AN IMPROVED DISTRIBUTING DEVICE OF A FIBRE PROCESSING MACHINE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to a distributing device of fibre processing machine, and more specifically, to a mixing apparatus of a fibre processing machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Generally in known art of fibre processing, textile fibres are conveyed pneumatically. The textile fibres are entrained by means of air through a conduit, which transports the textile fibres between various fibre processing machines. The fibre processing line is composed of plurality of simultaneously operating, serially and/or parallelly connected fibre processing machines such as bale openers, cleaners, mixers, card feeders and carding machines which are interconnected by fibre tuft conveying conduits.

Apart from the object of conveniently opening & cleaning of fibre processing machines, another object is to have a consistent yarn quality that mainly depends on the mixers efficiency & performance. Consistent quality means that the natural differences as regards origin, degree of maturity, colour, structure and length of fibres must be evened out as far as possible by intensive mixing.

Fibre mixing devices in a fibre processing line is already known which comprise of mixing chambers and cleaning elements such as inclined spiked lattice, beaters and opening rollers. The mixing chamber consists of plurality of chutes formed by intermediate walls vertically positioned, which can be filled successively by means of a common conduit disposed above them. The upper end of each intermediate wall is provided with a separating vane, arranged in a respective height, higher than the one before, to project upwards so as to narrow the area of the air stream to maintain the speed of the air stream. The fibre flocks level in the chute is ensured by means of a monitoring device and to discharge the air blown into the chutes from the delivery means, a side wall of each chute may be made from a perforate sheet.

The fibres are withdrawn at their bottom ends and delivered to a common conveyor. The superposed fibre material from each chute is conveyed over a common conveyor provided underneath the chutes. Due to the different length movement paths of the fibre flocks there occurs a beneficial admixing and homogenisation of the fibre flock blend or mixture.

The common conveyor forwards this superposed fibre material to the cleaning elements of the machine via inclined spiked lattice, stripper roller and take off roller where the fibre material is opened into smaller size and cleaned further. With the action of these cleaning elements the fibre material becomes smaller flocks and these can be passed to the next fibre processing machine through the conduit by means of air.

In the fibre mixing process, the number of chambers in the mixing machines plays a vital role for better and intensive mixing. A homogenous mixing can be obtained in a simple way by increasing the number of mixing chambers. In fibre processing machines, as the fibre material transportation is carried out by means of air, the effective filling of mixing chambers with the fibre material depends upon the velocity of air and of course the distance / position of the mixing chamber from the delivering conduit means.

When there is an increase in number of chambers, the transportation of fibre material with a particular velocity of air, would be problem in reaching the last few chambers. Even though there is an increase in velocity of air, variation in filing of fibres in the chutes is inevitably more severe in the chutes placed far from the inlet of delivering conduit. Du to the above, the above, it is evident that it is necessary to tune the process settings every time a change occurs in process parameters like raw material, speed, etc.

To overcome the above disadvantages, it is necessary to provide an improved fibre mixer machine, which should be simple construction and efficient operation. The new fibre mixer machine should be capable of providing homogeneous fibre mixture output and must be user friendly. This invention would be more useful and takes care of the said problems, assuring efficient operation and increased productivity of the machine.

As per this invention, when compared to the prior art, the number of chambers has been increased for intensive mixing. As the number of chambers increase to maintain the uniform velocity of air and controlled filling of chambers, the mixing chutes are separated into two independent mixing chambers with individual inlet openings and the filling is controlled by means of three position flap arrangement. These two mixing chambers are connected from the common supply source, so the feeding of the fibres will be uniform. But due to the natural differences considered as origin, structure, length and tuft size, etc., the uniform filling could be affected. So to overcome the above situation, a three position flap arrangement is installed at the entrances of both inlet openings, which controls the filling of chambers in a simple way. This flap arrangement is controlled by means of a control device, so the thorough mixing and uniform filling of mixing chambers could be achieved.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is contrived in consideration of the above circumstances and disadvantages of the prior art, and is intended to provide an improved method and apparatus for mixing textile fibres in the fibre processing line.

Another object of the present invention is directed to provide a method and apparatus for thorough mixing of fibre flocks and uniform filling of mixing chambers

Yet another object of the present invention is directed to provide a mixing apparatus simple in construction, user friendly and reliable in operation compared to the prior art machines.

