DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to textile automatic winding machines and more specifically the invention relates to bobbin / cop transport system connecting the ring frame and an automatic winding machine in textile spinning mills.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One of the process in textile post spinning is cop transporting process between ring frame and automatic winding machine with cop transporting system which is directly connected to the automatic winding machine. In cop transporting system, link preparation is an automated process to prepare the bobbins and transport the bobbins to the winding machine, after the cop or bobbin doffing is completed in a ring frame. Link preparation unit helps to reduce human interruption which means cops or bobbins are processed and transported to the winding units while improving efficiency and quality.
In link preparation unit, the spun yarn wound on the cop which is placed upon the peg, where the pegs are placed on the conveyor are prepared and then supplied to the automatic winding machine. The link preparation unit consists of cop preparation device, the cop preparation device is used to find the yarn end of the supplied cop to predetermined position. The cop preparation device helps to easily unravel the yarn in winding units and also to segregate unprepared cops and empty peg in the preparation stage itself. In order to increase the production, more than one cop preparation device are used in link preparation units, which helps in increased feed rate for high production winding machines.
In the existing dual link preparation units, by default cops will be fed to first link preparation unit. After the pegs are filled in first unit, the pegs will enter into second link preparation unit placed at some other place of winding unit through second preparation lane. Each of the link preparation units and winding machine feed lane has independent drives with separate induction motors, which increases the cost of the machine and also occupies more space.
During cop preparation, the cops are classified into prepared cops and unprepared cops. The prepared cops are conveyed to the winding unit directly through winding feed lane, whereas unprepared cops are segregated / stored and removed in the tube unloader unit manually or automatically. The removed cops are reviewed and processed in a separate magazine type winding module available at the winding unit of the tray type winding machine. This results in a waste of time which involves human intervention and reduces production rate of the winding machine. Also, the winding machine sends back cops with frequent clearer cuts, which cops are defective in quality, and are classified as textile alarm cops.
Also, the existing link preparation units with single preparation stage to prepare supplied cop leads to more accumulation / traffic in the link preparation system and also results in less production.
There has been a need to develop a cop transport system for the high production that would overcome the disadvantages present in the existing machines.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION
These objectives are provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This objective are not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
It is a main object of the invention to provide an improved arrangement of bobbin transport system with link preparation unit for the automatic winding machines.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved winding unit for processing textile alarm cops.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a dedicated winding unit to process textile alarm cops thereby avoiding a separate magazine type winding unit.
Yet another object of the present invention is to transport fully wound cop from ring spinning machine into winding unit of automatic winding machine in simplified way of cop transport system present between ring frame and automatic winding machine.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved drive unit for the link preparation units and winding machine feed passage unit.
Object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned problem. Other technical problems that are not mentioned will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
After completion of doffing operation in Ring frame, the bobbins are ready to be supplied into link preparation unit of the automatic winding machines through bobbin / cop transport system. According to an embodiment of the present invention, link preparation unit is provided with at least two bobbin preparation stations. The fed bobbins from ring frame are passed to first preparation lane. If the first preparation lane is full, the bobbins are diverted to second preparation lane through diverters. The prepared cops are sent to winding machine through a corresponding winder feed lane via belt driven conveyor. The bobbins in the second preparation lane are transported to the second preparation unit by means of belt driven conveyor. Both the winder feed lane conveyor and the second preparation unit feed lane conveyors are driven by a common drive arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention. Further the bobbins prepared in the second preparation unit are fed to the winding unit via winding feed lane through conveyor. The unprepared cops from both preparation lanes are returned to unprepared cops bypass lane by using diverters in the respective area and are stored and unloaded manually or automatically.
