Concept Note for the Proposal

“A Feasibility Study of Miniature Carding Machine development

and Manufacturer Identification”

1. Background and Need

The problem of Wool carding came from NGO Khamir from Bhuj, Gujrat during RuTAG IIT Delhi
regional workshop in June 2019. Solution to carding of wool locally by artisans is the immediate need
because Khamir at present avails the service of carding in a mill situated at Bikaner which is totally
unfavourable as:
1. It increases the cost for the whole process like transportation and processing.
2. The quality of outcome as carded wool is not to the expectation of the artisans.
3. It stands in contrast to the philosophy of local processing, production and employment.
In market old 2nd hand machines are also available, but those machines are not suitable as they are
expensive and occupy large spaces, also are complicated to operate and maintain. On the other hand,
the commercial carding machine fabricators do not show much interest in designing a small scale and
simplified machine for carding.

2. Preliminary Investigations and Problem Formulation

To understand the problem a questionnaire was prepared and shared with Khamir. Information
collected through discussions, interviews, and questionnaire:

1. Around 150 people in Bhuj are involved in wool spinning with Khamir. Most of them are
women of age between 50 to 55 years are involved in wool processing like carding, spinning
etc.
2. The wool that needs to be carded is Patanwadi wool whose quality test report is available.
3. Khamir receives around 1800 Kg of raw wool per year from shepherds.
4. Cost of current carding process is Rs. 200/ Kg.
5. The capacity of available drum carding machine is maximum 300 grams per day.
Limitations of current wool carding process are:
a. It is time consuming.
b. The wool is not properly cleaned in the process.
So, an affordable miniature wool carding machine is required to benefit the artisans as source of
income generation and getting the desired outcome of the carded wool.

The derived specification and requirement from the answers to questionnaire are:
 1. The Carding machine should be able to card approximately 2 Kg per hour (10 Kg in 5 to 6
hours of work in a day).
2. The machine should be motor powered machine. Hybrid (both hand and motor operated) will
be ideal.
3. Expected cost of the machine should be approximately Rs. 30000.
4. Machine should be portable.
5. Life expectancy of the machine should be around 3 Years without maintenance and 5 years
with maintenance.
6. Machine should be operable by women of around 50-55 years.

3. Action Plan and Deliverables

The objectives of this project are:
1. To understand what desired output of carded wool is required.
2. To identify and define the values of quality parameters of desired carded wool.
3. To perform feasibility study of miniature carding machine for Patanwadi wool that can card 2
kg wool per hour.
a. To generate feasible concepts that meets specification and requirement.
b. Select a feasible concept to the defined problem.
4. To identify a manufacturer who can support in R&D and fabrication of carding machine.

4. Duration: --

5. Estimated Budget: --

6. Principal Investigators
a. Prof. Subir Kumar Saha, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi
b. Prof. Rabisankar Chattopadhyay, Professor, Department of Textile Engineering, IIT
Delhi

7. Field Agency
Khamir, Lakhond-Kukma crossroads, Post village Kukma, Taluka Bhuj, Kachchh, Gujrat 370105