DESC:TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure generally relates to textile machinery. More particularly relates to an apparatus for processing fibres and a carding machine thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
Typically a textile carding machine comprises a feeding arrangement for feeding the fibre batt in the form of thick sheet. The fibre batt is fed through a licker-in roller for preliminary opening. The licker-in roller converts the fibre batt into smaller tufts after extracting considerable amount of foreign matter such as seeds and trash particles. The fibre tufts carried on the licker-in roller passes onto a carding cylinder/drum provided with wire-teeth clothing surface where the carding action takes place evenly across the entire working width. The carding machine also comprises a flat arrangement mounted over the carding cylinder in order to perform actual carding action over its entire working width. Fibres that are coming out of the carding zone/area form a very thin web. The carding zone/area is defined as a contacting area of the carding drum/cylinder with the flat arrangement at any given point of time. The web is transferred from the carding drum/cylinder to another roller called a doffer. The fibre web is stripped from the doffer using a stripper roller and then passed through a pair of squeeze or crush rolls before the stripped fibres are finally accumulated widthwise into a fibre strand form. The carding machine further comprises calender rolls which compress the fibre strand to provide better integrity and stable flow of fibre material known as card sliver. The fibre strand or the card sliver proceeds downstream over guide pulleys to enter a coiler system. The coiler system consists of a trumpet guide and a second pair of calender rolls that delivers the carded sliver through a revolving tube into the card sliver can.

In the carding zone, carding action is carried-out where the fibre mass and the wire-teeth clothing of carding cylinder and flats are interacted to fully individualize the fibres. This results in parallelism to the fibre mass flow. As generally known, the output sliver/fibres quality is primarily decided by the carding action happening between the wire-teeth clothing of carding cylinder and flats. The results of the carding action includes, but are not limited to, opening of the tufts into individual fibres, elimination of the remaining impurities and some of the short fibres, disentangling of Neps, fibre blending and orientation of the fibres, that ensures high degree of longitudinal orientation of fibres. Thus, it is observed that the individualizing of fibres is a delicate process of the carding action since individualized fibres are finally condensed into a sliver for further process.

An aspect to be considered in fibre processing, while increasing the production rate, is carding distance. The carding distance is defined as the distance between the licker-in roller to the carding cylinder nip and the carding drum/cylinder to the doffer nip multiplied by carding working width. The carding working width of the carding drum/cylinder is defined as length of the cylinder over which clothing is mounted. The factor which influences the carding distance is the carding cylinder diameter. The existing/conventional carding cylinder has diameter of 1287 mm and a working gap ranging from about 0.1 mm to about 0.3 mm. The working gap is defined a gap/space between the carding cylinder and carding elements such as revolving flat and stationary flat, more specifically, the working/carding gap is a spacing of tips of the carding elements located opposite to the clothing of the carding cylinder/drum. During carding process, the challenge is to achieve a closer working gap between the carding cylinder and the carding elements. During carding process, the carding cylinder/drum and the carding elements generates heat that results in an increase in room temperature to about 5 to 10 degrees centigrade. Due to increase in the room temperature, the carding cylinder undergoes a thermal expansion resulting in narrowing down of the working/carding gap to about 0.05 mm to about 0.1 mm. As a result of reduced working/carding gap, interaction of fibres between the carding cylinder/drum and the carding elements gets affected which may result in breaking of spinnable fibres and eventually leading into production of poor sliver quality.

Further, rotating elements associated with carding machine are subject to deformation during operation under the influence of the centrifugal forces and thermal expansion of the carding drum/cylinder. Thus working area available on the carding cylinder for the carding process is deformed and thereby affecting the quality of the fibres being processed. In addition, conventional carding cylinders of higher diameters could not attain maximum centrifugal force which limits the separation of heavier waste particles. Considering aforesaid factors, a careful examination on diameter of the carding cylinder is required.

One way of increasing the production rate of fibre processing is carried-out by increasing working area of the carding cylinder. The working area of carding is defined as a distance covered by the revolving flats multiplied by working width of the carding drum. Thus increasing the working area, mass of the fibres processed per unit time are considerably more, thereby improving production rate. One way of increasing the working area can be made by providing additional carding elements such as stationary flats without changing the carding cylinder diameter of about 1290 mm. As a result of heat produced by carding process, the carding drum/cylinder of diameter 1290 mm undergoes thermal expansion due to the interaction of fibres between the carding cylinder and the carding elements. Thereby, the working/carding gap narrows down and thus, the quality of output sliver may be deteriorated.