The pegs with tube containing yarn are normally sent to first preparation lane. There is a path diverter placed in a junction where first preparation lane and second preparation lane starts. When the first preparation lane is filled with peg which is detected by sensor, path diverter gets activated. Then the pegs are moved to occupy the second preparation lane. If there is any vacancy in first preparation lane, it is sensed and the peg flow continues in the first preparation lane.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the link preparation unit the bobbin ends are prepared and fed to the winding unit through winding feed lane, and the unprepared bobbins are sorted in a separate storage unit.
The winding machine sends back cops with frequent clearer cuts, which cops are defective in quality, and are classified as textile alarm cops. These textile alarm cops/bobbins are stored in a separate storage lane near the first preparation unit. The stored textile alarm cops are further fed into dedicated tray type winding module in winding unit, which is configured to process only textile alarm cops, from the alarm cop storage lane through winding machine feed passage lane. According to main embodiment of the present invention, at least one dedicated tray type winding module is placed along the regular winding module to process textile alarm cops with separate parameter settings from the common control unit.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a more detailed understanding of this invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows the arrangement of cop transport system connecting ring frame and automatic winding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 shows arrangement having common drive unit for both the first and second feed lane according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 3 shows the schematic view of the link preparation lane and winding machine layout with dedicated tray type winding module for processing textile alarm cops according to the present invention.
Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, and features.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention 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 embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.
Cop transport system with link preparation unit of textile automatic winding machine according to the present invention is explained in figures 1 to 3.
A cop transport system connects a ring frame (1) and an automatic winding machine (7), said cop transport system is present between the ring frame (1) and the automatic winding machine (7). The automatic winding machine (7) comprises multiple winding units (9), which plays the role of unwinding the yarn from supply cop to wind in the packages in cone/cheese form.
The cop transport system comprises an entry lane (16, 2) to receive a plurality of cops (15b) from the ring frame (1).
The plurality of cops (15b) from the entry lane (2) is conveyed to a first preparation unit (8) having a first preparation lane (4) for end preparation. The end prepared cops (15b) from the first preparation lane (4) is transferred to a plurality of winding unit (9) of the automatic winding machine (7) through a feed lane (10).
Once the first preparation lane (4) is full, the sensing system arranged in the lane senses and actuates a diverter. The diverter changes the direction and the plurality of cops (15b) is conveyed to a second preparation unit (8a) having a second preparation lane (5) for end preparation. The end prepared cops (15b) from the second preparation station (8a) are transferred to the plurality of winding unit (9) of the automatic winding machine (7) through feed lane (10).
The first or second preparation unit (8, 8a) are used to process the cops to find the yarn ends such that unraveling is easy in winding units and also to segregate unprepared cops and textile alarm cops returned from winding machine and empty pegs without tubes supplied from ring frame (1).
The first preparation lane (4) is directly attached to first winder feed lane (10) for conveying the prepared cops to winding unit (9). The second preparation lane (5) is attached to second feed lane (11). The feed lanes (10, 11) are arranged at the end of corresponding preparation lanes.
After completion of preparation process, the prepared cops from first preparation lane (4) are sent to winding unit (9) through winder feed lane (10). Similarly, prepared cops from second preparation lane (5, 11) are sent to winding unit (9) through second feed lane (11) or conveyed to the winder feed lane (10) through intermediate lane as shown in figure 2. In the above two cases, diverters will be in open position for allowing the prepared cops to winding units (9).
As shown in figures, the cops prepared from the first and second preparation units (8, 8a) are conveyed to the winding unit (9) through winding feed lane (10, 11). The unprepared cops from first preparation lane (4) and second preparation lane (5) are conveyed to cops storage unit (12). The unprepared cops are diverted to a storage unit (12) by means of corresponding diverters (28) which are provided in corresponding preparation lane. Once the unprepared cop storage lane is full, an alert is generated, which is reviewed by either automation unit or by human intervention.
