Bangladesh University of Textiles

Subject: YE 306: Process Control in Spinning (Practical)

Lab Handout

Experiment No: 6
Experiment Name: Process Control at Comber.
Fibre Properties:
Table 1: Influence of fibre properties on the combing operation
Cottons with higher short fibre% Higher noil% and higher cost of final yarn.
Complicated combing operation as fibres stick with each other and also
Cottons with higher moisture
with the machine parts.
content%
Obstract the fibre passage and lead to fibre breakage and poor combing.
Cottons with lower moisture The fibre become dry and lack cohesion. Difficult to move the fibres
content% from one machine part to another. Fibres tend to fly.
Fibres with higher stiffness More prone to fibre damage.
Fibre fineness The lap made with finer fibres produces fine quality combed sliver.
The higher amount of trash in the feed lap may damage the half lap and
Cottons with higher trash%
top comb needles.

Lap Preparation:
Table 2: Influence of lap on the combing operation
Good and parallel
The load on the half lap and top comb needles gets reduced.
fibre orientation in lap
Overparallelized fibres
Lap licking will arise due to poor fibre to fibre adhesion.
in the lap
Impart more stress on combing needles, resulting inefficient combing.
Thicker lap
Yarn imperfections and hairiness increase with thicker lap.
Uniform lap across the width is highly important for smooth combing operation.
Lap uniformity Too many thick and thin places in the lap will affect the productivity and output
sliver quality.
Lack of proper web tension generates a soft lap that is prone to damage during
handling.
Lap tension
Too high tension makes it difficult to unwind the lap at comber, especially the last
few layers.

Type of Feed:
Table 3: Influence of feed type on noil%
Higher production rate with less noil% (5-12%)
𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 2
Forward feed or Concurrent feed 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 − 2
𝑁𝑜𝑖𝑙% = ( ) × 100%
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
Better quality of product at the loss of more noil% (12-25%)
𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 2
Backward feed or Counter feed 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 +
𝑁𝑜𝑖𝑙% = ( 2 ) × 100%
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

Feed per Nip:

Table 4: Influence of feed amount on the combing operation
Increases the output web thickness.
Reduces the web hole.
Improves the production of the comber machine.
Reduces the comber noil% for forward feed and increases for the backward feed.
Longer feed per nip Degrades the sliver quality during forward feeding.
Increases yarn imperfections.
Increases the amount of fibre handled.
Reduces the combing efficiency.
Removes less short fibre%.
 Bangladesh University of Textiles
Subject: YE 306: Process Control in Spinning (Practical)
Lab Handout

Detachment Setting:
 One of the main settings responsible for the change of noil percentage,
 Refers to the distance between the bite of the nippers and the nip of the detaching rollers when nipper
assembly is at the most advanced position.
 A closer setting is associated with lower noil level.
 Normally lies in the range of 15-25 mm.
 A large setting results in more loss of noil.
Top Comb:
 Usually, top comb point density falls in the range of 23-32 needles/cm.
 For short/medium staple fibre 26 needles/cm and for medium/ long staple, 30 needles/ cm can be used.
 For <3.6 mic, 30 needles/cm and for >3.8 mic, 26 needles/ cm.
Table 5: Influence of the top comb parameters
Fewer needles/ cm Higher production with lower waste elimination.
Produces slivers with improved mean length, less SFC% and better CV%.
More needles/ cm Better cleaning capacity.
Less neps/ gm.
Top comb close to the nippers Reduces the noil%
Increases noil%.
Deep penetration disturbs fibre movement during piecing.
Lowering the top comb Increases neps removal efficiency.
Reduces imperfections.
Increases classimat long faults when there are larger number of fibres.

Assessment:
50% span length of the combed sliver-50% span length of the combed lap
Combing Efficiency= ( ) ×100%
50% span length of the combed lap×Noil%
Mean length of comber noil
Degree of Fibre Loss Index (FLI%)= ×100%
Mean length of combed sliver
Half Lap Pin Arrangement:
 Saw tooth clothing is used in circular comb.
 The teeth of the bars become finer, closer and shorter from first bar to last bar.
 The first rows of teeth are inclined at a steep angle so that they will definitely catch the lap projecting
from the nippers and lead the fibres well down to their base. Successive bars have less of this inclination.
Table 6: Tooth density (Teeth/inch) for the half lap
Number of Rows 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
20-40 Ne
9 12 18 25 31 42 50 56 63 72 72 78 78
(4.0-4.5 Mic)
50-80 Ne
12 18 25 31 42 50 56 63 72 78 78 84 84
(3.5-3.9 Mic)

Defects:
Table 7: Defects in combed sliver and their reasons
Defects Reasons
Differences in waste extraction between heads.
Variation in the settings between back detaching roller and nipper.
Half lap choked with seed coats or immature cotton.
Wider setting between half lap and comb clearing brush.
Eccentric top and bottom rollers.
Higher sliver mass variation
Mis-aligned and bent nippers.
Improper needle spacing, broken or bent needles.
Variation in detaching roller diameter.
Improper timing of top combs.
Fluctuation in pneumatic pressure for top roller weighting.
 Bangladesh University of Textiles
Subject: YE 306: Process Control in Spinning (Practical)
Lab Handout

Choked aspirator.
Differences in the piecing distance.
Incorrect timing of the detaching roller cam.
Thick and thin bars in comber Top comb set too deeply.
web Top comb touching the back detaching roller.
Improper pressure on nippers.
Variation in top comb penetration between the heads of the same
comber.
Variation in settings between half lab and bottom nipper.
Differences in noil between
Improper setting of the cam which decides the length of overlapping
heads
after combing.
Uneven and insufficient nipper grip.
Variation in diameter and pressure of top detaching rollers.
Presence of fibre hooks or disorderly arranged fibres due to non-standard
preparatory process.
Timing of the combing cycles nit adjusted properly.
Top comb choked with short fibres/ immature fibres.
Poor combing efficiency Inadequate penetration of top comb.
Half lap cleaning brush loose on shaft or set too far from the cylinder.
Excessive variation in short fibre content in the mixing.
Wider setting between half lap and nipper.
Inconsistent mixing of the soft waste.
Wider setting between half lap and bottom nipper.
Low penetration of brush with half lap.
Insufficient penetration of top comb.
Poor nep removal efficiency Uneven nipper grip.
Damaged needles in half lap.
Damaged/ absence of top roller clearer cloth.
Incorrect atmospheric conditions.
Rough surface of sliver guides.
Eccentric coiler calender rollers.
Higher sliver breaks at coiler
Tension draft too high.
Excess parallelization of fibres in the sliver (higher precomber draft).
Wax and trash deposited in coiler, obstruct sliver passage and choks.
Coiler choking Too many thick places, undrafted places in the sliver.
Higher RH%.
Improper tension draft and roller settings.
Excessive lap licking and
Higher precomber draft (excess parallelization).
splitting
Uneven lap and right winding.