Another way of increasing the production rate of fibre processing is carried-out by increasing number of flats of a revolving flat arrangement of the carding device in a smaller carding drum/cylinder diameter of about 814 mm and with working width of about 1500 mm. The flats of the revolving flat arrangement comes in contact with the carding cylinder during carding process is called as working flats. Increasing number of working flats improves the fibre/sliver quality. For example, by increasing the number of working flats more than 40 flats, better carding action may be observed. However, as the carding cylinder/drum is smaller, the number of working flats on the carding cylinder/drum at any given point of time cannot be increased.

In another way, the production rate of fibre processing is increased by increasing carding cylinder speed. By increasing the speed of the carding cylinder, fibre stress and fibre breakage is observed. Thus the carding drum/cylinder speed has to be limited to 30-35 m/sec.

In view of aforementioned limitations, the present disclosure provides an apparatus to overcome the limitations of the prior arts by considering all the factors such as thermal expansion, centrifugal force and the carding area for carding processes. Thus, the apparatus is developed by optimizing the selection of carding cylinder diameter along with number of working flats revolving over the carding drum/cylinder and working width of the carding drum/cylinder.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure relates an apparatus for processing fibres. The apparatus comprising at least one carding drum having a substantially cylindrical surface with clothing provided thereon defining a working width of the carding drum which is greater than 1000 mm. The carding drum has diameter ranging between 700 mm to 1100 mm. The apparatus also comprises a revolving flat arrangement comprising a plurality of flats connected thereto forming a closed loop structure, and disposed adjacent to the at least one carding drum forming a carding area, wherein, at any point of time, at least 36 flats of plurality of flats forming working flats makes contact to the carding area.

In one embodiment, the carding drum has preferable diameter ranging between 900 mm to 1100 mm.

In one embodiment, the working width of carding drum (1) is preferably 1500 mm.

In one embodiment, periphery of the carding drum between licker-in roller configured in a carding machine and the revolving flat arrangement forms a pre-carding area. The pre-carding area is about 22% of surface of the carding drum.

In one embodiment, periphery of carding drum between the revolving flat arrangement and a doffer roller configured in a carding machine forms a post-carding area. The post-carding area is about 21% of surface of the carding drum.

In one embodiment, the main carding area is about 40% of surface of the carding drum.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure also relates to a carding machine comprising an apparatus for processing fibres. The apparatus comprises at least one carding drum having a substantially cylindrical surface with clothing provided thereon defining a working width of the carding drum which is greater than 1000 mm. The carding drum has diameter ranging between 700 mm to 1100 mm. The apparatus also comprises a revolving flat arrangement comprising a plurality of flats connected thereto forming a closed loop structure, and disposed adjacent to the at least one carding drum forming a carding area, wherein, at any point of time, at least 36 flats of plurality of flats forming working flats makes contact to the carding area.

In one embodiment, the carding machine includes a licker-in roller for receiving fiber batt and a doffer roller for collecting carded fibres from the at least one carding drum.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures. One or more embodiments are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals represent like elements and in which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a carding machine according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a graphical representation of increase in thermal expansion of carding cylinder with increase in diameter for both cast iron and steel cylinders.

Fig. 3 shows a graphical representation of optimum selection of the carding cylinder diameter which portrays three variables such as thermal expansion, centrifugal force and the carding area.

The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description and drawings are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated and make part of this disclosure.

Referral Numerals

Referral Numeral Description
1 Carding drum/cylinder
2 Revolving flat arrangement
2a Flats of the revolving flat arrangement
3 Circulating continuous belt
4 Pre-carding area
5 Post-carding area
6 Licker-in roller
7 Doffer roller
M Main carding area
F First working flat
L Last working flat
10 Apparatus for processing fibres
20 Carding machine

