DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to mobile working platform for textile mills. More particularly the present invention relates to mobile working platform assembly for textile machines like Blow room, Carding, Lap Former, Comber, Draw Frame, Speed Frame, Ring Frame, automatic yarn winding machines etc..

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Generally, in textile spinning industry the staple fibre are opened, cleaned, and then twisted together to form yarn. Firstly the staple fibre are processed in the Blow room where opening and cleaning is carried out with series of machines like Baleplucker, swift floc, Vario clean, unimix, flexi clean. And then the cleaned staple fibers bunches are passed through chute arrangement to the carding machine, which breaks up, disentangle bunches and locks of fibers and arrange them in a parallel direction. It is also be used to eliminate lints and other foreign materials. The individualized fibers are condensed and stored in sliver can in the form of sliver and transported to draw frame. In draw frame, doubling and drafting of plurality of fed slivers are done. The drafted slivers are formed into a lap by means of Lap forming machine. Then formed lap is further combed in the combing machine for removing short fibres. The combed sliver is converted into roving in speed frame / fly frame machine. The roving is further twisted into yarn in ring spinning machine and wound onto the ring cop. Then the yarn is wound into cone or cheese in a yarn winding machine.

Generally, textile spinning machine as shown in Figure-1 is provided with fixed working platform (4) which are attached to respective machine frame for the attenders to work in case of any maintenance requirement. The said fixed working platform has single or plurality of foot steps (5) which occupies considerable space in the mill floor when accounted for plurality of machine installations in a textile mill. Moreover, this fixed working platform makes hindrance for man/material movement in a textile spinning mill. Since the working platform’s height is fixed, it would not be useful for attending machine functions when the machine attender is short. Also individual working platform has to be made for each machine depending upon the machine layout, which is expensive and requires more space.

In case of any maintenance requirement or breakdown to be attended, the corresponding machine signals the operator via glowing the indication lamp provided in the respective machine. Operator has to note the machine by this indication through dedicated visual inspection of mill floor. Sometimes, the attender may miss out the notification while he/she works on another machine thereby the production is affected in a particular department which would also affects the consequent production processes. In order to overcome the above said shortcomings, the forthcoming invention disclosure provides a novel working platform for textile mill.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a mobile working platform for a textile spinning industries, which reduces footprint of textile machines.

An Important object of the present invention is to provide a mobile working platform which gives hindrance free passage for men-material movement.

One more object of the present invention is to provide a mobile working platform in which the height can be adjusted for easy maintenance of textile machines.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile working platform which aids in increased production rate in textile machines.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile working platform which is simple in operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a platform assembly suitable for plurality of spinning machines for use in maintenance and eliminating any operational hindrance for man/material movement in textile spinning mills, said assembly comprising:
- a movable platform with driving wheels arranged at the bottom for the movement and travelling along the mill floor/rails/ overhead rails and the like;
- a height adjustable mechanism for adjusting the height of the platform depending upon the requirement; and- a display screen associated control panel for controlling the functions of said movable platform

According to the present invention, the textile mill is provided with at least a mobile platform assembly suitable for plurality of spinning machines. The platform assembly is configured for attending all kind of machines in the textile spinning mill. Mobile working platform assembly according to the invention comprises a platform with driving wheels arranged at the bottom for the movement and travelling along the mill floor / rails / overhead rails etc. This platform is driven manually or automatically by command processing. The driving wheels are provided with a hub motor or a driving motor arrangement for accelerating the wheels, and said motor is preferably powered by a rechargeable battery.

The mobile platform further comprises collapsible scissor arms / telescopic guide / chain wheel / screw rod or the like arrangement for adjusting the height of the platform depending upon the requirement. The lifting & lowering arrangement is controlled (expanded and contracted) by means of a screw rod or pneumatic cylinder or hydraulic actuator etc. The mobile working platform further comprises at least a control panel through which the actuation of lifting & lowering means and acceleration of driving motor can be controlled. The said mobile working platform / vehicle with various capacities and provisions are made such that the vehicle can adapt a single person or more. Also provisions are made to accommodate maintenance tool kit for each and every machines in the textile spinning mill.

The mobile working platform also consists of display unit which is remotely connected to the machine controller in order to get notification about the nature of the fault occurred in the corresponding machine in the floor line.

Other salient features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure-1 of the drawings illustrates the schematic view of the existing fixed working platform.
Figure-2 of the drawings shows schematic view of the mobile working platform according to the present invention.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. 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 of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or component but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

Referring to Figure-1, the textile spinning machine for example draw frame comprises fixed working platform (4) wherein plurality of foot steps (5) are provided to access functional parts of the machine as explained in the background of this invention, by which the maintenance person attends the textile machine in case of any maintenance requirement in the respective machine.

Referring to Figure-2 which shows the schematic view of the mobile working platform according to the present invention comprises of a mobile platform (1). The said Mobile platform (1) includes plurality of driving wheels (2) arranged at the bottom for the movement of the said platform (1) and thus forms a guide vehicle. The wheels (2) are driven by driving motor provided at the base of the said Mobile platform (1) and the said motor is powered by a rechargeable battery (not shown). The Mobile platform (1) is steered manually or by automatic arrangement through control processing communication between the machine to be attended and the guide vehicle.

