Yarn Manufacture I: Principle of Carding & Drawing

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

Lecture – 04
Analysis of Opening & Cleaning Action by Flats

We will discuss Analysis of Flat Action today.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:20)

The carding force gives us some indication about the opening action, the force is
required to open the fibre tufts. The question that comes to the mind is how long the
opening continues? Indirect evidence of the opening is by the carding force trace curve.
So, in the diagram the carding force trace curve is shown. Now, what we see here is that
the force continues to decline as we go from the very first flat to the last flat in the
carding zone. Roughly there are 45 to 48 flats in the carding zone.

So, here is the 45th flat and here is the 1st flat. So, the carding force was measured from
flat location 1 to the last flat location and the force trace curve is shown in the diagram.
What we will see here is that there is a decline till 16th or 18th flat location and thereafter
the force remains more or less constant. So, if we divide the entire force trace curve into
two zones then we find that the first zone is the opening zone, where the opening process
continues till the tufts get open. And, the next zone which starts from 16th or 18th flat
location to the last flat is the cleaning zone. Here the cleaning process continues.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:22)

How the cleaning process takes place? Now, beyond 16th flat locations, the flats are
completely filled with fibres, they are fully loaded with fibres. And therefore, they are
not in a position to really open out the tufts if at all they are left. So, these completely
filled flats now acts as an absorbing medium and they keep on absorbing the dust and
trash particles being thrown by the cylinder during their entire journey over the carding
area.

So, we can say that the first 16th or 18th flats, they actually participated in opening the
fibre tufts and the next set of flats are basically absorbing the dust trash particles or neps
being thrown away by the cylinder. So, the flats in a way doing both the jobs, they are
opening the tufts, fibre clusters as well as they are absorbing the dust particle trash and
thereby cleaning also. Now, what we find in the flat strip that there will some long fibres
in them.

These long fibres are actually pushed into the flats at the very initial stage of opening,
when the tufts are approaching the carding zone that time all long and short fibres
everything is pushed into the flats; there is no discrimination in terms of selecting the
fibres. So, initially whatever is pushed into the flats some of those remains there. And
therefore, quite a few long fibres are pushed into the flats and they remain there.

However, during the latter part of the journey of the same flat it no more absorb any long
fibres, but it keeps on absorbing the short fibres trash particles and neps as already been
told. Hence, we find that by the time the flats move out of the carding zone, if we
analyze the flat strip we will find that though the majority of the fibres are short in nature
there are some fibres which are long also. And, these long fibres were pushed into them
when the same flat was occupying the first flat location in the carding area.

If we increase the cylinder speed there will be more centrifugal force which will be
acting on the trash particles on the dust particles and all other impurities which are there.
And therefore, one can expect that the cleaning to improve as we increase the cylinder
speed. However, too high cylinder speed may lead to short fibre generations because
there is every chance of fibre breakage as well. Hence, very high cylinder speed needs to
be avoided.

(Refer Slide Time: 05:57)

So, whatever speed we have to keep that will depend upon the type of fibre and the
strength of the fibre that we are going to process.

Accumulation of flat stream:

This has been studied the way the flat strip accumulates in a given flat is shown in this
diagram. What we see here on the x-axis we have time and the y-axis there is flat strip
depositions which is in gram. So, what we see here for the first flat location the flat strip
deposition increases with time and it gradually levels off. It is also being shown for the
30th flat locations.
So, the rate of deposition in the last flat is slow and then it is also levels off. And, this
study was done on a machine where the flats are not really moving, but they were
actually stationary and still it gives us a lot of information about the way the flats get
loaded with fibres as a function of time. If we look at this graph and plot log (s) with log
of time log (t) then we get a straight line as shown in the lower diagram. And, the
empirical equation that we can fit is that;

log s = α + β log t;

so,

where s = weight of flat strip,

α and β are the constant and t = time.

