Compact Spinning

Prof.Dr.S.Kathirrvelu
Professor-Textile Technology,
EiTEX, BDU

Presentation Plan

1.
2.
3.
4.

Background
Principles
Different Methods
Comparison

 When

the

Open

End

(OE)

process

was

commercialised, the future of conventional ring

spinning system was questioned.
However, it is now accepted that ring spinning will

continue to remain important because of its

versatility.
In view of the long-term prospects of this versatile

spinning system, manufacturers/researchers have

further

developed

and

incorporated

innovation on conventional ring spinning system.

 One

of

the

developments

examples
is

'Compact

of

such

Spinning

System'.
With the installation of compacting
system,

the

yarn

quality

is

improved, mainly because of the less

hairiness and incorporation of more
fibres in the yarn body.

 The demand from the modern machines is to

run at higher speed, produce better quality

product, which should be suitable for further
processing and give benefit in the downstream
processing.
Importance

also

is

given

to

reduce

personnel/labour required,
Thus the innovations on the machines are

incorporated keeping these factors in mind.

 Compact spinning is such a system

where the yarn can be produced
with higher speed, and better
quality and which gives benefit in
the

downstream.

Consequently,

fabric made from the compact

yarn gives better look.

 In conventional ring spinning system,

the width or spread of the fibres
emerging out from the front roller is
greater than width or diameter of the
yarn.
Since the twist is not fully penetrated
into the front roller nip, there is
always

'Delta

Zone'

called

"Spinning Triangle" (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Spinning triangles (a) Short (b) Long and

(c) Side View

 If the twists are imparted, the fibres at the edges are

either loosely bound or lost as a fly and produce
hairy yarn(1).
The main purpose of the Compact Spinning is to
eliminate

spinning

triangle

at

front

roller,

technically speaking the 'weakest point' of the ring

spinning (Figure 2).

The elimination of the spinning triangle results in

permanent

change

of

yarn

structure,

which

distinguishes the compact spinning from conventional

ring

spinning.

Figure 2 : Spinning triangles in ring and compact

spinning.

Figure 3 : Conventional (a) and compact (b)

ring spun yarns

Methods of compacting fibre

strand

In compact spinning the mass of fibres is

condensed before twist is imparted.
This condensation happens in so called
'Condensing Zone' following the main
drafting zone(1).
Different

machine

manufactures

are

using different methods to condense the

fibres emerging out from the front roller.

These methods are:

1. Aerodynamically

compacting

system: a) Suction by drum and b)

Suction through perforated apron.
2. Mechanical compact system.
3. Magnetic compacting system.

Aerodynamically compacting
system

In this methods the condensation of the fibres strand

take place with help of perforated drum or apron.
The

examples

of

aerodynamically

compacting

system are Com4Spinof Rieter, EliteCompact

Spinning by Suessen, CompACT3 by Zinser,
Com4wool

by

Cognetex,

Olfil

system

by

Marzoli, Toyota's compact spinning, etc. All these

methods will be discussed in detail in the subsequent
section

Com4Spin of Rieter

Com4Spincompact spinning system of

Rieter produces a yarn what they call
COM4yarn.
Com stands for 'comfort 'as claimed by
the manufacturer that the wear comfort
is

increased

whereas

'4'

stands

for

distinct advantages of yarn(1), namely,

1. Lower hairiness
2. Highest strength elongation
3. Unequaled wearing comfort
4. Minimal environmental impact
(favourable ecological balance)

 The

ComforSpintechnology

aerodynamic

allows

parallelisation

and

condensation of the fibres after the main

draft.

Com4Spincompact

process,

as

comparison to conventional spinning system,

is shown in Figure 3. A 3-over-3 drafting
system

with

double

apron

is

followed

immediately by the fibre compacting zone3.

