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Door Operating System For Textile Machines

Abstract: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to door operating system for textile spinning machines and more specifically the invention relates to a system for remotely operating the machine door/frame of textile spinning machines such as Blow room, card, draw frame, comber, lap former, flyers, ring frame, winding machines etc. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The textile spinning machines are equipped to convert the raw fiber material into spun yarn through various processes. Plurality of spinning machines are running continuously in a spinning mill to achieve a high production rate. These textile spinning machines consist of a number of critical elements as operative components. At the end of every stage of spinning process, these machines produce an end product like fibre tuft, web, fibre strand, roving, and yarn, as well as eliminating lot of waste and dust. The critical components of a spinning machine have to be maintained periodically during operation. The environmental factors also affects the process, such as dust accumulation in machine parts. Hence all the inner operative components of a spinning machine are enclosed by the cover assembly or doors. These doors/covers, makes enclosure around all moving parts, mainly for safety and also to protect the material being processed. For example, the textile carding machine has lot of frames, like the main door, side doors, suction frame, electrical door, top and bottom doors, etc. The remaining spinning line machines also have doors similar to the ones mentioned above. These machine components are to be accessed during maintenance operations in the drive unit and control panel for cleaning, regular checking, and any repair or replacement of worn or nonfunctional parts. In the conventional system, these machine doors are accessed manually by using keys (alien keys) for opening and closing. In some areas, a plurality of gas springs are provided in the hinge assembly for foolproof operation of doors, but there is a risk of door falling down/closing because of a gas spring failure. In addition to that, some of the machine frames are too high and heavy. This kind of heavy door or frame is not easy to open manually and some times need more manpower to open. It will always create problem in terms of safety. Each and every time, the operator manually operates these doors. This not only possess a hidden danger to the operator's safety but also wastes time and increases operator fatigue. In order to open the door, the operator need to walk near the door and has to open using the tools & keys. This is a time consuming process and leads to increased machine downtime. After completing the maintenance or repair work, every time the operator need to check whether the particular door is fully closed or not to ensure the safety check. These operative functions affects the overall production efficiency. Sometimes, the major accidents were caused by the unexpected failure of doors to close, which is a most undesirable cause in a workplace. There has thus been a need to develop an improved mechanism for opening and closing the machine door/frame for high production with desirable quality that would overcome the disadvantages present in the existing machines. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a system for remotely operating the doors of the machine door / frame in textile spinning machines. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a machine frame that is conveniently accessible to the operator during maintenance. Yet another objective of the present invention is to reduce the safety risks and operator fatigue. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As a solution to the background of the present invention, motorized doors are equipped in textile spinning line machines for opening and closing. The machine frame or door is connected to the machine skeleton in either a vertical or horizontal manner through the hinge assembly. The tiny motor is fixed on the machine skeleton or at the juncture of successive sheet metal covers. The machine doors are open or closed on either the vertical or horizontal axes by means of activating the said motor. When the motor is turned on, the door starts to open or close. The door can stop from opening or closing at any position by motor control. There is no need to fully open the door unnecessarily. For example, the door can open at 45 degrees or 65 degrees, depending on the operator need, by means of a motor control unit. The motor may be a DC motor, servo-drive or stepper motor according to the handling requirement. Suitable gear or link arrangements provided in between the motor and door/frame to meet the operating requirement. The operator can manually access the push button on the machine frame, and the door gets started to open / close remotely through the motor. As an embodiment of the present invention, the operator can operate the door via the main display as well through touch function. For this provision, the motor is electrically operated and connected to machine control. The door-operating option is provided in the machine display as touch/physical button. If the operator needs to open the door for any maintenance work, they can touch the open/close option present in the display. Thus, the operator does not need to go near a particular door to open/close it. The invention has the advantage of reducing machine downtime during maintenance activities, avoiding accidents, and eliminating the need for a different size Allen key for each of the machine doors. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure-1 illustrates one of the textile spinning machines, for example, a carding machine with a closed door. Figure-1A illustrates the view of a carding machine with opened doors / covers. Figure-2 shows the one more textile spinning preparatory machine, for example, a draw frame. Figure-3 shows a plane view of a door access type used in carding machine or the like. Figure-4 shows a side view of door access in the vertical plane used in draw frame machine or the like. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION One of the spinning preparatory machine carding (A) is shown in Frgure-1, the carding machine is an important machine in the spinning preparation process that delivers a sliver. The main objectives of the card are to open the flocks into individual fibres and to clean and eliminate impurities from the fibre tufts. Carding machines have critical elements such as cylinder, doffer, licker-in, flat, etc. These elements are the most important and are more likely to create safety hazards. Aforesaid elements are fully enclosed by doors to prevent the accumulation of dust from environment and for safety purposes. The carding machine has a lot of metallic sheet doors (1) like the main door, side doors, suction frame, electrical door, top and bottom doors, etc.. These doors (1) are in closed condition according to the figure shown. The carding machine with multiple doors (1, 1A) are in opened condition as shown in the Figure-1A. Also one more spinning preparatory machine draw frame (B) is shown in Figure 2 for example. The carded sliver is a feed material for the draw frame, which is passed by a plurality of guide rollers in the creel arrangement. Normally 6 to 12 carded slivers are processed to get single fiber sliver output after making doubling & drafting in a draw frame machine. Fed carded slivers are scanned for eliminating irregularities and moved forward to the drafting unit. Drawing units consist of a 3 over 3 or 4 over 3 arrangement of drafting rollers. After drafting, the sliver gets deposited in a sliver container through the coiler unit. Finally, the drawn sliver can is transported to the next process. The draw frame has critical elements like scanning rollers, drafting unit, calender roller units, drive units, suction unit etc. The draw frame has doors like the drafting door (2) and the electrical panel door (3) to completely enclose the rotating elements and wires to prevent the accidents and protect from environment. The door access in the carding machine according to the present invention is shown in Figure 3. For understanding purpose, the top or plane view of the door hinge assembly is shown in said figure. The door (1) is connected to the machine frame / skeleton (5) in a vertical manner through the hinge assembly. A miniature motor (4) is suitably attached to the machine frame / skeleton (5), and this motor (4) operates the door. If the operator needs to access the door, either to open or close it, he/she has to press the push button present in the corresponding machine front area. After pressing the push button, a particular door will begin to open or close. The door can stop in any position, either it can open in half, fully, or intermediately as.required, as shown in the dotted lines (7), with the help of motor action. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the door can be operated through control switch / touch panel provided in the main display (not shown). The motor (4) is electrically operated and is connected to machine controller. Hence by means of a touch, the operator can open / close the door (1) on need basis. For this purpose, the DC motor (4) may be used, however the invention is not restricted to DC motor alone, whereas a servo drive or stepper motor can also be adapted according to the requirement. Suitable mechanisms like gear or link arrangements are provided in between the motor (4) and door/frame (1) to meet the operating requirement, i.e a link or gearing arrangement (not shown) is provided between motor (4) and door (1) to achieve swiveling movement of the doors. Additionally or alternatively the mechanism includes the cams, cam disks, cam-follower, scotch yoke, swash-plate, wobble plate etc, to get swiveling movement of the doors. The door access on the horizontal plane according to the present invention is shown in Figure 4. This type of arrangement is normally used in draw frame kind of machines. The drafting door (2) is connected to the machine frame (5) in horizontal manner through the hinge assembly. The door motor (4) is attached to the machine frame (5) so as to operate the door conveniently. If the operator needs to access the door, either open or close it, he has to operate the push button present in the machine front area. The drafting door (2) begins to open or close when the operator pushes the button. The drafting door (2) can stop in any position as required and as shown by the dotted lines (7) with the help of motor (4) action and the gas spring (8). The gas spring (8) is optional, and the drafting door (2) can be operated also without the gas spring (8). However, usage of the motor (4) along with the gas spring (8) provides a controlled operation to door assembly, so that the said door can be stopped at any position between extreme opening & closing position. The motor (4) is electrically operated and is connected to machine controller. The door accessing option can also be provided in the machine display. Hence by means of a touch, the operator can open / close the door (1), drafting door (2) and all other doors with respect to machine frame (5) on need basis . A mechanism comprising link or gearing arrangement (not shown) is provided between motor (4) and door (1) to achieve swiveling movement of the doors. Additionally or alternatively the mechanism includes the cams, cam disks, cam-follower, scotch yoke, swash-plate, wobble plate etc, to get swiveling movement of the doors. The door operating arrangement according to the present invention is applicable to the blow room, card, draw frame, comber, roving frame, ring spinning, air jet, rotor, and winding machine in a spinning mill line. However the size & type of motor may vary depending upon the operating load. In view of the present disclosure which describes the present invention, all changes, modifications and variations within the meaning and range of equivalency are considered within the scope and spirit 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.