Yet another object of the present invention is directed to provide a mixing apparatus with increase in number of chambers when compared to prior art machines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above objects are achieved by providing an improved distributing device of a fibre processing machine comprising a housing capable of receiving fibre flocks from a feed duct, a mixing chamber having plurality of chutes, characterized in that, housing is divided to form two inlet openings, mixing chamber separated into two mixing chambers, each inlet opening feeds one mixing chamber separately from the other mixing chamber; and a controlling means is mounted inside the housing to control the flow of fibre flocks from said two inlet openings to the mixing chambers.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the said controlling means is a flap which is driven by a pneumatic cylinder and controlled by a operating means to position at three different positions.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the flap comprises of air nozzles to blow the pressurized air opposite to the flow of the fibre flocks.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the mixing chamber is divided by walls wherein a common separator extends to divide the mixing chamber and to divide the housing to form two inlet openings.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of chutes is formed by intermediate walls and the intermediate walls are curved at the lower ends and the middle and end separating walls are curved on the upper and lower end wherein the side walls and the upper curved portion of the middle separating wall are perforated.

In a further aspect of the present invention, method for mixing textile fibres comprising the steps of receiving the fibre flocks along with air stream into a housing, dividing the air stream into two parts, passing one part over chutes of one mixing chamber and second part over chutes of second mixing chamber and controlling the direction of flow of the fibre flocks within the said housing.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the controlling means is positioned at middle in same line parallel to the axis of air stream flow so that fibre flocks are allowed to pass in both of the feeding ducts which fills all the chutes of both the mixing chambers.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the controlling means is tilted to an angle upwards so that fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening which fills the chutes of mixing chamber.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the controlling means is tilted to an angle downwards so that fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening which fills the chutes of mixing chamber.

It is understood that other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein various embodiments of the invention are shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various other respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates the longitudinal cross-sectional view of an apparatus for mixing textile fibres according to the invention.

Fig.lA schematically illustrates the top view of the mixing apparatus exhausting air stream according to the invention.

Fig.2 schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of three position single flap arrangement according to the invention.

Fig.2A schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of single flap arrangement, both sides material flow according to the invention.

Fig.2B schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of single flap arrangement, only bottom side material flow according to the invention.

Fig.2C schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of single flap arrangement, only top side material flow according to the invention.

Fig.3 schematically illustrates the isometric view of single flap arrangement with three position pneumatic cylinder according to the invention.

Fig.4A schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of another embodiment of single flap arrangement, both sides material flow and air flow in the air nozzle according to the invention.

Fig.4B schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of another embodiment of single flap arrangement, only bottom side material flow and no air flow in the air nozzle according to the invention.

Fig.4C schematically illustrates the cross-sectional view of another embodiment of single flap arrangement, only top side material flow and no air flow in the air nozzle according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. Each embodiment described in this disclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration of the present invention, and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.

In the following detailed description, various aspects of the present invention may be described in the context of textile fibres. While these inventive aspects may be well suited for use with this application, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that these inventive aspects are likewise applicable for use in various other mixing devices. Accordingly, any reference to textile fibres is intended only to illustrate the inventive aspects, with the understanding that such inventive aspects have a wide range of applications.

According to the invention shown in Fig.l and 1A, the mixing apparatus (1) comprises a housing (2) provided at its upper end which connects with the feed duct (3) in order to receive the fibre flocks along with the air stream from previous fibre processing machine. The mixing apparatus (1) contains two mixing chambers (4, 5), each having plurality of chutes (21 - 28) and a flock transporting means called conveyor (6) disposed at the lower end of the mixing chambers (4, 5).

As per the invention, two mixing chambers (4, 5) which consists of substantially equally distributed plurality of chutes (21 - 24) and (25 - 28) respectively. The two mixing chambers (4, 5), plurality of chutes (21 - 28) are formed by the separating walls (7, 8, 9), intermediate walls (31 - 36) and side walls (10, 11). The separating walls (7, 8) are extended from the entrance of the housing (2), which acts as a housing to the two mixing chambers (4, 5) positioned one after the other in longitudinal direction.

The separating walls (7, 8) also serve as a double feed duct with different paths called inlet openings (12, 13) to each mixing chambers (4, 5). In the above two mixing chambers (4, 5), the intermediate walls (31 - 36) are disposed vertically which form equally distributed chutes (21 -28) in which the fibre flocks are being processed independently, then merged into a common flock transporting zone called conveyor (6) located at the lower end of the mixing chambers (4, 5).