(Refer Slide Time: 07:45)

This diagram gives us information about the type of fibres and trash deposition in a given
flat. Here is a plot where on the x-axis we have a running time log t and on the y-axis we
have weight of flat strips and we also have a log value of the weight. Now, here the
diagram is clearly showing to us that as a function of time, trash keeps on increasing,
short fibres shown by the red line also keeps on increasing, the long fibres also increases
and the sum of all these three total flat strip also increases with time.
These slopes are different, the slope for the trash particles is very high then the rate of
deposition of trash is much faster in comparison to the short fibres shown by the red line
its slope is less in comparison to the trash. And, the slope for the long fibre is still less
and therefore, we can say the deposition rate of long fibres will be less in comparison to
short fibres or trash particles. This is how the deposition takes place. Rate of trash
deposition is constant that is weight of trash is proportional to the running time and flats
irrespective of the weight of deposited fibre and trash continues to absorb trash particles.

(Refer Slide Time: 09:32)

This is what has been shown by some researchers. Now, there is also interesting point
that in which direction the flats should move in a carding machine. The flats as we all
know they move very slowly with respect to the cylinder, it practically appears to be
constant. Now, the question that comes to our mind is in which direction the flat should
move. From the carding point of view what we need is relative motion between the
cylinder and the flat and the relative motion could be there if the flats move slowly in the
forward directions or if it remains stationary or if it moves in the backward directions.

In all the cases, there will be relative motions and hence carding is actually possible.
However, the machines that have been developed, there are two ways in which the flats
can move and we will study these two; one is they can move in the forward directions
which is there in the most of the carding machines or they can also move in the backward
directions. Now, the forward movement of flat what are the advantages?
(Refer Slide Time: 10:50)

If the flats move in forward directions, the cylinder will assist in moving the flats by
providing part of the drive through the carding force that is one of the advantages we get.
And the removal of flat strip becomes easier due to downward inclination of the flat wire
points at the front of the card. So, when the loaded flat is loaded with short fibres, trash
particles and other fibres they reach the front end of the machine. Now, we are supposed
to clean them so that the clean flats can be fed back to the carding machine again for
carding actions because all the flats are actually connected together in the form of a
chain.

And, hence the direction of inclinations of the wire point of the flats at the front of the
machines and if we use a brush or some other combing device to remove the fibres from
the flats then the inclination of the wire points will help in easy removal of the flat strip.
And therefore, forward motion in a way is advantageous. The disadvantages points are
larger size trash particles liberated through carding action and absorbed into the first few
flats are crushed into the smaller pieces as these flats remain in the carding zone for a
long period of time.

These crushed particles re-enter the carded stock and thus affect cleaning. What happens
is that some of the bigger trash particles which get pushed up into the flats right at the
beginning of the carding zone. The some of the big particles may get crushed as the flats
move throughout the carding zone. And therefore, these smaller pieces of the trash
particles will remain and they can re-enter the fibres and as the size becomes smaller and
smaller removal of these finer trash particles becomes more and more difficult. So, that
is the disadvantage because the bigger size trash particles spend lot of time in the carding
zone because they have to move for the first flat location to the last flat location it could
be 46 or 48 flat.

(Refer Slide Time: 13:41)

In comparison to this let us see the backward movement of the flat. What would happen
if we make the flat to move in the backward directions? From the carding point of view
there will not be any problem carding action will still be there. Now, this time the cleaner
flats will be introduced from the doffer side. So, from the front of the machine the flats
will be introduced and they will move backward. Though the flats fibre absorbing
capacity reduces by the time they reach the beginning of the carding zone, sufficient still
remains to eliminate the dirt.

That is, when the flat reaches from the back end to the front end to the back end of the
machine where the carding zone starts the flats that is already loaded with fibres. And
therefore, their opening capability one might expect to be much less because, these flats
are already loaded with some fibres. They had to travel from front part of the machine to
the back part of the machines. During this journey they absorbed lot of fibres. So, by the
time they are all approaching the entry point of the carding zone they are already full
with fibres. And therefore, one can expect the carding action to be less efficient in
nature, but still the some carding is still possible.

The larger size impurities are not transported through the whole of the carding zone, but
removed immediately, that is the biggest advantage that we get. That the bigger trash
particles which are coming from the licker-in side and they are encountering the very
first flat in the carding zone, these trash particles once they are get lost into the flat they
will be moving out from the carding zone in this case. And therefore, these bigger sized
particles will not have the opportunity to move throughout the carding zone.