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Patent Information

Application #
Filing Date
24 March 2023
Publication Number
39/2024
Publication Type
INA
Invention Field
TEXTILE
Status
Email
Parent Application

Applicants

LAKSHMI MACHINE WORKS LIMITED
LAKSHMI MACHINE WORKS LIMITED , PERIANAICKENPALAYAM, COIMBATORE, TAMILNADU, INDIA, 641020.

Inventors

1. SRINIVASAN RAJASEKARAN
LAKSHMI MACHINE WORKS LIMITED, PERIANAICKENPALAYAM, COIMBATORE, TAMILNADU, INDIA, 641020.

Specification

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to door operating system for textile spinning machines and more specifically the invention relates to a system for remotely operating the machine door/frame of textile spinning machines such as Blow room, card, draw frame, comber, lap former, flyers, ring frame, winding machines etc.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The textile spinning machines are equipped to convert the raw fiber material into spun yarn through various processes. Plurality of spinning machines are running continuously in a spinning mill to achieve a high production rate. These textile spinning machines consist of a number of critical elements as operative components. At the end of every stage of spinning process, these machines produce an end product like fibre tuft, web, fibre strand, roving, and yarn, as well as eliminating lot of waste and dust.
The critical components of a spinning machine have to be maintained periodically during operation. The environmental factors also affects the process, such as dust accumulation in machine parts. Hence all the inner operative components of a spinning machine are enclosed by the cover assembly or doors. These doors/covers, makes enclosure around all moving parts, mainly for safety and also to protect the material being processed.
For example, the textile carding machine has lot of frames, like the main door, side doors, suction frame, electrical door, top and bottom doors, etc. The remaining spinning line machines also have doors similar to the ones mentioned above.

These machine components are to be accessed during maintenance operations in the drive unit and control panel for cleaning, regular checking, and any repair or replacement of worn or nonfunctional parts.
In the conventional system, these machine doors are accessed manually by using keys (alien keys) for opening and closing. In some areas, a plurality of gas springs are provided in the hinge assembly for foolproof operation of doors, but there is a risk of door falling down/closing because of a gas spring failure. In addition to that, some of the machine frames are too high and heavy. This kind of heavy door or frame is not easy to open manually and some times need more manpower to open. It will always create problem in terms of safety. Each and every time, the operator manually operates these doors. This not only possess a hidden danger to the operator's safety but also wastes time and increases operator fatigue. In order to open the door, the operator need to walk near the door and has to open using the tools & keys. This is a time consuming process and leads to increased machine downtime.
After completing the maintenance or repair work, every time the operator need to check whether the particular door is fully closed or not to ensure the safety check. These operative functions affects the overall production efficiency. Sometimes, the major accidents were caused by the unexpected failure of doors to close, which is a most undesirable cause in a workplace.
There has thus been a need to develop an improved mechanism for opening and closing the machine door/frame for high production with desirable quality that would overcome the disadvantages present in the existing machines.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a system for remotely operating the doors of the machine door / frame in textile spinning machines.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a machine frame that is conveniently accessible to the operator during maintenance.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to reduce the safety risks and operator fatigue.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As a solution to the background of the present invention, motorized doors are equipped in textile spinning line machines for opening and closing. The machine frame or door is connected to the machine skeleton in either a vertical or horizontal manner through the hinge assembly. The tiny motor is fixed on the machine skeleton or at the juncture of successive sheet metal covers. The machine doors are open or closed on either the vertical or horizontal axes by means of activating the said motor. When the motor is turned on, the door starts to open or close. The door can stop from opening or closing at any position by motor control. There is no need to fully open the door unnecessarily. For example, the door can open at 45 degrees or 65 degrees, depending on the operator need, by means of a motor control unit. The motor may be a DC motor, servo-drive or stepper motor according to the handling requirement. Suitable gear or link arrangements provided in between the motor and door/frame to meet the operating requirement. The

