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changing.
 Monitoring and Autolevelling

 Monitoring systems can be classified as:

1) The Machine monitoring:
Used to ensure that the machines are stopped immediately, if a sliver
breaks
2) Production monitoring :
Respond primarily to interruptions in operation of the machine.
They also calculate the efficiency of the machine and the quantity
produced.
3) Quality monitors :
Are three different types: displays, self-compensation and autolevelling.
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 Draw Frame Autoleveller
 Autoleveller:

 Is used for controlling and correcting the linear density

variations in the delivered sliver by:
Changing either the main draft or break draft of the
drafting system, according to the feed variation.
 There are three types of Autolevelling systems.
 Open loop Autolevelling system
 Closed loop Autolevelling system
 Combined loop (combination of open and closed loop
autoleveler)

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 o Open loop autolevellers:

 Sensing is done at the feeding end and the

correction is done by changing either a break draft
or main draft of the drafting system
 It is used for the correction of fairly short term
variations.

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  Advantages
It is easier to design than closed-loop Autolevellers
It reduces short-term irregularities (variations)

 Disadvantages

 It’s lacks of self-monitoring, (no check on delivered material by control unit)

 Cannot compensate long-term variations
 It requires very exact values of the adjustment at all times

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 o Closed loop autolevellers:

 Sensing is done at the delivery side and the

correction is done by changing either a break draft or
main draft of the drafting system.
 It is designed to correct medium-and long-term
variations.

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 Advantages

Simpler than open-loop control in operation.

 No store is required.
 Self-monitoring, i.e. measurement always takes place on the material after the
point, where corrective action is applied.
Control unit continuously checks the results of its action.
 Disadvantages
It is more complicated to design.
Unwanted oscillation in the out put.
Dead-time inherent in the system.
The measured portion as long passed the adjusting point when the adjusting signal
arrive.
Short-term errors remain in the product.
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Thank
you 48