And therefore, possibilities of getting crushed will be less. These are the advantages of
the backward movement. This diagram on the right hand side shows the dirt take-up
versus the flat location. We see that first few flats will take up more dirt and as we go
along the flat location that is towards the front end of the machine the dirt take up will be
less and less. So, this is all about the way the flats are actually working.

So, what we can say or we can conclude is that carding action is possible when we have
both flats and cylinders along with their wire points inclined in the right directions. The
flats open or teased out the fibre tufts at the same time they also act as a absorbing
medium for the dust particles and short fibres and neps and any other trash particles
which could be there. So, they are playing a dual role, they are opening out the tufts and
they are separating out the fibres at the same time they are also acting as an absorbing
medium.

And hence, even though we can see that we could finish the opening action by having 16
or 18 flats still we keep 48 to 50 flats in the carding zone. Because, the rest of the 30 flats
that we keep it on the carding zone are supposed to act as an absorbing medium. And
therefore, participate in only cleaning part of the fibre stock. The next point that we are
going to discuss is analysis of forces acting on the fibre on the cylinder.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:34)

Analysis of forces acting on the fibre on the cylinder

There are so many fibres on the cylinder. Let us look at an isolated fibre held by the
cylinder wire point. So, in the diagram we see there is cylinder surface, there is one
cylinder wire point or one pin whatever you say, the black line indicates a single fibre
and the cylinder surface is moving forward. What we can see here is that these fibres as
it moves forward because it is attached to the cylinder wire point the forces which are
acting on it first is the force T, which is the centrifugal force acting because the cylinder
is rotating.

The other force which will be acting on it is the force P that is the air drag acting parallel
to the clothing base. So, T is one force and P is another force, β in this case is the
inclination angle of the wire point with respect to the cylinder surface. We can resolve T
into two components: q and h,

where, q = T Sin β and

h = T Cos β

Similarly, P also can be resolved into two components: Q and H

where, Q = P Cos β and

H = P Sin β
Therefore, what we can see here that forces h and H is acting perpendicular to the wire
point whereas the force F and Q is trying to push the fibres towards the base of the wire
point. The force q is trying to take away the fibre from the wire points. So, these are the
various forces which are acting on the wire point and the perpendicular forces give rise
to frictional resistance.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:51)

So, the frictional force which is acting on the fibre is F and

F=μ(H+h)

So, N is equal to the normal force and N = H + h; it means is the coefficient of friction
between the metallic wire point on the fibre. The equilibrium equation is given by
equation number 1.

N = H + h = P Sinβ + T Cosβ ….…… (1)

and q = Q + F;

q = T Sinβ

Q = P Cosβ and

F = μ N = μ (P Sinβ + T Cosβ)
T Sinβ = P Cosβ + μN = P Cosβ + μ (P Sinβ + T Cosβ) ………. (2)

The fibre can move towards the tip of the wire point. If,

T Sinβ > P Cosβ + μ (P Sinβ + T Cosβ)

In this condition, the fibre will move towards the tip and eventually it may move out of
the wire point. This inequality equation if we simplify it can be written as:

T (Sinβ – Cosβ) > P (Cosβ + μ Sinβ)

And from there if we go to the next page, we can write T by P this ratio has to be greater
than this function of the angle of the wire point with respect to the base and the value μ
coefficient of friction.

………….. (3)

(Refer Slide Time: 23:09)

Therefore, fibre will try to move away from the wire point if T by P is greater than this
value in equation 3. The fibre movement along the wire point tip resulting shedding
depends upon the angle β and angle μ, we can take a typical case. Suppose μ is 0.23, the
conditions of shedding for various values of β are stated:

In this case, T/P > 0.93 for β = 60˚

T/P > 0.75 for β = 66˚ and

T/P > 0.66 for β = 70˚

For three different values of the base angle we are showing that what should be the T by
P value. So that if it overcomes the value stated here then the fibre will move towards the
tip and finally, it can shed off. If we keep a fixed value of β and change the friction for
three different frictions the corresponding data of T by P is given. So, as we increase the
friction from 0.2 to 0.26 the conditions of shedding will be a T by P has to be more than
0.8. Therefore, the condition of the fibre shedding becomes favorable at larger value of β
and at smaller value of μ.

