Introduction 1

Main Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 1.1

1.1 Purpose of the application handbook ....................................................................................... 1.1

1.2 Yarn faults and yarn clearer ....................................................................................................... 1.1
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1.3 Short history of the USTER yarn clearers ............................................................................... 1.3
1.4 Origin of seldom-occurring yarn faults ..................................................................................... 1.5
1.4.1 Separation of frequent and seldom-occurring yarn faults ............................................................. 1.5
1.4.2 Distinction between frequent and seldom-occurring yarn faults .................................................... 1.6
1.5 Classification of seldom-occurring thick and thin places ...................................................... 1.7
1.6 Allocation of seldom-occurring yarn faults to the Classimat matrix ..................................... 1.8
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1.7 Structure of the USTER QUANTUM 3 .................................................................................... 1.11
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1.7.1 Features of USTER QUANTUM 3 and options ......................................................................... 1.12
1.7.2 Features versus measuring head types ...................................................................................... 1.13

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1 Introduction

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 Introduction 1

1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the application handbook

In order to be able to use the USTER® QUANTUM 3 with all its possibilities to its optimum, it is neces-
sary to have a comprehensive knowledge about the clearer. It contains the experience we gained
over the years and should fulfill the following purposes:
• Introduction to yarn clearing for beginners and students
• Instructions for optimum use for the quality management of a spinning mill
• Basis for the application training for the instructor

In order to understand the explanations in this application handbook, it is advantageous, if:

• you have some knowledge about the textile production process, particularly the winding process
• you are in a position to operate a winding machine with the USTER® QUANTUM 3 installed when
going through the Application Handbook

Validity of this Application Handbook

The explanations in this Application Handbook refer to the functions of the USTER® QUANTUM 3.
They are subject to change without notice.

Abbreviations and explanation of terms

In the appendix of this book (section 16.2 and 16.3) a list of all the abbreviations and explanations of
terms is given.

1.2 Yarn faults and yarn clearer

The principles of the spinning process for short- and long-staple yarns remained the same for many
decades. Changes took place especially in the field of automation and production quantity per produc-
tion hour in order to reach the highest production of yarn and with a good quality at the least expens-
es for personnel, capital and energy. For this, a significant technological progress in each process
stage was essential.

Despite this progress and many years of experience in spinning technology, it is still not possible to
produce a fault-free yarn. Depending on the raw material and condition of the machinery, there are
about 20 to 100 events over a length of 100 km yarn, which do not correspond to the desired appear-
ance of yarns in fabrics. This means, that the yarn exhibits a disturbing yarn fault every 1 to 5 km.
These kinds of yarn faults are places, which are too thick or too thin. Foreign fibers or contaminated
fibers in the yarn are also counted as disturbing yarn faults.

Fig. 1-1 shows the most important yarn fault categories which have to be eliminated on the winding
machine in most of the cases.

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1 Introduction

st nd rd th
Fig. 1-1 1 row: Disturbing thick places / 2 row: Vegetables / 3 row: Disturbing colored fibers / 4 row:
Disturbing white fibers (polypropylene)

Yarn faults cause disruptions in the subsequent process stages, which affect production and quality.

Yarn faults, which are already processed into woven or knitted fabric, can only be removed at very
high costs or not at all. Therefore, the yarn processing industry demands a fault-free yarn from the
yarn producer. The spinner has to fulfill these demands; otherwise he cannot sell the yarn at reason-
able prices.

The spinner can fulfill these demands by a combination of two measures:

1. Prevent the origin of yarn faults by adequate measures.

2. Remove yarn faults by the aid of yarn clearers.

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The measures to avoid the origin of yarn faults are numerous and start with the choice of the raw ma-
terial, the maintenance of the machines up to the cleanliness in the spinning mill. Well educated, mo-
tivated personnel and an efficient quality management play also an important role.

Yarn faults, which are still produced despite all measures, are removed according to the following
principle:

Fig. 1-2 Principle of yarn clearing on the winding machine

1. During the winding process from bobbin to cone, the yarn is permanently monitored for yarn faults
with an electronic device, the yarn clearer.

2. As soon as the yarn clearer detects a yarn fault, the yarn will be cut by the cutter if the fault ex-
ceeds the limits. For this purpose the winding process is interrupted.

3. The yarn fault is removed by the suction device of the winding machine.

4. Both ends, the upper yarn from the cone as well as the lower yarn from the bobbin, have to be
joined again. The yarn joint is done by splicing with a splicing device or knotting with a knotting
device. The latter is only used very rarely for special yarns. A good splice should not be recog-
nized by the human eye. Up to date yarn clearers also monitor the quality of the yarn joint.

