DESC:Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for detecting contaminants in a textile material bale laydown.
Background of Invention
Presence of contaminants in a textile material is inevitable. Contaminants create severe problems during various stages in spinning and fabric making process.
Detection and removal of contaminants are usually done during the initial stage of the spinning process, especially in Blow room. Usually, contaminant detection and clearing equipment is made available in between the successive Blow room machines preferably at the end of Blow room line. This help to detect contaminants more effectively due to better openness of the textile material. However, always possibility exists for contaminants to escape and move to downstream processes. Hence, this challenge calls for detecting contaminations at multiple stages at the Blow room to minimize overall contamination level.

Reference is made to US 5917591A. This patent document discloses a method of processing fiber including the following steps: removing fiber tufts from a series of fiber bales by a tuft removing device of a bale opener traveling along the bale series; pneumatically conveying the removed fiber tufts in a duct in a direction of conveyance; detecting foreign substances by forming images of the conveyed material by an optical sensor device as the material passes through a location of the duct downstream of the bale opener as viewed in the direction of conveyance; determining the location of each fiber bale in the bale series; determining the degree of lightness, the degree of contamination or the color of the fiber tufts by an image processing device analyzing the generated images; and associating the degree of lightness, the degree of contamination or the color of the fiber tufts with the fiber bale from which the material passing through the duct location originates.

However, there remain a need to detect and eliminate the contamination at the very beginning stage of the textile process where the raw material is laid down in bale form for further process. The advantage of detecting and removing such defects at the beginning of the textile process benefits the textile industry in terms of cost and quality.
Summary of Invention
The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

According to first aspect of present invention, there is provided a bale plucking machine with a bale plucking arm comprising a contaminant detection and removal device mounted on said bale plucking arm; wherein said contaminant detection and removal device comprises
one or more sensor modules adapted to sense the contaminants in the bales; wherein the arrangement of one or more sensor module is done in such a way that the combined focal area of all the sensor modules monitors the entire width of the textile material laydown;
one or more illumination sources operably connected with each one or more sensor modules, adapted to illuminate the bale thereby facilitating said one or more sensor modules for detection of contaminants effectively and
one or more contaminant elimination device positioned across the width of the bales, adapted to eliminate said contaminants.

Another aspect of present invention pertains to a method of processing fiber by a bale plucking machine with a bale plucking arm comprising a contaminant detection and removal device (4) mounted on said bale plucking arm, wherein said method comprises the following steps:
a. illuminating, by one or more illumination sources, a series of fiber bales;
b. detecting, by one or more sensor modules, the contaminants in the bales; wherein the arrangement of one or more sensor module is done in such a way that the combined focal area of all the one or more sensor modules monitors the entire width of the textile material laydown;
c. removing fiber tufts from a series of fiber bales by one or more contaminant elimination devices;
d. pneumatically transporting said contaminants picked by said one or more contaminant elimination device through a collection chamber into a contaminant collection box.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

Brief Description of Accompanying Drawings:
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 (as filed with the provisional specification) illustrates a bale plucking machine (1) having a bale plucking arm (2) according to present invention.
Figure 2 (as filed with the provisional specification) illustrates the contaminant detection and removal device (4) mounted on the bale plucking arm according to present invention.
Figure 3 (as filed with the provisional specification) illustrates the bale plucking machine (1) comprising of plurality of contaminant elimination device (7) according to present invention.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may not have been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.
Detailed Description of the Invention
The following description with reference to the drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

Accordingly, those of skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known structure and method are omitted for clarity.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” if used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or component but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

The present invention relates to a method for detecting contaminants in a textile material laydown wherein the detection is done during the initial stage of Blowroom process.
In any modern Blowroom line, the first machine which picks the textile material from the bale laydown is called as Bale plucking machine. The objective of this machine is to pick the cotton tufts from the textile material bale laydown pre-arranged in the Blowroom department.

A Bale plucking machine comprises of a plucking arm with plucking element which continuously picks the textile material from the bale laydown. The Bale plucking machine traverses from one end of the bale laydown to the other and the picking is continuous so that the Bale laydown is exhausted uniformly across the width and length of the textile material laydown. Some modified bale plucking versions are available wherein the bale plucking arm makes a rotary movement instead of linear movement wherein the bale laydown is made in circular fashion.

The present invention comprises of a contaminant detection and removal device installed on either one or plural sides of the bale plucking arm(s) of the bale plucking machine. Each contaminant detection and removal device comprises of one or more sensor modules. The sensor module can have one or more discrete sensors, or one or more camera or the combination of both. The arrangement of one or more sensor module is done in such a way that the combined focal area of all the sensor modules monitors the entire width of the textile material laydown. In each contamination detection and removal device, one or more illumination sources are provided which illuminates the textile material laydown thereby facilitating the sensor module for detection of contaminants effectively.