The separating walls (7, 8, 9) and intermediate walls (31 - 36) are successively shorter in length than the end separating wall (7) so as to define chutes of shorter length and are curved uniformly at the lower ends. The end separating wall (7) is also curved at the upper and lower ends. Each intermediate wall (31 - 36) is provided with a deflecting means at its upper end called separating vane (14), which can be vertically adjusted to control the velocity of air and filling. Each separating vane (14) provided at each intermediate walls (31 - 36) set successively higher than the one before to project upwards so as to narrow the area of the air stream to maintain its speed.

In order to supply the fibre flocks into the chutes (21 - 28), carrier air stream is used. To exhaust this air stream as in fig.l A, the side walls (10, 11) of the chute assembly are perforated, so the air is exhausted via lateral exhaust ducts (51, 52) and exit (53). The middle separating wall (8) is also curved at the upper and lower ends, in which the upper end curved portion is having perforation (8a). Through this perforation (8a) the air stream flows into the mixing chamber (5) and is allowed to pass to the mixing chamber (4), by which the back pressure in the chutes (25 -28) could be avoided.

The horizontally disposed flock transporting conveyor (6) is located at the lower end of mixing chambers (4, 5), which collects the fibre flocks from each chute (21 - 28) and delivers to the opening and cleaning elements. The conveyor (6) is an endless transport belt, which is driven by drive means at a linear speed to the delivery end from left to right as viewed and forms a superposed fibre material (not shown).

The cleaning elements are a part of the mixing apparatus (1) provided in an area called as cleaning chamber (15) positioned at the delivery end of conveyor (6). The cleaning chamber (15) includes an inclined lattice (16), a stripper roller (17) and a take-off roller (18). The inclined lattice (16) is an endless transport belt provided with spike / tooth heads, which move in a substantially perpendicular direction upwards from below and takes out the fibres from the superposed fibre material. The conveyor (6) and the inclined lattice (16) run in cooperation with each other, based on the feedback of sensor (54), which monitors the superposed fibre material at cleaning chamber (15). A swing plate (55) is positioned above the inclined lattice (16) at a specific height to hinder big bunch of fibres from passing over the inclined lattice (16) such that the big bunch again falls into the superposed material.

This arrangement of mixing apparatus (1) owing to different length of paths which the fibres have to cover, they will be withdrawn at different times although they reached the chutes (21 -28) at the same time.

Once the fibres are taken from the conveyor (6) by the inclined lattice (16), which cooperates with the stripper roller (17). The stripper roller (17) is mounted with wire / saw teeth over its periphery, which runs at different speed from inclined lattice (16). The stripper roller (17) is arranged above the inclined lattice (16) delivery end, such that the bunch of fibres at inclined lattice (16) are plucked and which again fall into the cleaning chamber (15) and only small size tufts are left over the inclined lattice (16). These small size tufts are picked up by the take off roller (18) which runs correspondingly adjacent to the inclined lattice (16). This take off roller (18) is driven by drive means at different speed and positioned closely so as to pick the fibres from the inclined lattice (16). These small size tufts are then delivered through the outlet conduit (19) by means of air stream to the next fibre processing machine. Also the mixing machine (1) may have opening and cleaning unit, equipped by an opening roller and knives, which is not shown in the Figures.

As per the invention shown in fig. 1 & 2, a flap arrangement (20) is mounted inside the housing (2) in the same plane of the middle separating wall (8), adjacent to the inlet openings (12, 13) facing the direction of air stream flow, i.e., facing the material incoming side. As in fig.3, this flap arrangement (20) is driven by a drive means may be a three position pneumatic cylinder (50) or any other alternate mechanism. This flap arrangement (20) can be positioned at three different positions using a control device and a connecting means. As in fig.2A, Flap positioned at middle in same line parallel to the axis of air stream flow, so that fibre flocks are allowed to pass in both of the inlet openings (12, 13) which fills all the chutes (21 - 28) of both of mixing chambers (4, 5).

As in fig.2B, Flap tilted to an angle upwards, so that fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening (13), which fills the chutes (25 - 28) of mixing chamber (5). As in fig.2C, Flap tilted at an angle downwards, so the fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening (12), which fills the chutes (21 - 24) of mixing chamber (4).