5. The winding process continues until the next fault occurs or the end of the bobbin is reached.

1.3 Short history of the USTER® yarn clearers

In 1960 Uster Technologies launched the first electronic yarn clearer, the USTER® SPECTOMATIC.
With one single, central setting the threshold at which the cutter should be activated could be deter-
mined. Once on the market, the demands for the yarn clearer rose steadily. Since then, Uster Tech-
nologies could always fulfill the demands of the customers to their full satisfaction with innovative
clearer models.

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1 Introduction

Fig. 1-3 shows the improvements and features since 1960 up to the eighth generation of the USTER®
QUANTUM 3 of today for winding machines.

Fig. 1-3 Uster clearer generations and their additional functions for winding machines

The numerous functions of the USTER® QUANTUM 3 for a comprehensive yarn control can be
summed up as follows:

• Monitoring and elimination of disturbing yarn faults

• Monitoring and controlling of machine functions
• Determination of quality parameters of the yarn
• Triggering of alarms if outlier bobbins occur
• Visualization of data on the display, for reports, information systems and for the subsequent pro-
cess stages

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 Introduction 1

In order to define and control all these functions, various settings to fulfill all the requirements in the
textile industry can be carried out at the USTER® QUANTUM 3. This stands in contrast to one single
setting of the first clearer generation.

1.4 Origin of seldom-occurring yarn faults

1.4.1 Separation of frequent and seldom-occurring yarn faults

During the spinning process, a card sliver with about 20'000 to 40'000 fibers in the cross-section is
drawn to a yarn with about 40 to 1000 fibers in the cross-section. During the spinning process it is not
possible to keep the number of fibers in the cross-section constant at every moment.

This leads to random variations of the mass. Only spinning mills with a permanent improvement pro-
cess are able to keep these random variations within close limits.

These variations are measured by the evenness tester in the laboratory. They are a measure for the
unevenness of the yarn and are called imperfections. They occur so frequently that they are not elimi-
nated from the yarn (Fig. 1-4). Their number of imperfections is generally given per 1000 m of yarn.

In contrast to the frequent yarn faults, there are also the seldom-occurring yarn faults. The difference
between the frequent yarn faults and the seldom-occurring yarn faults is mainly given by the larger
mass or diameter deviation. As these faults occur only seldom, their number is expressed per 100'000
m. These faults are monitored and classified by the USTER® CLASSIMAT or by the clearer installa-
tion on the machine.

Fig. 1-4 Frequent yarn faults and seldom-occurring yarn faults. The deviations in percent are either mass or
diameter related, depending on the type of sensor.

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1 Introduction

The average mass increase for thick places has to exceed +75% for faults below 2 cm, 45% for faults
below 4 cm length and +30% for faults longer than 4 cm to be counted by the classifying system of
the USTER® QUANTUM CLEARER. In the area of thin places the average mass of a fault has to drop
at least 20% to be counted.

Fig. 1-5 Classification matrix for disturbing thick and thin places

1.4.2 Distinction between frequent and seldom-occurring yarn faults

Fig. 1-6 shows the position of the frequent yarn faults (imperfections, green area in Fig. 1-6) in com-
parison to the position of the seldom-occurring yarn faults in the classification matrix. It is obvious,
that both types of yarn faults differ from each other clearly by their.

In addition, the areas of the clearer settings N, S, L, T, CCp and CCm are indicated. This shows
where the settings are effective. N + S = short thick places, L = long thick places, T = thin places, CCp
= count deviations in positive direction, CCm = count deviation in minus direction.

Fig. 1-6 Positions of the frequent versus the seldom-occurring yarn faults

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1.5 Classification of seldom-occurring thick and thin places

Classifications are used in spinning mills either as on-line monitoring system as a feature of the clear-
ing system on automatic winding machines or as an analyzing instrument on manual winding ma-
chines in textile laboratories, and they play a very important role to analyze seldom-occurring yarn
faults.

Fig. 1-7 shows the classification matrix of this analyzing system with a few examples of seldom-
occurring yarn faults for the thick place classes A1 to D4 which are assigned by the system to the
respective classes.

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Fig. 1-7 Classes of the USTER CLASSIMAT QUANTUM system. The new additional classes are not
shown in this figure

It is obvious that the appearance of seldom-occurring faults in a fabric depends on various items:
• The cross-section of the fault compared to the mean value
• The length of the fault
• The count of the yarn
• The yarn density in the fabric
• The type of fabric (weaving or knitting)

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1.6 Allocation of seldom-occurring yarn faults to the Classimat matrix

A basic rule in quality management is a preventive maintenance rather than corrections afterwards.
Unfortunately, this is not yet possible with the technology of today. Textile specialists in spinning mills
who have to conquer disturbing yarn faults have to find the origin of such yarn faults.

