Gin process control

• US 6,112,131 A
• Filed: 02/06/1998
• Issued: 08/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uster Technologies AG (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Zellweger Uster, Inc. (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ghorashi, Hossein M., Overbay, Mark A., Williams, Gordon F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bahta, Kidest
• Application Number:
  US09/020,220
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 700/142, 700/143, 700/36, 700/84, 73/73, 73/160, 73/862.14
• US Class Current: 700/142
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/362 Material before processing, e.g. bulk cotton or wool

Abstract

A gin process control system including sensing stations for sensing the physical properties of cotton as it progresses through a gin. A moisture sensor determines, over a wide range of values, the amount of moisture in the cotton. A quality monitor determines the color of the cotton, color distribution, and the amount and type of trash or other impurities which may be entrained in the cotton. A micronaire unit determines both micronaire and cotton maturity. A fiber length tester provides information on the length distribution, breaking strength, and elongation of the cotton fibers. Cotton samples are gathered from the gin flow stream and presented to the sensing stations in a variety of manual, semi-automated, and automated fashions. In a fully automated unit, the sensing stations are connected directly to the gin. The sensing stations are also in communication with the gin process control system, which uses the data from the sensing stations to automatically control the operation of the gin. Alternately, the sensing stations are assembled into a stand-alone unit. In a semi-automatic version of the stand-alone unit, samples are manually gathered and presented to the unit in cassettes for automated subsampling and testing by the sensing stations. In this semi-automatic version, the sensing stations may be in a configuration identical to that of the fully automatic, on-line unit. In a manual version of the stand-alone unit, the samples are manually gathered and manually placed into contact with the various sensing stations. The information reported by the stand-alone units can be used to manually control the operation of the gin.

Claims

1. A system for controlling the processing of fiber through a fiber processing plant, the plant having a plurality of auxiliary treatment units and ducting for fluidized transport of a fiber flow stream to, through and around said treatment units, said system comprising:

measuring means for measuring a plurality of physical properties of fiber in said flow stream including fiber strength and for translating values representing the physical property measured to corresponding sensor data;

processing means coupled to said measuring means, said processing means processing said sensor data for selecting an optimum combination of said plurality of auxiliary treatment units to process said fiber flow stream, based at least in part on the sensor data corresponding to fiber strength; and

flow stream control means in said ducting respective to at least one of said auxiliary treatment units, operation of said flow stream control means being responsive to said processing means wherein said processing means activates said flow stream control means to divert said fiber flow stream into or from the respective auxiliary treatment unit based upon the optimum combination.

3. A system as described by claims 1 or 2 wherein said measuring means also measures fiber elongation.

4. A system as described by claim 1 or 2 wherein said measuring means also measure fiber length variation.

5. A system as described by claim 1 or 2 wherein said measuring means also measures micronaire.

2. A system for controlling the processing of fiber through a fiber processing plant, the plant having a plurality of auxiliary treatment units and ducting for fluidized transport of a fiber flow stream to, through and around said treatment units, said system comprising:

measuring means for measuring a plurality of physical properties of fiber in said flow stream including fiber length and for translating values representing the physical property measured to corresponding sensor data;

processing means coupled to said measuring means, said processing means processing said sensor data for selecting an optimum combination of said plurality of auxiliary treatment units to process said fiber flow stream, based at least in part on the sensor data corresponding to fiber length; and

flow stream control means in said ducting respective to at least one of said auxiliary treatment units, operation of said flow stream control means being responsive to said processing means wherein said processing means activates said flow stream control means to divert said fiber flow stream into or from the respective auxiliary treatment unit based upon the optimum combination.

6. A fiber quality conditioning system comprising:

a plurality of fiber processing stations, each having respective capacities to modify a physical characteristic of fiber;

a fluidized transport system for transfer of a fluidized fiber flow stream through, between and from said processing stations, said transport system including flow stream carrier ducting;

fluidized flow control means for regulating alternative fiber flow paths within said transport system;

sample gathering means secured to said carrier ducting for consolidating and concentrating a sample quantity of fiber from a fluidized flow stream of fiber within said carrier ducting, said sample gathering means also being operative to present a concentrated fiber sample to sensing means for measuring a plurality of physical characteristics of said fiber sample including a fiber strength characteristic;

signal generation means responsive to physical characteristics measured by said sensing means for generating signals proportional to values respective to corresponding physical characteristics including the fiber strength characteristic;

process control means responsive to the signals of said signal generation means for activating said flow control means to direct fiber flow through a predetermined sequence of conditioning stations for modification of the physical characteristics of fiber in said flow stream based at least in part on the fiber strength characteristic.

8. A fiber quality conditioning system as described by claim 6 or 7 wherein said sensing means also measures cotton color and moisture content.

9. A fiber quality conditioning system as described by claim 6 or 7 wherein said sensing means also measures micronaire.

10. A fiber quality conditioning system as described by claim 6 or 7 wherein said sensing means also measures cotton fiber length.

11. A fiber quality conditioning system as described by claim 6 or 7 wherein said sensing means also measure trash content.