A plurality of unwound cops (15a) or a plurality of empty pegs (15) from the winding unit (9) are transferred to the ring frame (1) through exit lane (6, 17). Also, the first or second preparation unit (8, 8a) allows only peg containing tube with yarn (15b) into the yarn preparation station, whereas peg with empty tube without yarn (15a) is diverted to bypass path (19) and returned to ring frame (1) through exit lane (17). The pegs with empty tube (15a) are segregated with help of sensing system present in the interface entry lane (16) and these pegs are sent back to ring frame (1) from interface exit lane (17) through bypass path (19) by activating diverter to divert the path. The pegs containing tube with yarn (15b) are positively transmitted to preparation lane by transfer pulleys.
The peg with textile alarm cops/bobbins returned from winding machine are stored in a storage lane (23). The stored textile alarm cops are further fed into a dedicated winding module (9a) in winding unit (9), which is configured to process only textile alarm cops from the alarm cop storage lane (23), through either first preparation lane (4, 10) and/or second preparation lane (5, 5a, 11).
At least one dedicated tray type winding module (9a) is placed along the winding unit (9) to process textile alarm cops according to the present invention. The dedicated winding module (9a) is provided with separate parameter settings from the common control unit, which aids in processing the textile alarm cops. The dedicated winding unit can also be made to process regular cops whenever required.
A sensor arrangement is placed at the dedicated winding module unit to detect presence of alarm cop in the winding area. During absence of peg in the winding area one peg with alarm cop is sent from the textile alarm cop storage lane (23). The alarm cop from the textile alarm cop storage lane (23) can also be fed by a separate lane with help of stopper and diverter arrangements.
The first preparation lane (4) is driven by a motor (not shown) which drives the belt via first preparation belt drive. The second preparation lane (5) is driven by a motor which drives the belt via second preparation belt drive (5a). The first and/or second feed lane (10, 11) for the winding unit (9) are driven by a common drive unit (14) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The winding feed lane (10) comprises of flat belt arrangement which conveys the prepared cops from the first preparation unit (8) to the winding units (9). The feed lane (11) comprises of flat or round belt arranged to convey the cops from the second preparation unit (8a) to the winding units (9). The flat belts are positively driven by drive (14) through drive pulleys (13, 13a). The drive pulley (13) drives the flat belt in the second preparation lane (5a, 11) and drive pulley (13a) drives the flat belt in the winding feed lane (10) and also the intermediate lane to feed prepared cops from second preparation station (8a) to winder feed lane (10) as shown in figures. Both the drive pulleys (13, 13a) are driven by the drive unit (14). A single gear motor acts as a common drive (14) to drive both the winding machine feed lane (10) and second preparation lane belt drive (5a, 11). The common drive unit according to an embodiment of the present invention that delivers and recirculate pegs in winding unit is advantageous such that, a separate induction motor to drive second preparation lane (8a) is avoided, thereby saving more cost and occupying less space.
In the above detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part thereof, and illustrate the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. However, such description should not be considered as any limitation of scope of the present unit. The structure thus conceived in the present description is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all the details may furthermore be replaced with elements having technical equivalence. The embodiments shown herein are only exemplary. And further embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention. It is to be understood that the aspects and embodiment of the disclosure described above may be used in any combination with each other. Several of the aspects and embodiment may be combined together to form a further embodiment of the disclosure.