The

compact

zone

elements (Figure 4):

consists

of

following

Figure 4 : Cross section drafting unit in Rieter

Compact Spinning

Figure 5 : Profile of top roller and

perforated drum

 The delivery cylinder of the drafting system

has been replaced by a perforated drum (1).
The directly driven perforated drum is wearfree surface and is also free of fibre drag.
Each drum has an exchangeable stationary
suction insert, with a specially shaped slot,
which is connected to the machine's suction
system(2)and

generates

airflow

outside into the interior of the drum.

from

 The fibres supplied by the main draft of the

drafting system are held firmly to the surface of the

perforated drum by the air current and move at the
circumferential speed of the perforated drum. The
fibre web is compacted in the fibre compacting
zone.
The air current generated by the vacuum in the

perforated

drum

enables

the

fibres

to

be

compacted efficiently following the main draft. This

compacting process is supported by a specially
designed and patented air guide element(6).

 The special feature of "Air Guide element" is to enhance the

compacting efficiency in the compacting zone . A second top
roller located after the compacting zone, the so-called nip roll (5),
clamps the spinning triangle. As a result of the compacting
process, width 'b' (Figure 3) of the fibre bundle entering the twist
insertion zone is considerably smaller than width 'B' of the fibre
bundle emerging from the drafting mechanism, so that the size
of the spinning triangle is substantially reduced.
Subsequent twist insertion is similar to that in the ring spinning
process. Optimum interaction of the compacting elements
ensures complete compacting of all fibres. This results in the
typical properties of yarn as called by Rieter "COM4 yarn".

Suessen Elite Compact Spinning System:

In the Elite system of suessen, the condensing zone following the front
drafting roller and it consists of profile tube with suction slot which
is placed at certain angle to the flow of fibers, perforated
lattice apron and delivery top roller.
The lattice apron is driven by delivery top roller and which is driven by
gear drive from front top roller of drafting system. The suction under
the tube creates the air currents through slot and lattice apron which
are responsible for condensing and perfect parallelization of fiber
strand.
The suction air pressure, size of slot, speed of apron, number of holds in
the

lattice

apron

has

influence

on

condensing

action.

The SUESSEN EliTe System

The Suessen EliTe system comprises of a normal 3/3 roller

drafting system (Figure 7), with a pair of aprons on the

middle rollers (2). The condensation zone consists of a
Profile tube (9), a lattice apron (3), and the top delivery
roller (6). The top delivery roller drives the lattice apron.
The air permeable lattice slides over the suction tube (9)
having an inclined slot in the region (7-8). The profile tube
is

stationary.

The

drafted

roving

comes

into

the

condensation zone, where with the help of the inclined

slot and the apron they are condensed up to the point 6
8.

Figure 7 Drafting arrangements in SUESSEN

EliTe System

Figure 8 : Profile tube having inclined slots

Advantages of Elite Compact Yarn

1) Higher work capacity by 30% (max).
2) Higher yarn strength by 20% (max).
3) Better elongation by 20%.
4) Lower hairiness by 85% (max) Zweigle S3.
5) Better yarn evenness.
6) Lower imperfection value (IPI).

CompACT3 System of Zinser:

The compACT3 system of zinser works on
aerodynamic

compacting

principle.

The

condensing zone following the conventional

3/3 roller, double apron drafting system and
it consists of perforated apron with special
vacuum element for correct air current and
drivefor

the

perforated

apron.

 The special vacuum element generates the air current

underneath the apron. The special arrangement of circular
and elliptical perforations on apron insures the better
compacting effect.
The fiber properties largely influencing the condensing
process e.g. stiff fibers behaves in different manner than a
flexible ones.
The fiber tension in compacting zone has influence on yarn
quality. Therefore for cotton compact spinning process, 0-4%
overfeeding

is

required

as

per

raw

material.

Advantages of CompACT3yarn
1) The UT4 hairiness for carded cotton CompACT 3yarn is 20% lower as
compared to conventional ring spinning. The S3 hairiness value
according to Zweigle reduced by 93% (max).
2) Yarn irregularities (Zellweger Uster) show improvements of 6%
(max).
3) 25% (max) lower IPI values (Zellweger Uster).
4)

20%

higher

tenacity

values

compared

to

the

values

of

conventionally spun yarns.

5) Productivity increase at the spinning machine is 10% (max) through
increasing the spinning speed and/or reducing the yarn twist.
6) Extension of the spinning limit by 15% (max).

