DESC:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to method and devices for transporting in textile industry and, more particularly, the present invention is directed to a method for transporting the textile material storage cans by a transporting device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Spinning preparation process contains various processes like Carding, Combing, Drawing etc. Each process has different process machinery like Cards, Combers, Draw frames etc. The output form of the textile material of these departments is called Sliver. Sliver is a continuous strand of textile material which gets collected in storage cans. Each of the above departments consists of storage cans which are of various dimensions. Once the can is filled with a pre-defined length of sliver, the can is taken out from the machine either automatically by the respective machine or manually. Later on, the filled can need to be transported to the subsequent department for further process. Also, once the sliver is emptied in the subsequent process, the empty can need to be taken back to the previous process. At present, the transportation of these textile material storage cans is done manually. This manual operation needs more work force and takes time. Also, manual movement causes material damages and quality deterioration due to handling.

Cans in spinning preparation process of a spinning mill is done usually by manual methods. In case of an automatic can transporting device used for this process, it involves some methods and technologies to be implemented for achieving the required solution.

Reference is made to US7894939B2. This patent document relates to a method for using a robotic device with attached cart to retrieve/deliver a good, comprising the steps of: accepting a final destination for the robotic device from an external source; using an onboard map to determine a plurality of x,y coordinates to which the device will travel; translating said x,y coordinates to velocity values for wheels on said device in order to move said device towards said final destination; sensing with at least one onboard sensor to search for obstacles and to constantly determine the position of the device; and updating the x,y coordinates and wheel velocities based on data gathered in said sensing step.

CN106741043A explains about auto-transport system for Spinning mill wherein the system works based on Automatic Guided Vehicles comprising of a bottom plate, a pushing handle and an AGV control box. The invention thoroughly implements unmanned automation on the existing sliver can manual conveying mode of a spinning mill, greatly reduces labor intensity of staff, namely reduces the complaint risk of occupational diseases, improves working efficiency, and reduces labor cost and personnel management difficulty. In this invention, the method of transporting the sliver can is not explained clearly.

US5647098A explains about a system for transporting sliver between a sliver-producing textile machine and a sliver-consuming textile machine includes a coiler can containing the sliver; a carriage for transporting the coiler can; and a can-handling arrangement for moving the coiler can onto and off the carriage. The can-handling arrangement has a can-pusher for tilting the coiler can standing externally of the carriage on an emplacement and a device for reaching underneath the can bottom. In this invention, the drawback is the need for a carriage and also the can handling arrangement handles the can only to and from the carriages. Laying of carriages in this invention is costly, time consuming and need periodic maintenance.

WO2020/260369A1 explains about a transport device for a spinning preparation machine, preferably for a draw frame, carder or combing machine, for moving a spinning can, the transport device having at least one driver element, which can be moved along a predefined path by means of a drive of the transport device. According to the invention, the driver element is designed to come into contact with the spinning can and to move the spinning can in a predefined transport direction by means of a frictional connection. This invention describes broadly about how the transporting device moves the spinning but the method of moving the can was not explained in detail.

However, there remain a need for a solution to avoid this manual transportation of cans from one department to another. The present method is used for achieving the automatic can transportation in spinning preparation process of a spinning mill.

SUMMARY OF THE 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.

The main object of present invention is to address and remove all the above limitations.

Another object of present invention is to provide a method for achieving the automatic can transportation in spinning preparation process of a spinning mill.

One aspect of the present invention relates to a method for transporting the textile material storage cans by a transporting device.

In one implementation, the method involves a transporting device to transport the filled cans from delivery of one process stage to the feed of subsequent process stage. Also the empty cans from the feed of one process stage to be taken to the delivery of the previous process stage. Each process stage may have can positioning stations which can be a single station or alternately it can be in plural to keep the filled and empty cans. Also, in some process stages there can be plurality of such stations to keep filled feed cans, empty feed cans, filled delivery cans and empty deliver cans.

As an example of one process stage called drawing, there may be filled feed cans to be received from previous process stage called combing, empty feed cans which also need to be sent back, filled delivery cans which need to be sent to next process stage called speed frame and empty delivery cans to be sent back. Such kind of one or more can positioning stations are available in each process stage or machine. The can positioning station shall be a dedicated station marked separately near to the machine or it shall be positioned in the machine itself in its working position.

Thus, each machine may have plurality of can positioning stations and in such a way multiple can positioning stations are available in the spinning preparation process. The can transporting device receives signal for requirement of either filled cans or empty cans. As an example, the combing process may need an empty can so as to initiate its sliver filling process. The signal of such “requirement” can be initiated either from a measurement device of the textile machine or from a common commanding point called can requester. Once the requirement signal is received by the can transporting device, the device moves to the required machine where the empty can is available and takes the same to the combing process machine for which the can requirement is initiated. The path and movement of the can transporting device may be achieved using technologies such as Wireless, Bluetooth, RFID, SLAM, Optical / Magnetic tracking methods etc. Alternately, the movement from one point to the other point may be pre-programmed, saved in a storage device and auto taught to the can transporting device.

In another implementation, each can may have one or more identifying modules which are assigned with various information regarding the material in can like sliver length, can weight, quality parameters etc. This information may be collected in a central data collection unit which shall be a computer with software to represent the status of each can and its transportation details by the transporting device.

In a further implementation, the availability and non-availability of the filled or empty cans in each process may be identified based on the information received from individual machines or alternately optical methods can be used to identify the presence of filled or empty cans in its respective stations. In case of non-availability of any cans, an alarm may be triggered either in the can transporting device or in a common point so that the requirement shall be fulfilled.