List of Reference Numerals
(1) ring frame machine
(2) entry lane
(4) first preparation lane
(5) second preparation lane
(5a) second preparation feed lane belt drive
(6) return path
(7) automatic winding machine
(8) first preparation unit
(8a) second preparation unit
(9) multiple winding units
(9a) dedicated winding module
(10) first winder feed lane
(11) second feed lane
(12) storage unit
(13, 13a) drive pulleys
(14) drive unit
(15) plurality of empty pegs
(15a) pegs with plurality of unwound cops
(15b) ring frame pegs with plurality of cops
(16) entry lane
(17) exit lane
(19) bypass path
(23) storage lane
(28) diverters
,CLAIMS:
1. A cop transport system connecting a ring frame (1) and an automatic winding machine (7), said cop transport system comprising:
an entry lane (16, 2) configured to receive a plurality of cops (15b) from the ring frame (1);
a first preparation unit (8) having a first preparation lane (4) configured to receive the plurality cops (15b) from the entry lane (2) for end preparation, the end prepared cops (15b) from the first preparation lane (4) are transferred to a plurality of winding units (9) of the automatic winding machine (7) through a feed lane (10);
a second preparation unit (8a) having a second preparation lane (5) configured to receive the plurality of cops (15b) from the entry lane (2) for end preparation only when the first preparation lane (4) is fully occupied, the end prepared cops (15b) from the second preparation lane (5) are transferred to the plurality of winding units (9) of the automatic winding machine (7) through the feed lane (10); and
an exit lane (6, 17) configured to transfer a plurality of unwound cops (15a) or a plurality of empty pegs (15) from the winding unit (9) to the ring frame (1),
wherein, the cop transport system has a storage lane (23) configured to receive the alarm cops (15b) which are not unwound completely on the winding unit (9) through the return path (6), the stored alarm cops (15b) are processed in at least one dedicated winding module (9a) of the winding unit (9) controlled by a common control unit.
2. The cop transport system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said alarm cops (15b) are conveyed to the dedicated winding module (9a) through the path (6), the first preparation lane (4), and the feed lane (10) or through the path (6), the second preparation lane (5), and the feed lane (11).
3. The cop transport system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the alarm cops (15b) from the storage lane (23) is conveyed to the dedicated winding module (9a) through a separate feed lane with the assistance of a stopper and a diverter arrangement.
4. The cop transport system as claimed in any one of claim 1 to claim 3, wherein said dedicated winding module (9a) is a tray type winding unit placed along the plurality of winding unit (9) to process textile alarm cops with separate parameter settings from the common control unit.
5. The cop transport system as claimed in claim 1, further comprises a bypass path (19) for diverting the unwound cops (15a) from the entry lane (16) to the ring frame (1) through the exit lane (17).
6. The cop transport system as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the first preparation lane (4) is fully occupied, a sensing system arranged in the lane senses and actuates a diverter that changes the direction and conveys the plurality of cops to the second preparation unit (8a).
7. The cop transport system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a single gear motor acts as a common drive (14) for both the winding machine feed lane (10) and a second preparation feed lane belt drive (5a, 11).
8. The cop transport system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unprepared cops (15b) from the first preparation lane (4) and/or the second preparation lane (5) are diverted by a corresponding diverter (28) and stored in a storage unit (12).
9. A method of transporting a plurality of cops from a ring frame (1) to an automatic winding machine (7), comprising the steps of:
moving said plurality of cops (15b) from the ring frame (1) to an entry lane (16, 2) of a cop transport system;
moving the cops from the entry lane (16, 2) to a first preparation unit (8) having a first preparation lane (4) for end preparation thereof and transferring the end prepared cops (15b) from the first preparation lane (4) to a plurality of winding units (9) of the automatic winding machine (7) through a feed lane (10);
moving the cops from the entry lane (16, 2) to a second preparation unit (8a) having a second preparation lane (5) for end preparation when the first preparation lane (4) is fully occupied followed by transferring the end prepared cops (15b) from the second preparation lane (5, 5a, 11) to the plurality of winding unit (9) of the automatic winding machine (7) through the feed lane (10); and
transferring a plurality of unwound cops (15a) or a plurality of empty pegs (15) from the winding unit (9) to the ring frame (1) through an exit lane (6, 17),
wherein,
moving plurality of alarm cops (15b) which are not unwound completely on the winding unit (9) to a storage lane (23) through the return path (6) followed by processing the stored alarm cops (15b) in at least one dedicated winding module (9a) of the winding unit (9) controlled from a common control unit.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein a single gear motor acts as a common drive (14) for both the winding machine feed lane (10) and a second preparation feed lane belt drive (5a, 11).