T/P > 0.71 for μ = 0.2

T/P > 0.75 for μ = 0.23 and

T/P > 0.8 for μ = 0.26

And hence, we can see that in order to ensure that carding action continues and the fibres
instead of going away from the wire point they should move towards the base. So, that
they are retained by the wire points of the cylinder and hence participate in teasing
actions. So, they are subjected to teasing by the wire points of cylinder and doffer. So,
therefore, the angle of the wire points has to be always less than 90˚.

(Refer Slide Time: 25:41)

These equations we can further move forward, the centrifugal force we can write,

…………… (4)

Where, G is the weight of the fibre, g is the acceleration due to gravity, Vc is the surface
speed of cylinder and R is the radius. So therefore, this is what T would be and weight of
the fibre we can write is the volume of the fibre multiplied by the density.

d is the fiber diameter, l is the fiber length and ϒ is the fiber density. So therefore, you
can write T is basically this just substitution on the value of G in equation 4.

…………… (5)

(Refer Slide Time: 26:27)

From there now we can find out what is the value of P, the air drag force of the fibre, the
air drag force can be stated by this formula.

……………….. (6)
Where, C is the drag coefficient, ρ is the density of air, A is a largest projected cross-
sectional area of the fibre in the direction of the airflow, Vrel is a relative velocity of the
air flow. So, Vrel = Vc - Vabs, where Vabs is the absolute velocity of the air at the plane of
the fibre.

(Refer Slide Time: 27:10)

See if you write these two values in the previous equations, we get T/P as stated in
equation 8.

…………………. (8)

Now, from here if we study this equation carefully then we can make certain
conclusions. There is a chance of fibres being thrown away from the wire point increases
as T/P increase and when it will increase, if we increase the cylinder speed because
cylinder speed comes in the numerator, it increase the fibre diameter. That is if I go for
heavier denier fibres or if I go for higher density fibres then chances of fibres being
thrown away will be more or if I reduce the cylinder radius or relative air velocity.

So, this is how the various parameters are acting and residing the possibilities of a fibre
being thrown away from the cylinder or not. We can now say that short fibres situated
close to the cylinder surface are more likely to be shed since Vrel is small in this zone. So,
any short fibre very close to the cylinder surface is most likely to be thrown away or they
likely to be shed since Vrel velocity is less for them. A long fibre situated in a zone
remote from the cylinder surface is less likely to be thrown off since Vrel velocity is high
here. The layer of fibre very adjacent to the base of the wire point is moving almost at
the speed of the cylinder surface. The air layer which is nearer to the tip of the wire point
will be moving little lesser speed and that is why these differences are expected.

(Refer Slide Time: 29:41)

From there now we take up another aspect of the carding machines that is the cylinder
doffer region of the carding machines. Once the flats and the zone between the flat and
the doffer that is this zone needs to be protected so that the fibres are not thrown away
from the machine or they should not escape the machines. So, this zone is surrounded by
three plates in the old version of the carding machines. We call them top plate, middle
plate and bottom plate. Top plate or the upper plate is known as percentage plate, since it
is setting with respect to the cylinder surface decides the amount of flat strip waste. So,
how much flat strip will be generated to some extent it can be regulated by the setting of
the top plate with respect to the cylinder surface.

The purpose of the middle plate is that it can be opened anytime to assess the sharpness
of the wire point and whether we need any grinding or not. So, this is more for inspection
purpose. So, the middle plate is therefore, mounted on a bracket with cast iron hinges
and is acts like a door. So that anytime we can open it and if we want to inspect the
condition of the wire points on the cylinder we can inspect it. And, when you need to
grind the wire points in order to increase their sharpness then also here is a zone which is
accessible to the grinder and we can make the wire points very sharp whenever we need
it.

The bottom plate is simply acts as a cover to the cylinder, it has no other purpose. So,
what we see that is the cylinder actually is surrounded from all side by flats, back and
front plate, doffer, licker-in, under casing which is here is not shown here the under
casing could be here and therefore, the air exiting between the cylinder and the
surrounding parts moves along with the rotation of the cylinder. We have already
discussed this earlier, as a cylinder rotates the layer of air which is adjacent to the
cylinder also rotates along with it. This rotation of the air current has its own role to play
we will see that.