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 THE 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 illustrates a transporting device (1) which navigates for transportation of cans. Especially the transporting device (1) navigates in the following routes (i) From full delivery station (2) taking the filled delivery can (3) to the full feed station (4) of the next process and (ii) from empty feed station (5) taking the empty feed can (6) to the empty delivery station (7) of the previous process according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates an optical device (12) which detects the presence or absence of empty or filled cans in the can stations according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 3 illustrates cans (3, 6) which carry one or more identifying modules (14) which have the capability to carry the information about the material in the can like length, weight, quality parameters etc., and transmit the information to a central data collection unit (15)

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 PRESENT INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding, but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

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 present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to “a component surface” includes a reference to one or more of such surfaces.

All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments belong. Further, the meaning of terms or words used in the specification and the claims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense but should be construed in accordance with the spirit of the disclosure to most properly describe the present disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of various embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof. Also, Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

The present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the various embodiments set forth herein, rather, these various embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the present disclosure. Furthermore, a detailed description of other parts will not be provided not to make the present disclosure unclear. Like reference numerals in the drawings refer to like elements throughout.

The present invention relates to a method for transporting the textile material storage cans by a transporting device.

In one implementation, the method involves a transporting device to transport the filled cans from delivery of one process stage to the feed of subsequent process stage. Also the empty cans from the feed of one process stage to be taken to the delivery of the previous process stage. Each process stage may have can positioning stations which can be a single station or alternately it can be in plural to keep the filled and empty cans. Also, in some process stages there can be plurality of such stations to keep filled feed cans, empty feed cans, filled delivery cans and empty deliver cans.

As an example of one process stage called drawing, there may be filled feed cans to be received from previous process stage called combing, empty feed cans which also need to be sent back, filled delivery cans which need to be sent to next process stage called speed frame and empty delivery cans to be sent back. Such kind of one or more can positioning stations are available in each process stage or machine. The can positioning station shall be a dedicated station marked separately near to the machine or it shall be positioned in the machine itself in its working position.

Thus, each machine may have plurality of can positioning stations and in such a way multiple can positioning stations are available in the spinning preparation process. The can transporting device receives signal for requirement of either filled cans or empty cans. As an example, the combing process may need an empty can so as to initiate its sliver filling process. The signal of such “requirement” can be initiated either from a measurement device of the textile machine or from a common commanding point called can requester. Once the requirement signal is received by the can transporting device, the device moves to the required machine where the empty can is available and takes the same to the combing process machine for which the can requirement is initiated. The path and movement of the can transporting device may be achieved using technologies such as Wireless, Bluetooth, RFID, SLAM, Optical / Magnetic tracking methods etc. Alternately, the movement from one point to the other point may be pre-programmed, saved in a storage device and auto taught to the can transporting device.

In another implementation, each can may have one or more identifying modules which are assigned with various information regarding the material in can like sliver length, can weight, quality parameters etc. This information may be collected in a central data collection unit which shall be a computer with software to represent the status of each can and its transportation details by the transporting device.

In a further implementation, the availability and non-availability of the filled or empty cans in each process may be identified based on the information received from individual machines or alternately optical methods can be used to identify the presence of filled or empty cans in its respective stations. In case of non-availability of any cans, an alarm may be triggered either in the can transporting device or in a common point so that the requirement shall be fulfilled.

Fig 1 shows a transporting device (1) which navigates for transportation of cans. Especially the transporting device (1) navigates in the following routes
- From full delivery station (2) taking the filled delivery can (3) to the full feed station (4) of the next process.
- From empty feed station (5) taking the empty feed can (6) to the empty delivery station (7) of the previous process.

One or more can requesters (8) request for an empty feed can (6) from the next process or filled delivery can (3) from the previous process for a textile machine (9). Alternately, some of the can requesters (8) may handle only full delivery cans (3) and others may handle only empty feed cans (6). Measurement device (10) of the textile machine (9) communicates the requirement of filled or empty can to the transporting device (1) through wireless technology.

Fig 2 shows an optical device (12) which detects the presence or absence of empty or filled cans in the can stations.

Fig 3 represent cans (3, 6) which carry one or more identifying modules (14) which have the capability to carry the information about the material in the can like length, weight, quality parameters etc., and transmit the information to a central data collection unit (15). This information is used by the can requester (8) and transporting device (1) for the movement of cans.
,CLAIMS:1. A method for transporting the textile material storage cans (3, 6) from one process stage to subsequent process stage by a transporting device (1); comprising:
a. receiving a can requesting signal from a measurement device (10) of a textile machine (9) involved in one process stage or a common commanding point called can requester (8);
b. moving towards a can positioning station (2,5) to retrieve full/ empty cans;
c. obtaining said full/ empty can from said can positioning station;
d. moving towards said textile machine (9) involved in said one process stage.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said can positioning station is adjacent to each process stage.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each process stage comprises more than one can positioning stations to position empty and full cans separately.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said more than one can positioning stations are adapted to position filled feed cans, empty feed cans, filled delivery cans and empty deliver cans separately.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said can positioning stations are positioned in the vicinity of the machine of said process stage.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said moving towards a can positioning station to retrieve full/ empty cans and said moving towards said textile machine involved in said one process stage is achieved by Wireless, Bluetooth, RFID, SLAM, Optical / Magnetic tracking methods.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said moving towards a can positioning station to retrieve full/ empty cans and said moving towards said textile machine involved in said one process stage is pre-programmed, saved in a storage device and auto taught to the can transporting device.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprises collecting information regarding the material in can like sliver length, can weight, quality parameters, transportation details from one or more identifying modules (14) attached to said storage cans and storing said collected information in a central data collection unit (15).

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprises identifying availability of empty/ full storage cans in corresponding can positioning station by the information received from individual machines or alternately optical devices (12) and triggering an alarm in case of unavailability of the storage can in its respective positioning station.