Alternately or in addition to the above, the contamination detection and removal device can operate based on principles such as sound energy.

Also, for each contaminant detection and removal device, one or more contaminant elimination devices are provided. One or more contaminant elimination device is arranged for elimination of the contaminants. These contaminant elimination device works with electrical, mechanical, electro mechanical, pneumatic or in combination of any of these methods. Each sensor module is assigned to one or more contaminant elimination device. Once contaminant and / or contaminants detected by one or more sensor modules, the respective one or more contaminant elimination device eliminates the contaminant from the bale. The eliminated contaminants are either collected within the device and / or transported to another location. Also, possibility exists to eliminate the contaminants from its position. Transferring contaminant from the contaminant elimination device to the collection bag can be done using air or electrical method.

When the configuration of the textile material bale laydown is changed, accordingly the contamination detection and elimination devices can be configured using system available in the device or from remote location.

Fig 1 shows a bale plucking machine (1) having a bale plucking arm (2) which picks the textile material from bales (3). The contaminant detection and removal device (4) is mounted on single or plural sides of the bale plucking arm (2) for detecting and eliminating contaminants from bales (3).
Fig 2 shows the contaminant detection and removal device (4) mounted on the bale plucking arm which comprises of sensor module (5) which is capable of sensing the contaminants in the bales (3). Illumination sources (6) are made available on one or more sides of the sensor module (6) which illuminates the bales (3). On one or more sides of the sensor module (6), the contamination elimination devices (7) are provided which eliminates the contaminants from the bales (3). Also, the contaminant elimination device (7) can be one or more across the width of the bales (3).
Fig 3 shows the bale plucking machine (1) comprising of plurality of contaminant elimination device (7) arranged across the width of the bales (3). Collection chamber (8) is connected to a contaminant collection box (9). A pneumatic arrangement (10) help to transport the contaminants eliminated through the ejection chamber (8) to the contaminant collection box (9).
Salient Features of the Invention
1. A bale plucking machine (1) with a bale plucking arm (2) comprising of contaminant detection and removal device (4).
2. Contaminant detection and removal device (4) comprises of sensor modules (5), illumination sources (6) and contaminant elimination device (7).
3. Contaminant elimination devices (7) are arranged in plurality across the width of the
cotton bales (3).
4. Contaminants picked by the contaminant elimination device (7) are collected through a collection chamber (8) into a contaminant collection box (9). The transport of contaminants is facilitated with the help of a pneumatic arrangement (10).
,CLAIMS:WECLAIM:
1. A bale plucking machine (1) with a bale plucking arm (2) comprising a contaminant detection and removal device (4) mounted on said bale plucking arm (2); wherein said contaminant detection and removal device (4) comprises
one or more sensor modules (5) adapted to sense the contaminants in the bales (3); wherein the arrangement of one or more sensor module is done in such a way that the combined focal area of all the sensor modules monitors the entire width of the textile material laydown;
one or more illumination sources (6) operably connected with each one or more sensor modules (5), adapted to illuminate the bale thereby facilitating said one or more sensor modules for detection of contaminants effectively and
one or more contaminant elimination device (7) positioned across the width of the bales (3), adapted to eliminate said contaminants.

2. The bale plucking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein one or more sensor modules (5) is selected from one or more discrete sensors, or one or more camera or the combination of both.

3. The bale plucking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more contaminant elimination device (7) is operated electrically, mechanically, electro mechanically, pneumatically or combination thereof.

4. The bale plucking machine as claimed in claim 1, comprising a collection chamber (8), wherein the contaminants picked by said one or more contaminant elimination device (7) are collected through the collection chamber (8) into a contaminant collection box (9).

5. The bale plucking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contaminants picked by said one or more contaminant elimination device (7) are pneumatically transported.

6. A method of processing fiber by a bale plucking machine (1) with a bale plucking arm (2) comprising a contaminant detection and removal device (4) mounted on said bale plucking arm (2), wherein said method comprises the following steps:
a. illuminating, by one or more illumination sources (6), a series of fiber bales;
b. detecting, by one or more sensor modules, the contaminants in the bales (3); wherein the arrangement of one or more sensor module is done in such a way that the combined focal area of all the one or more sensor modules monitors the entire width of the textile material laydown;
c. removing fiber tufts from a series of fiber bales by one or more contaminant elimination devices (7);
d. pneumatically transporting said contaminants picked by said one or more contaminant elimination device (7) through a collection chamber (8) into a contaminant collection box (9).