operator can manually access the push button on the machine frame, and the door gets started to open / close remotely through the motor.
As an embodiment of the present invention, the operator can operate the door via the main display as well through touch function. For this provision, the motor is electrically operated and connected to machine control. The door-operating option is provided in the machine display as touch/physical button. If the operator needs to open the door for any maintenance work, they can touch the open/close option present in the display. Thus, the operator does not need to go near a particular door to open/close it. The invention has the advantage of reducing machine downtime during maintenance activities, avoiding accidents, and eliminating the need for a different size Allen key for each of the machine doors.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure-1 illustrates one of the textile spinning machines, for example, a carding machine with a closed door.
Figure-1A illustrates the view of a carding machine with opened doors / covers.
Figure-2 shows the one more textile spinning preparatory machine, for example, a draw frame.
Figure-3 shows a plane view of a door access type used in carding machine or the like.
Figure-4 shows a side view of door access in the vertical plane used in draw frame machine or the like.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
One of the spinning preparatory machine carding (A) is shown in Frgure-1, the carding machine is an important machine in the spinning preparation process that delivers a sliver. The main objectives of the card are to open the flocks into individual fibres and to clean and eliminate impurities from the fibre tufts. Carding machines have critical elements such as cylinder, doffer, licker-in, flat, etc. These elements are the most important and are more likely to create safety hazards. Aforesaid elements are fully enclosed by doors to prevent the accumulation of dust from environment and for safety purposes. The carding machine has a lot of metallic sheet doors (1) like the main door, side doors, suction frame, electrical door, top and bottom doors, etc.. These doors (1) are in closed condition according to the figure shown.
The carding machine with multiple doors (1, 1A) are in opened condition as shown in the Figure-1A.
Also one more spinning preparatory machine draw frame (B) is shown in Figure 2 for example. The carded sliver is a feed material for the draw frame, which is passed by a plurality of guide rollers in the creel arrangement. Normally 6 to 12 carded slivers are processed to get single fiber sliver output after making doubling & drafting in a draw frame machine. Fed carded slivers are scanned for eliminating irregularities and moved forward to the drafting unit. Drawing units consist of a 3 over 3 or 4 over 3 arrangement of drafting rollers. After drafting, the sliver gets deposited in a sliver container through the coiler unit. Finally, the drawn sliver can is transported to the next process.
The draw frame has critical elements like scanning rollers, drafting unit, calender roller units, drive units, suction unit etc. The draw frame has doors