12. A fiber quality conditioning system as described by claim 6 or 7 wherein said sensing means also measure micronaire.

7. A fiber quality conditioning system comprising:

a plurality of fiber processing stations, each having respective capacities to modify a physical characteristic of fiber;

a fluidized transport system for transfer of a fluidized fiber flow stream through, between and from said processing stations, said transport system including flow stream carrier ducting;

fluidized flow control means for regulating alternative fiber flow paths within said transport system;

sample gathering means secured to said carrier ducting for consolidating and concentrating a sample quantity of fiber from a fluidized flow stream of fiber within said carrier ducting, said sample gathering means also being operative to present a concentrated fiber sample to sensing means for measuring a plurality of physical characteristics of said fiber sample including a fiber length characteristic;

signal generation means responsive to physical characteristics measured by said sensing means for generating signals proportional to values respective to corresponding physical characteristics including the fiber length characteristic;

process control means responsive to the signals of said signal generation means for activating said flow control means to direct cotton flow through a predetermined sequence of conditioning stations for modification of the physical characteristics of fiber in said flow stream based at least in part on the fiber length characteristic.

13. A fiber processing system having a fluidized transport system for transfer of a fiber/entrained air flow through said processing system, the improvement comprising:

means for extracting a test sample of fiber from a fiber entrained air flow within said transport system;

means for depositing said test sample of fiber in a test chamber; and

,

means for determining the micronaire value of said sample.

14. In combination with a seed cotton drying facility, the improvement comprising:

first means to extract a first test sample flow from a cotton supply stream into said drying facility,

second means to extract a second test sample flow from a cotton discharge stream from said drying facility,

third means for measuring the average fiber length in said first sample flow;

fourth means for measuring the average fiber length in said second sample flow; and

,

fifth means for measuring the average fiber length differential between measurements of the third and fourth means.

15. In combination with a cotton gin having a fluidized transport system for delivery of an air entrained seed cotton flow stream to said gin and an air entrained lint cotton flow stream from said gin, the improvement comprising:

first means to extract a first test sample flow stream from said seed cotton flow stream;

second means to extract a second test sample flow stream from said lint cotton flow stream;

third means for measuring the fiber length in said first sample flow stream;

fourth means for measuring the fiber length in said second sample flow stream; and

,

fifth means for measuring the fiber length differential between measurements of said third and fourth means.

16. In combination with a cotton gin having a fluidized transport system for delivery of an air entrained seed cotton flow stream to said gin and an air entrained lint cotton flow stream from said gin, the improvement comprising:

first means to extract a first test sample flow stream from said seed cotton flow stream;

second means to extract a second test sample flow stream from said lint cotton flow stream;

third means for measuring the fiber strength in said first sample flow stream;

fourth means for measuring the fiber strength in said second sample flow stream; and

,

fifth means for measuring the fiber strength differential between measurements of said third and fourth means.

17. In combination with a cotton gin having a fluidized transport system for delivery of an air entrained seed cotton flow stream to said gin and an air entrained lint cotton flow stream from said gin, the improvement comprising:

first means to extract a first test sample flow stream from said seed cotton flow stream;

second means to extract a second test sample flow stream from said lint cotton flow stream;

third means for measuring the fiber micronaire in said first sample flow stream;

fourth means for measuring the fiber micronaire in said second sample flow stream; and

,

fifth means for measuring the fiber micronaire differential between measurements of said third and fourth means.

18. A system for controlling the processing of fiber through a fiber processing plant, the plant having a plurality of auxiliary treatment units and ducting for fluidized transport of a fiber flow stream to, through and around said treatment units, said system comprising:

measuring means for measuring a plurality of physical properties of fiber in said flow stream including fiber micronaire and for translating values representing the physical property measured to corresponding sensor data;

processing means coupled to said measuring means, said processing means processing said sensor data for selecting an optimum combination of said plurality of auxiliary treatment units to process said fiber flow stream based at least in part on the sensor data corresponding to fiber micronaire; and

flow stream control means in said ducting respective to at least one of said auxiliary treatment units, operation of said flow stream control means being responsive to said processing means wherein said processing means activates said flow stream control means to divert said fiber flow stream into or from the respective auxiliary treatment unit based upon the optimum combination.

19. A fiber quality conditioning system comprising:

a plurality of fiber processing stations, each having respective capacities to modify a physical characteristic of fiber;

a fluidized transport system for transfer of a fluidized fiber flow stream through, between and from said processing stations, said transport system including flow stream carrier ducting;

fluidized flow control means for regulating alternative fiber flow paths within said transport system;

sample gathering means secured to said carrier ducting for consolidating and concentrating a sample quantity of fiber from a fluidized flow stream of fiber within said carrier ducting, said sample gathering means also being operative to present a concentrated fiber sample to sensing means for measuring a plurality of physical characteristics of said fiber sample including a fiber micronaire characteristic;

signal generation means responsive to physical characteristics measured by said sensing means for generating signals proportional to values respective to corresponding physical characteristics including the fiber micronaire characteristic;

process control means responsive to the signals of said signal generation means for activating said flow control means to direct fiber flow through a predetermined sequence of conditioning stations for modification of the physical characteristics of fiber in said flow stream based at least in part on the fiber micronaire characteristic.