As per the invention shown in Fig.4a, 4B and 4C, the flap arrangement (20) is provided with air nozzles (56). When the flap arrangement (20) is positioned at middle as in fig. 4A, in same line parallel to the axis of air stream flow, the air nozzles (56) blow the pressurised air opposite to the flow direction. This will aid in dividing the material flow to the inlet openings (12, 13) and also avoids any fluff accumulation in the flap area. As in Fig.4B and 4C, when the flap arrangement (20) is tilted at an angle upward or downwards, the delivery of fibre flocks are on either side only and so the flow of air nozzle (56) is being switched off.

As per the invention, the necessary monitoring devices (not shown) in each mixing chutes are incorporated in the mixing apparatus (1). When the fibre flocks along with air stream flow into the said mixing apparatus (1) due to the double inlet openings (12, 13) from common feed duct (3) arrangement, equal half of the fibres are distributed to both of the mixing chambers (4, 5) although the number of chutes are more, the amount of fibres distributed is equal so the variation of filling would be eliminated. However in case any process changes for example type of fibre, tuft size, etc., there may be a chance to variation in the material filling rate. Such condition, this would be taken care by the three position flap arrangement as in Fig.2 & 3. With the above double inlet openings (12, 13) and three position flap arrangement, there is an intensive mixing and uniform filling rate are being achieved.

This leads to a thorough mixture of the fibres in a simple way by increasing the number of mixing chutes and an apparatus to control the flow of air stream and flock flocks as per the object of this invention.

Since other modifications and changes to fit particular requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited as described by the present preferred embodiments which have been chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departure from the spirit and scope of this invention.

We claim:

1. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine comprising:

a housing (2) capable of receiving fibre flocks from a feed duct (3);

a mixing chamber having plurality of chutes (21-24, 25-28);

characterized in that,

said housing is divided to form at least two inlet openings (12,13);

said mixing chamber separated into at least two mixing chambers;

each inlet opening (12, 13) feeds one mixing chamber separately from the other mixing
chamber; and a controlling means is mounted inside the said housing (2) to control the
flow of fibre flocks from said inlet openings to the mixing chambers.

2. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said controlling means (20) is a flap which is driven by a pneumatic cylinder (50).

3. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein controlling means are provided to control the positions of the flap (20).

4. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flap (20) can be positioned at three different positions.

5. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flap (20) comprises of air nozzles (56).

6. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein mixing chamber is divided by walls (7, 8, 9).

7. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mixing chambers (4,5) are divided by a common separator (8) which extends to divide the housing (2) to form two inlet openings (12, 13).

8. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine 1, wherein said plurality of chutes is formed by intermediate walls (31-36).

9. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein the said intermediate walls (31-36) are curved at the lower ends.

10. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said side walls (10, 11) of the said chute assembly are perforated.

11. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said middle separating wall (8) is curved on the upper and lower end.

12. An improved distributing device (1) of a fibre processing machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein the said upper curved portion of the said middle separating wall (8) has perforations (8a).

13. A method for mixing textile fibres comprising the following steps:

receiving fibre flocks along with air stream into a housing (2);

dividing the air stream into two parts (12, 13);

passing one part (12) over chutes (21-24) of one mixing chamber (4) and second part (13)
over chutes (25-28) of second mixing chamber (5); and

controlling the direction of flow of the fibre flocks within the said housing (2).

14. A method for mixing textile fibres as claimed in claim 13, wherein fibre flocks are allowed to pass in both of the feeding ducts (12, 13) which fill all the chutes (21-28) of both the mixing chambers (4, 5).

15. A method for mixing textile fibres as claimed in claim 13, wherein fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening (12 or 13) which fills some chutes (21-24 or 25-28) of corresponding mixing chamber (4 or 5).

16. A method for mixing textile fibres as claimed in claim 13, wherein the said flap (20) is tilted to an angle upwards so that fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening (13) which fills the chutes (25-28) of mixing chamber (5).

17. A method for mixing textile fibres as claimed in claim 13, wherein the said flap (20) is tilted to an angle downwards so that fibre flocks are allowed to flow only through inlet opening (12) which fills the chutes (21-24) of mixing chamber (4).

18. A method for mixing textile fibres as claimed in claim 13, wherein the said flap (20) is positioned at middle approximately parallel to the axis of air stream flow, so that fibre flocks are allowed to pass in both of the inlet openings (12, 13) which fills all the chutes (21 - 28) of both of mixing chambers (4, 5).