(Refer Slide Time: 32:50)

On the front top plate and its influence on flat strip as we have stated earlier that the
setting between the front top plate and the cylinder affects the amount of flat strip. The
question comes what are the reasons for this? There are two theories to explain this
phenomenon one based on pneumatic actions or air current, the other one is based on the
mechanical actions.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:24)

We will look at them. Now, here we will first study the air flow mechanism. Here in the
diagram we see that the front top plate is shown along with the flats. The flats are linked
together in the form of a chain, but there are always some gap between the flats and
through these gaps the air can always enter or they can also escape. The front plate is
positioned in such a way that there is a increasing gap between the cylinder and the plate
from top to the bottom, that is the gap here between the plate and the cylinder is little less
than the gap which is there at the other edge of the front plate. So, the top front plate, this
is the forward edge, this is the backward edge, the gap here little less, the gap here little
more. Now, what is the effect of this? According to Bernoulli’s theorem,

is always constant, considering the effect of gravity to be negligible. Here P

is the air pressure, ρ is the density of air and V is the velocity of air. Since the volume of
air flow remains constant, velocity of the air at the edge A is here will increase causing
pressure drop at the edge A. So, the volume of the air content remains constant. Here the
gap is low, there the gap is more. Here the velocity will increase as a result the pressure
drop will be there. Because, the pressure drops what will happen, air will try to enter. It
will try to enter from the top part of this front plate edge, from this side it will also try to
enter in between the gaps of their flats.
(Refer Slide Time: 35:48)

And what happens because of this a closer setting will increase the velocity and hence
reduce the pressure more at this point enhancing the velocity of incoming air from the
surroundings. This will cause lot of fibres bridged between the flats to be pushed
downwards and caught by the cylinder wire points and will be carried forward. That is if
I go back that since, there is a drop of pressure here air will enter from this side and
whatever fibres are bridging between the flats; see the spaces between the flats will be
connected by some fibres. We call them bridge fibres.

Now, all these bridge fibres will be pushed downwards because of the incoming air
current. As soon as they push downwards they will be caught by the wire points of the
cylinder and therefore, they will be physically entrapped by the cylinder wire points and
hence they will move forward along with the cylinder. So therefore, pressure drop here
will cause air to gush in, the bridge fibres will move downwards because of the pressure
of the air or the velocity of the air they will be caught by the wire points of the cylinder
and cylinder you will take these fibres. And, hence the proportion of fibres in the flats
will go down. Therefore, flat strip will reduce in quantity that is how the air flow
mechanism is going to work.
(Refer Slide Time: 37:50)

Now, we will discuss the mechanical action. Here is a diagram where this is the cylinder
moving in these directions and these are the wire points. On the top we have the flats
along with the wire points. At the exit end of the carding zones some fibres, especially
longer ones approach the top edge of the front plate, here is this is the front plate. So,
some long fibres will approach at the exit and the front plate with both the ends caught
by the flat and the cylinder wire point. Like there is a fibre where this end is caught by
the flat wire points and this end is caught by the cylinder wire points. And, the middle of
the fibre is now caught by the edge of the front plate.

Now, and this is the situation which will happen to many long fibres. As the cylinder will
move forward tension will develop in this fibre, when a tension develops now what will
happen to the fibre? Who will take away the fibre? It all depends which wire point
exercises more grip on the fibre, whether the grip of the cylinder wire points of the fibre
is more than the grip of the flat wire points. It all depends upon this and the gripping
power in a way depends upon the inclination angle the fibre makes with respect to the
wire points.

That is this depends upon this angle α shown here or the angle β shown in this diagram.
When the plate is set close to the cylinder surface, the angle α reduces in comparison to
what is obtained at the wider setting. So, two cases are shown here: in one case the
dotted line shows the situation when the front plate is away from the cylinder surface and
the firm line show situation when the front plate is closer to the cylinder surface. And, if
we look at the diagram carefully then you will see that ‘a’ angle that the fibre makes with
respect to the wire point is angle α and angle β. Then we will see that when the setting is
closer αN < αW, where αN is the angle in the normal situations and αW is the angle when
the setting is wide.