like the drafting door (2) and the electrical panel door (3) to completely enclose the rotating elements and wires to prevent the accidents and protect from environment.
The door access in the carding machine according to the present invention is shown in Figure 3. For understanding purpose, the top or plane view of the door hinge assembly is shown in said figure. The door (1) is connected to the machine frame / skeleton (5) in a vertical manner through the hinge assembly. A miniature motor (4) is suitably attached to the machine frame / skeleton (5), and this motor (4) operates the door. If the operator needs to access the door, either to open or close it, he/she has to press the push button present in the corresponding machine front area. After pressing the push button, a particular door will begin to open or close. The door can stop in any position, either it can open in half, fully, or intermediately as.required, as shown in the dotted lines (7), with the help of motor action.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the door can be operated through control switch / touch panel provided in the main display (not shown). The motor (4) is electrically operated and is connected to machine controller. Hence by means of a touch, the operator can open / close the door (1) on need basis. For this purpose, the DC motor (4) may be used, however the invention is not restricted to DC motor alone, whereas a servo drive or stepper motor can also be adapted according to the requirement. Suitable mechanisms like gear or link arrangements are provided in between the motor (4) and door/frame (1) to meet the operating requirement, i.e a link or gearing arrangement (not shown) is provided between motor (4) and door (1) to achieve swiveling movement of the doors. Additionally or alternatively the mechanism includes the cams, cam disks, cam-follower, scotch yoke, swash-plate, wobble plate etc, to get swiveling movement of the doors.

The door access on the horizontal plane according to the present invention is shown in Figure 4. This type of arrangement is normally used in draw frame kind of machines. The drafting door (2) is connected to the machine frame (5) in horizontal manner through the hinge assembly. The door motor (4) is attached to the machine frame (5) so as to operate the door conveniently. If the operator needs to access the door, either open or close it, he has to operate the push button present in the machine front area. The drafting door (2) begins to open or close when the operator pushes the button. The drafting door (2) can stop in any position as required and as shown by the dotted lines (7) with the help of motor (4) action and the gas spring (8). The gas spring (8) is optional, and the drafting door (2) can be operated also without the gas spring (8). However, usage of the motor (4) along with the gas spring (8) provides a controlled operation to door assembly, so that the said door can be stopped at any position between extreme opening & closing position.
The motor (4) is electrically operated and is connected to machine controller. The door accessing option can also be provided in the machine display. Hence by means of a touch, the operator can open / close the door (1), drafting door (2) and all other doors with respect to machine frame (5) on need basis . A mechanism comprising link or gearing arrangement (not shown) is provided between motor (4) and door (1) to achieve swiveling movement of the doors. Additionally or alternatively the mechanism includes the cams, cam disks, cam-follower, scotch yoke, swash-plate, wobble plate etc, to get swiveling movement of the doors.
The door operating arrangement according to the present invention is applicable to the blow room, card, draw frame, comber, roving frame, ring spinning, air jet, rotor, and winding machine in a spinning mill line. However the size & type of motor may vary depending upon the operating load.

In view of the present disclosure which describes the present invention, all changes, modifications and variations within the meaning and range of equivalency are considered within the scope and spirit 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.

Documents

Application Documents

# Name Date
1 202341020961-Form-3_As Filed_24-03-2023.pdf 2023-03-24
2 202341020961-Form-2 (Title Page)_Provisional_24-03-2023.pdf 2023-03-24
3 202341020961-Form-1_As Filed_24-03-2023.pdf 2023-03-24
4 202341020961-Description Provisional_As Filed_24-03-2023.pdf 2023-03-24
5 202341020961-Correspondence_As Filed_24-03-2023.pdf 2023-03-24
6 202341020961-Form 5-200324.pdf 2024-03-22
7 202341020961-Form 2(Title Page)-200324.pdf 2024-03-22
8 202341020961-Correspondence-200324.pdf 2024-03-22
9 202341020961-RELEVANT DOCUMENTS [04-03-2025(online)].pdf 2025-03-04
10 202341020961-FORM 13 [04-03-2025(online)].pdf 2025-03-04
11 202341020961-FORM 13 [04-03-2025(online)]-1.pdf 2025-03-04
12 202341020961-AMENDED DOCUMENTS [04-03-2025(online)].pdf 2025-03-04
13 202341020961-AMENDED DOCUMENTS [04-03-2025(online)]-1.pdf 2025-03-04
14 202341020961-FORM-26 [07-04-2025(online)].pdf 2025-04-07
15 202341020961-FORM 18 [07-04-2025(online)].pdf 2025-04-07
16 202341020961-Response to office action [12-04-2025(online)].pdf 2025-04-12