 The drafting system (Figure 9) consists of the normal 3/3-roller system,

with aprons on the middle rollers for better fibre control, and thus
allowing processing of a larger variety of raw materials.
The condensing zone starts from 4 till 4-4a. The top roller 4 is covered by
the endless apron with a set of holes in the middle. This apron runs over a
profile tube having a suction slot in the region H1-H2.
The fibre bundle is condensed under suction on the perforated surface of
the apron in the zone H1-H2. In between the zone H1-H2 and 4-4a, the
fibre bundle is not under any suction effect, and thereby loses some of its
condensed form and orientation.
Therefore at the nip line 4-4a, the spinning triangle is not reduced to the
minimum as in the case of EliTe, thereby negatively influencing the
quality of the spun yarn. This effect is observed more prominently while
handling shorter staple fibres.

RoCoS-magnetic Compacting
System:

RoCoS stands for 'RotorCraft compact spinning'

system which was developed by Hans Stahlecker
of Rotorcraft Maschinenfabrik Switzerland and is
available on ring frames of Lakshmi Machine
Works (LMW).
The RoCoS works without use of air suction.

Magnetic mechanical compacting principle is

used

in

RoCoS

system.

 The RoCoS device consists of front bottom roller which supports

the front top roller and delivery roller , in between these two
rollers the ceramic compactor is placed.
The supra magnets are equipped with ceramic compactor, which
is pressed against front bottom drafting roller by supra magnet
Without clearance.
It forms together with the bottom roller an overall enclosed
compression chamber whose bottom contour, the generated
surface of front bottom roller, moves synchronously with the
strand of fibers and transport this safely through the compactor.

 This technology from Lakshmi Machine Works is based on the RoCoS

principle of magnetic compacting. The need of any perforated drums,

endless aprons, suction tubes, etc are removed by this system.
The RoCoS device (Figure 10) consists of a cylinder (1), front roller

(2), delivery roller (3), the precision ground and with supra-magnets
equipped ceramic compactors (4), the supporting bridge (5), the yarn
guides (6), and the top roller holders with the weighting springs (8).
The bottom roller has very precise flutes and radius exactly

corresponding to the compactor radius. The bottom roller (1) supports

the front roller (2) and the delivery roller (3). The precise magnetic
compactor (4) is pressed against the cylinder. A and B are the two
nips between which the compacting takes place.

 The magnetic compactor (4) as shown inFigure 11is

pressed against the cylinder without any clearance against
cylinder (1), thereby forming with the bottom roller an
enclosed compression chamber where the bottom contour,
i.e. the generated surface of the cylinder (1) moves
synchronously with the strand of fibres and transports these
fibres safely through the compactor.
Therefore in the chamber formed, the compacting of the
fibre bundle takes place, due to magnetic forces. The
condensation of the fibres takes place to such a degree so
that the formation of the spinning triangle is prevented
while twisting of the fibres takes place

Mechanical Compact System

Mechanical Compacting Spinning (MCS) is given by Officine Gaudino for long
staple(16). This compact system makes the compact yarn without the use of
air. The compacting of the fibre strand is carried out with smooth bottom
front roller and an angled top roller.
Officine Gaudino offers long staple spinning machine (Model FP 03) with
mechanical compacting system. This compacting system does not require the
additional suction system The MCS consists of an additional smooth bottom
front roller and an angled top roller. These rollers run at a slightly slower
speed than the front drafting rollers and this 'negative draft', coupled with
offset top roller, creates false twist which compacts the drafting strand as it
comes out from the compacting zone. This system can be incorporated into
the new machines and is claimed to be easily added or taken off the spinning
frame.

Precautions for compact spinning system

So these methods can be used to make compact yarn. But to
work successfully with compact spinning system certain
precautions have to be taken. These precautions are:
1. Extremely

low

degree

of

hairiness

results

in

under

lubrication of rings. So it is recommended that rings of

higher strength and wear resistance should be used(9).
2. The overhead cleaner must be equipped with special blower
nozzle so that the fibres in compact zone are not disturbed
with the blower air
3. Compact

spinning

frames

must

be

separated

conventional spinning frames with some partition.

from

Thank you very much!