(Refer Slide Time: 40:46)

So, α is the angle that the wire point makes with the cylinder and β is the angle the fibre
makes with the flat. So, in the case of close setting this is the situation αN < αW and βN <
βW. Therefore, P Cosα will be increasing and P Cosβ will be decreasing. P indicates the
tension on the fibre. Hence, with closer setting, the grip of the cylinder on the fibre
becomes firmer and that of the flat becomes weaker. So, I must write that P is the tension
on fibre and P has been resolved in the P Cosα.

Similarly, there P has been resolved with the P Cosβ. So, the closure setting P Cosα, if
you look at the value of α it is less than β and when P Cosα will be more and P Cosβ will
be less and less and therefore, the grip of the cylinder wire points on the fibre will be
more in comprising to the grip of the flat wire points. So, what will happen? The fibres
will mostly go along with the cylinder and therefore, flat strip will reduce with the
closure front plate setting. So, this theory is based on the mechanical actions. There is no
role that the air current is going to play here and the previous theory is based on solely
on the air current that is generated by the cylinder.
(Refer Slide Time: 43:00)

The next discussion topic is the cylinder doffer region. As I said earlier that this zone in
the case of traditional card, we have three plates placed one after the other. In the case of
modern card there is an additional thing over here and what are these. The middle plate is
replaced by a suction hood and post carding segments to suck out the dust laden air
within the card generated by the vigorous carding actions.

So, in the modern card the production rate has increased. So, rate of generation of dust
has also increased. So, we have to exploit each and every opportunity in terms of sucking
out the dust laden air. At the same time because the productivity is more we have to find
out opportunities to open out the tufts or the cluster of fibres whatever possible. So, in
this zone when the plates are there, there is no opening action. So, in a high production
cards or modern cards since opening by the flats may not be sufficient.

So, part of this zone starting from flat to doffer is used to do two things: one we have
placed there post carding segments where we have some wire points. And therefore,
some kind of carding action is taking place between the post carding segments and the
cylinder wire points. So that in case any tufts are accidentally left unopened by the flats
and cylinder actions due to heavy production rate, there is a last opportunity for those
tufts to get opened out before they land on to the doffer.

And since, we generate lot of dust especially in the case of cotton so therefore, that has
suction slots also. So, that the dust laden air that is generated because of the vigorous or
intensive carding action between the cylinder and the flat, some of those dust particles
can be sucked out by having suction here. This is the suction point. So, this is the
purpose that the zone from flat to doffer is used to suck out the dust particle as well as to
open out the fibre tufts.

(Refer Slide Time: 46:22)

Now, we go to the under casing of the cylinder that is the zone which is left now. Now,
here is a diagram showing the under casing, in the traditional card there are two sheets, a
sheet from here to there, another sheet from here to there. Under casing was divided in
two parts; one parts towards the doffer, the other parts is 1 and 2. 1 is towards the licker-
in, 2 is was the doffer. This was there in the traditional cards and the purpose of this
under casing was to give support to the fibres so that they do not fall easily from the
cylinder surface and accumulate below the cylinder.

At the same time the openings were there through those openings some trash particle will
fall down. And, hence slotted sheets are used or grid bars are used so that you have
openings which will allow some heavy trash particles to fall down. At the same time it
will also give support to the fibres which are still held by the cylinders and have a
possibility to be thrown out due to the centrifugal force. That is the how this was, but it
was found that the slots or grids which were there they will result in powerful vortices if
we increase the cylinder speed.
And therefore, like here we used to get vortex, here used to get vortex. So, these are
recurrent here you to get disturbed because of these slots which are there. Because you
have some portions which are open, some portions which are solid and where the air is
passing over it, somehow they used to create vortex. And, this vortex will disturb the
arrangement of fibres on the cylinder, at the same time they may not allow all the trash
particles to fall down. This was seen when slotted you know under casings where used.
But with traditional card this used to work fine, with modern card high production cards
difficultly was there and therefore, a little difference were made.

(Refer Slide Time: 49:17)

The modern card we have slotted sheet was replaced by a closed sheet with suction hood
to avoid creation of small air vortices and this will eliminate the possibility of fibre loss
due to high centrifugal force. So, you will see that now there is no slot which is there is a
sheet, but only what we have is suction slot. Here, here, here these are all suction slot,
through this suction slot we will be able to suck out the dust laden air. However, the fibre
loss will not be there, that is the advantage of the under casing that we have with modern
cards and that is the end of today’s lecture.

Thank you.