The Mobile platform (1) comprises a lifting/lowering arrangement for example a scissor arm arrangement for collapsibly adjusting the height (shown by arrow) of the platform (1) according the requirement, which can also be actuated by a pneumatic or hydraulic actuator / screw rod. By extending and contracting the actuator (not shown), the platform can be expanded and collapsed respectively. Thereby the associated platform (1) is lifted or lowered accordingly. The operation of lifting/lowering arrangement can be alternatively operated by mechanical or electrical or both in combination with pneumatic mechanisms. A display screen associated control panel (3) is provided in the movable platform for controlling its functions like actuation of pneumatic cylinders and acceleration of the driving motor. The said mobile working platform with various capacities and provisions are made such that the platform can adapt a single person or more and can be used for material handling like sliver cans, lap rolls, bobbins etc. For operator / material safety concerns, a fencing arrangement with at least a gate is provided, and suitable braking system is provided for stopping the platform vehicle at desired location. Necessary tool kits are provided in the said Mobile platform (1) for specific machines to be attended. An overload warning system is provided in the platform vehicle for safety reasons.

For example, the field wise application and usage of said Mobile platform (1) in a spinning mill is as follows,
- Blowroom :- For attending maintenance works in fibre flock mixing chute & repairing the duct lines.
- Card: - For attending maintenance works in fibre flock feed chute & accessing revolving flat & cleaning areas.
- Draw frame: - For attending maintenance works at feed table; drafting area; feed creels & transporting the sliver cans.
- Lap forming machines:- For attending maintenance works at the top region of the machine, ducts & sometimes for transporting the sliver lap rolls.
- Combing machine: - For attending maintenance works in drafting head & for transporting the sliver cans.
- Speed Frame/Ring Frame/Airjet/Rotor spinning machines: - For attending maintenance works at the feed creel; cleaning area, drafting zones & for handling and transporting wound bobbins.
- Auto cone winding machines: - For attending maintenance works at yarn winding head & for handling and transporting wound bobbins.

Whenever the fault occurred in a specific machine and/or needs maintenance, the signal from the machine will be transmitted to controller of the vehicle or Mobile platform (1) through wireless communication like WiFi, bluetooth, radio frequency etc. The received signal is processed and intimation is displayed in the screen of particular attending vehicle in the machine floor. If the nearby vehicle is engaged with another machine of the same floor, the communication will be triggered alternatively to another nearby Mobile platform (1). Then the particular mobile platform vehicle is steered based on vehicle positioning system to the machine that requires attention. Based on requirement, the vehicle taken by the operator after seeing the alert to attend that particular machine for maintenance or repair. Thus the walking time of the operator towards the machine is reduced which also reduces the fatigue of the attender. This also leads to reduced machine downtime and thereby results in increased production in the spinning mill.

In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the scheduled command from one vehicle can be transferred to or taken over by another vehicle manually based on priority of the machine operator. Since plurality of such vehicles is made available in a spinning mill, the operator/maintenance person/machine logic unit can select the nearby idle vehicle for the required activity. The vehicle or Mobile platform (1) can also be connected to the network of Mill Monitoring System in the spinning mill like “SPIN CONNECT” so as to centrally control the functionality of all such kind of vehicles.

Since the said Mobile platform (1) is provided with variable height adjustment provision, there is no need for working platform with plurality of steps which consumes lot of space adjacent to the machine cabin. The free passage provided for the vehicle can also be used for men material movement when there is no vehicle in the path and thus a space optimization is achieved in the spinning mill.

Moreover, the vehicle is made suitable (universal) for all kind of spinning machines in a mill layout and thus it provides cost and manufacturing advantages because there is no requirement for machine specific vehicle.

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. In practice the materials and dimensions may be any according to the requirements, which will still be comprised within its true spirit. 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.
,CLAIMS:1. A platform assembly suitable for plurality of spinning machines for use in maintenance and eliminating any operational hindrance for man/material movement in textile spinning mills, said assembly comprising:
- a movable platform with driving wheels arranged at the bottom for the movement and travelling along the mill floor/rails/ overhead rails and the like;
- a height adjustable mechanism for adjusting the height of the platform depending upon the requirement; and- a display screen associated control panel for controlling the functions of said movable platform.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the platform is driven manually or automatically by command processing.

3. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the driving wheels are provided with one or more hub motors or driving motor arrangements for accelerating the wheels.

4. The assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein said motor is preferably powered by a rechargeable battery.

5. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the height adjustable mechanism selectively comprising collapsible scissor arms or telescopic guide or chain wheel or screw rod or the like.

6. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the mobile platform having wireless communication facility adapted to transmit signal from the machine to the controller of the vehicle or Mobile platform.

7. The assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein the wireless communication is performed using WiFi, bluetooth, radio frequency and the like.etc.

8. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the received signal is processed and intimation is displayed in the display screen of particular attending vehicle.

9. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims operates based on vehicle positioning system adapted to trigger communications between the mobiles platforms to address situations of emergencies occurring at multiple places at the same time.

10. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein scheduled command from one vehicle can be transferred to or taken over by another vehicle manually based on priority of the machine operator.