Table 1-1 shows a selection of sources which produce seldom-occurring faults in the respective cate-
gories. It is a collection of reasons over many years why such events happened. The classes A0 to I2
correspond to the matrix, Fig. 1-5.

Classes Possible reason of faults Comments

A (Thick place) A0 Extended class, mainly used for ply yarn and compact yarn
A1 Bad condition of carding, blow room, trash in yarn (Short thick places)
A2 Bad condition of carding, blow room, trash in yarn
A3 Neps, fluff, foreign matters, dirty drafting zone
A4 Ring front zone dirty, fly in trumpet (Unacceptable faults)
B (Thick place) B0 Extended class, mainly used for ply yarn and compact yarn
B1 Fibers damage in process, spindle without aprons (Short thick places)
B2 Fibers damage in process, spindle without aprons
B3 Fluff in travelers, unsuitable travelers, bad piecing
B4 Slub from ring spinning department (Unacceptable faults)
C (Thick place) C0 Extended class, mainly used for ply yarn and compact yarn
C1 Bad piecing in cans, sliver entanglements (Short thick places)
C2 Bad piecing in cans, sliver entanglements
C3 Piecing, ring spinning (Unacceptable faults)
C4 Floating fibers, fly, slub (Unacceptable faults)
D (Thick place) D0 Extended class, mainly used for ply yarn and compact yarn
D1 Floating fibers
D2 Gauge problem of roving frame, spacer problem (Unacceptable faults)
D3 Fluff in ring spinning or roving (Unacceptable faults)
D4 Fluff in ring spinning or roving (Unacceptable faults)
E (Thick place) E Double yarn, count variation (Spinners double)
F (Thick place) F Bad piecing in ring yarns, roving & back process (Long thick places)
G (Thick place) G Bad piecing in ring, roving & back process etc. (Long thick places)
H (Thin place) H1 Mostly eccentric bobbins on roving & ring frames, eccentric (Thin places)
spindles, drawing problems
H2 Poor handling of material during processes (Thin places)
I (Thin place) I1 This type of faults is mostly produced by separation of (Long thin places)
parts of sliver or roving prior to spinning
I2 This type of faults is mostly produced by separation of (Long thin places)
parts of sliver or roving prior to spinning

Table 1-1 Classimat defects / Classification and sources of origin. Additional classes are not mentioned in
this table

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Disturbing yarn faults caused by raw material and card

These faults depend on the quality of the raw material. For natural fibers, they depend mainly on the
physical properties such as fiber fineness, length and short fiber content. For synthetic fibers, the
faults depend mainly on the disentanglement of single fibers. Insufficient disentanglement can lead to
felted single fibers, which might be caused by softeners, oil additives, lubricants or climatic conditions.

Disturbing yarn faults caused by processes prior to spinning

These faults are characterized by extreme diameter variations or poor friction of the fibers. Often, it is
a matter of fiber packages, which are not caught in the draw-box of prior processes and were not
drawn apart. Therefore, they show a big increase of the mass or diameter in the yarn.

Disturbing yarn faults caused in spinning

Most disturbing yarn faults are caused by spun-in fly in the area of the ring spinning machine and by
fiber residues, which cling to the draw-box or other parts of the spinning machine and which are swept
away from time to time and are spun into the yarn.

Furthermore, it is possible that different setting possibilities of the ring spinning machine, as e.g. draft
or distance settings of the draw-box, have an influence on the number of seldom-occurring yarn
faults.

Thick places in a woven fabric are shown in Fig. 1-8 to Fig. 1-9. Here we can see a spun-in fly failure.
This refers to free fibers which fall into the drafting elements or onto the roving which is being fed into
the drawing unit of the ring spinning machine and are then twisted into the yarn along their entire
length.

Fig. 1-8 Flying fibers which fall onto the roving or Fig. 1-9 Thick place in woven fabric as a result of
into the drafting elements and are then a spun-in fly
twisted into the yarn

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As most of these yarn faults can lead to problems in the subsequent processes or are disturbing in
the end product, they must be removed from the yarn and replaced by a splice. The art of yarn clear-
ing consists of cutting out the most disturbing faults without influencing the efficiency of the machine
too much. Therefore, yarn clearing is always a compromise.

Foreign fibers

Foreign fibers in the yarn belong also to the group of seldom-occurring yarn faults. The cause for for-
eign fibers are contaminations, which get crushed in the spinning process, especially by the card, and
are noticed as foreign fibers in the yarn at the end of the spinning process. Further explanations con-
cerning this subject can be found in chapter 8, "Foreign fibers", of this Application Handbook.