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus 10 for processing fibre batt is provided as shown in Fig. 1. The apparatus 10 comprises at least one carding drum 1 having a substantially cylindrical surface with saw toothed clothing provided thereon defining a working width of the carding drum 1 and a revolving flat arrangement 2 comprising a plurality of flats 2a. The fibres batt to be carded or processed using the apparatus 10 can be selected from but not limited to cotton and synthetic fibres. The processing of fibre batt is a process of removing impurities from fibres and simultaneously carding the fibres whilst the fibres are carried by rotating the carding drum 1 provided with saw toothed clothing. The revolving flat arrangement 2 comprises a plurality of flats 2a which are connected to each other using a means. Thus the flats 2a form a closed loop structure. The flats 2a are combined using the means selected from but not limited to a chain or a belt or any other form of a circulating continuous conveyor. In an exemplary embodiment, the means for combining the flats 2a is a circulating belt 3. In one embodiment, the revolving flat arrangement 2 comprises about 70 to 100 series of flats 2a. The flats 2a on the circulating belt 3 run over two flexible arcs arranged on each side of the carding drum 1. The flexible arcs have been provided with adjusting means (not shown) in the apparatus 10 for adjusting arcs so as to adjust a carding/working gap. The revolving flat arrangement 2 is disposed adjacent to the carding drum 1 forming a carding area such that at any point of time, at least 36 flats forms working flats which makes contact with the carding area. In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, number of active/working flats 2a in the working position is preferably greater than 35 so that sufficient carding action is provided. The ability to handle a large throughput of fibres without loading is possible by utilizing more number of active flats 2a for example above 35 flats in working position against the carding drum 1. About 40% surface of the carding drum 1 cooperates with revolving flat arrangement 2 during carding process.

In one embodiment, the carding drum 1 has a working width greater than 1000 mm and a diameter ranging between 700 mm to 1100 mm. The carding drum 1 has preferable diameter ranging between 900 mm to 1100 mm and preferable working width of about 1500 mm. By increasing the working width of the carding drum 1, fibre density increases to about 1.5 times than the existing density of prior art, without affecting chance of deterioration in output quality of the fibres at higher production rates. This allows operating coarser sliver weights in wider carding drums without affecting the carding intensity.

In one embodiment, the carding area on the carding drum 1 is configured into a main carding area M, a first working flat F and a last working flat L. The main carding area M extends from the first active working flat F which is placed in the working position against periphery of the carding drum 1 as far as the point at which the last active working flat L leaves the working position to begin the return travel, i.e. the main carding area M is located between the first working flat F and the last working flat F.

In one embodiment, periphery of the carding drum 1 between the licker-in roller 6 of a carding machine 20 and the revolving flat arrangement 2 forms a pre-carding area 4. About 22% surface of the carding drum 1 in the pre-carding area cooperates with carding elements such as stationary flats (not shown) for further intensification of the carding action. The periphery of the carding drum 1 between the revolving flat arrangement 2 and the doffer roller 7 is defined as the post-carding area 5. About 21% surface of the carding drum 1 cooperates with carding elements such as stationary flats (not shown). Thus, the carding drum 1 diameter ranging from about 900 to about 1100 mm provides adequate space for increasing the carding area. Also the carding drum 1 provides optimum utilization of the available space, wherein about 83% surface of carding drum 1 covers the carding elements such as revolving flat arrangement 2 and the stationary flats (not shown). Thus the apparatus 10 achieves better separation of impurities from fibres and better fibre individualization and hence, mass of fibres processed per unit time is significantly increased which improves production rate of carding machine 20.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a carding machine 20 comprising the apparatus 10 for processing fibres is provided. The carding machine 20 includes the licker-in roller 6 for receiving fiber batt and the doffer roller 7 for collecting carded fibres from the carding drum 1.

Fig. 2 illustrates a graphical representation of increase in thermal expansion of carding drum/cylinder due to increase in diameter with the influence of materials such as cast iron, steel. It is clear from the graph that there is sharp rise in thermal expansion of the carding cylinder as its diameter increases. In order to achieve optimum carding quality of the fibres, it is necessary for the carding gap to remain constant during operation, i.e. the change in spacing should be preferably less than 0.01 mm.

In one embodiment, the metal for manufacturing carding drum is selected from a group comprising but not limited to cast iron and steel, preferably the case iron as the thermal expansion of the cast iron is less compared to steel.