Fig. 1-10 Classification matrix for foreign fibers and vegetables

Fig. 1-11 Foreign fiber in a yarn Fig. 1-12 Vegetable in a yarn

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1.7 Structure of the USTER® QUANTUM 3

The USTER® QUANTUM 3 is the successor of the USTER® QUANTUM 2. This new clearer genera-
tion is focused on simplifying the complexities of yarn clearing and thereby enables the user to easily
and fully exploit all clearer capabilities and to optimize production costs every day. The USTER®
QUANTUM 3 interprets and displays the yarn characteristics within minutes and proposes a starting
point for clearing limits with a cut forecast by pressing a single button.

One of the key highlights is the integration of the well-known USTER® knowhow in the system on the
winder. Another exciting new innovation is a completely new foreign fiber clearing technology with
vegetable clearing which is able to detect all colors and separates foreign matter into two separate
pools: foreign fibers and vegetables. This separation improves the foreign fiber clearing efficiency
significantly by reducing cuts for the same quality or gets a better quality for the same cuts.

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Fig. 1-13 New features of USTER QUANTUM 3 - Smart Clearing Technology

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1.7.1 Features of USTER® QUANTUM 3 and options

Table 1-2 shows the individual features of the options.

OPTIONS FEATURES COMMENTS

TM
Basic clear- YARN BODY (N, S, L, T,C, CC) Visualization of the yarn characteristics
ing Smart limits (N, S, L, T, CC) A proposed starting point for clearing limits
Visualization of the thick and thin places, count deviations
Scatter plot (N, S, L, T, C, CC, J)
and splices.
N, S, L, T Elimination of the disturbing thick and thin places
C, CC Count deviation clearing and monitoring
Jp, Jm Splice Clearing
Cut forecast A forecast of cut numbers per 100 km
Technical alarms Alert for technical problems
Textile alarms Alert for textile problems
Foreign mat- Dense Area (FD, FL, VEG) Identification of range where foreign fibers are located
ter
Smart limit (FD) A proposed starting point for foreign fiber clearing limits
Vegetable
Clearing Visualization of dark foreign fibers
Scatter plot (FD,FL)
(Option)
Dark foreign matter (FD) Elimination of dark foreign fibers

Light foreign matter (FL) Elimination of light foreign fibers

On-line foreign matter classification Classification of foreign fibers

Identification of vegetables Separation of vegetable matter

On-line vegetable classification Classification of vegetable matter

Polypropyl- Smart limit (PP) A proposed starting point for polypropylene clearing limit
ene fibers
(Option) Scatter plot (PP) Visualization of polypropylene fibers

Q-Data (Op- Evenness (CV) Determination of the yarn evenness

tion)
Determination of the frequent thick places, thin places and
Imperfections
neps
Basic on-line classification (NSLT, FD, J and Classification of disturbing thick and thin places, foreign
VEG) fibers, splices and vegetables
Triggering of alarm if the number of disturbing faults has
Class alarms
exceed the selected number of faults
Periodic Faults (PF) Detection of periodic faults
Hairiness Absolute hairiness measurement Determination of the hairiness value
(Option) Exception spindle detection Recognition of spindles with excessive hairiness
Expert (Op- Access to the data output for Expert System and central-
tion) Expert
ized data collection and reporting
Advanced Extended Classes Classification of additional classes in NSLT, F, VEG
Classifica-
tion (Option) Tailored classes Classes can be selected by customers

Table 1-2 Features of Basic Clearing and options

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1.7.2 Features versus measuring head types

Table 1-3 below describes what type of USTER® QUANTUM 3 sensor for each measuring head is
appropriate for which kind of application.

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Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Optical Optical

MEASURING HEAD TYPES
C15 C20 C15 F30 C20 F30 O30 O30 F30

BASIC X X X X X X
FOREIGN MATTER
(Option)
--- --- X X --- X

VEGETABLE (Option) --- --- X X --- ---

POLYPROPYLENE
FEATURES

(Option)
--- --- O* O* --- ---

Q-DATA (Option) O O X X O X
HAIRINESS (Option) --- --- O O --- O
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O O O O O O
EXPERT 3

ADVANCED CLASSI-
FICATION (Option)
O O O O O O
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Table 1-3 The USTER QUANTUM 3 sensors and options

Key:

X This feature is included in this version of the sensor

O Product Option Key (POK) is needed to have access to the feature mentioned in the header of this col-
umn
O* Hardware upgrade required in the Central Clearing Unit 6 (CCU6) to have access to the feature
--- Not available with this iMH type

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