Fig. 3 illustrates a graphical representation which portrays optimum selection of the carding drum diameter and it depicts the influence of all three variables such a thermal expansion, centrifugal force and the carding area. The optimum size falls clearly above 1000 mm as the carding drum/cylinder diameter is well below the diameter of a conventional carding cylinder/drum of 1287 mm. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, optimum selection of cylinder diameter in the range between 900 mm to 1100 mm is provided. This results in improved effect on centrifugal forces, allowing adequate space to enable mountings of other working elements relative to the carding cylinder and thereby thermal expansion of the carding cylinder is also negligible, as a result undesirable reduction in the carding cap is avoided.

Advantages
In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides for optimized selection of carding drum diameter of the apparatus of the carding machine. Also, the apparatus in the present disclosure exploits the advantage of a higher centrifugal force tending to unload fibres from the carding drum to the doffer roller. The carding drum diameter selected within the range 900 mm to 1100 mm provides adequate space to enable mountings of working elements such as revolving flats, stationary flats, etc. It is also possible to provide adequate transfer zone between carding cylinder and the doffer roller. The transfer zone is a distance between the carding cylinder and the doffer roller. The optimized selection of the carding drum diameter results in a more compact construction and overall weight reduction of the carding machine.

In one embodiment, the working width of the carding drum is preferentially exceeds 1000 mm, more specifically about 1500 mm. The working width of the carding drum is the determining factor for all other working elements such as revolving flats and stationary flats. In order to perform improved carding action over the entire working width, the carding gap is maintained constant over the working width, i.e. the change in spacing should be preferably less than 0.01 mm. Thus with the carding drum diameter with working width of 1500 mm, undesirable reduction in the carding gap owing to the thermal expansion and centrifugal force of carding cylinder is significantly reduced when compared with the existing carding machines.

In one embodiment, the fibre density is increased to 1.5 times than that of existing carding machines. The fibre density is increased without affecting the chance of deterioration in output quality at higher production rate with working width of 1500 mm. This allows operating coarser sliver weights in wider carding cylinders without affecting the carding intensity. A working width in the range of 1500 mm gives adequate production with optimum quality.

The carding cylinder diameter in the range of 900 mm to 1100 mm is well adapted to attain maximum utilization of available space of the carding cylinder. Carding area is significantly increased. About 83% of carding drum/cylinder covers the working elements such as revolving flats and stationary flats. Thus, the apparatus disclosed in the present disclosure significantly improves the surface area of carding action for better individualization of fibres and larger amounts of fibre material are processed per unit time.

In one embodiment, the carding machine comprises carding drum has optimum diameter and optimum number of active working flats revolving over the arc of a carding cylinder to improve production in a carding machine of the textile yarn spinning process.

Industrial Applicability
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the apparatus disclosed in the present disclosure finds its potential application in a carding machine. The carding machine comprising the apparatus is used for processing fibre batt to obtain fibres with improved quality along with increased production rate.

Equivalents
With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should typically be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B."

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.
,CLAIMS:1. An apparatus (10) for processing fibres, comprising:
at least one carding drum (1) having a substantially cylindrical surface with clothing provided thereon defining a working width of the carding drum (1) which is greater than 1000 mm, said carding drum (1) has diameter ranging between 700 mm to 1100 mm;
a revolving flat arrangement (2) comprising a plurality of flats (2a) connected thereto forming a closed loop structure, and disposed adjacent to the at least one carding drum (1) forming a carding area, wherein, at any point of time, at least 36 flats of plurality of flats (2a) forming working flats makes contact to the carding area.

2. The apparatus (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carding drum (1) has preferable diameter ranging between 900 mm to 1100 mm.

3. The apparatus (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the working width of carding drum (1) is preferably 1500 mm.

4. The apparatus (10) as claimed in claims 1, wherein periphery of the carding drum (1) between licker-in roller (6) configured in a carding machine and the revolving flat arrangement (3) forms a pre-carding area (4), which is about 22% of surface of the carding drum (1).

5. The apparatus (10) as claimed in claims 1, wherein periphery of carding drum (1) between the revolving flat arrangement (2) and a doffer roller (7) configured in a carding machine forms a post-carding area (5), which is about 21% of surface of the carding drum (1).

6. The apparatus (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carding area is configured as a main carding area (M) which is about 40% of surface of the carding drum (1).
7. A carding machine (20) comprising an apparatus (10) for processing fibres as claimed in claim 1.

8. The carding machine (20) as claimed in claim 7 includes a licker-in roller (6) for receiving fiber batt and a doffer roller (7) for collecting carded fibres from the at least one carding drum (1).