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Indian Journal of Textile Research
Vol. 14, December 19H9, Pp. 147-150

Optimization of roller settings using span length concept

I'T v1 atna~P Chellamani ~ S arthike a

(South India Textile Research Association, Coimbatore 641 01~ LA@ta-
Received 31 July 1989; accepted 25 September 1989

A new method to optimize roller settings in draw frame is proposed. The method is based on in-
process testing of fibre length using span length concept. Yarns spun using settings based on the pro-
posed method have better CSP and low count variation than the yams produced using conventional
settings. Explanations based on theoretical considerations have been offered for the observed pheno-
mena.

Keywords: Roller settings, ~ an length, Effective !!.?r~_!~I].g!!:!

1 Introduction One of the purposes of drafting is to straighten

The quality of a yam is characterized by the
different physical textile reference data. An im-
portant criterion is the count variation since text-
ile fabric uniformity is largely influenced by the
yam count variation. The presence of high yarn
count CV affects the appearance of woven and
knitted fabrics. To be specific, weft bars in a wov-
en fabric increase with increase in weft count Cv',
Also, increase in count CV will increase the brea-
kage rate in ring spinning and thereby reduce the
productivity.
The average count CV of Indian yarn is about
3.5% for carded counts and 3% for combed
counts. This is higher than Uster 50% standards
by about 1.1% and 0.8% respectively. Therefore,
the performance of Indian mills is poor in this
aspect.
Under good working conditions, breaker and
finisher draw frames contribute more than 50% to
the total yarn count variation. Therefore, any im-
provement in drawing process will have definite
influence on yarn count variation. Hence, the
present study which aims at (i) optimizing the roll-
er settings in draw frame using span length con-
cept, and (ii) studying the properties of yarns spun
using settings based on span length concept and
comparing with those of yarns produced using
conventional settings.
The quantity of hooks in card sliver varies from
50 to 75% (ref. 1) between cards due to the dif-
ference in speeds and settings. In addition, cotton
fibre is known for the presence of crimps".
the fibres by removing hooks and crimps. The ef-
fective removal of hooks and crimps could be ex-
pected to reduce count variation since count var-
iation is nothing but mass variation between the
lengths of yarn, the length being 120 yards. Hook
and crimp removal will be optimum only if the re-
lationship between fibre length and roller space
settings is optimum. The fibre length changes as
fibres are processed through the various ma-
chines, due to the removal of hooks, crimps and
probable fibre breakages. Hence, roller settings
adjustments based on fibre length as presented to
a particular drafting zone (in-process length)
would be of practical significance. Therefore, to
exercise control over count variation, in-process
length of fibres is to be measured and the roller
settings are to be maintained according to the in-
process length.
In-process length is the length of the fibres in
the fibre fleece as they are coming out of a draft-
ing zone before they are condensed in the form of
sliver. Digital fibrograph is a popular instrument
to measure the in-process length of fibres in terms
of span length. This instrument is provided with a
sliver clamp which can be used to measure the
span lengths both in the forward and backward
directions of a fibre fleece. The difference in
2.5% span length between forward and backward
directions of fibre fleece is proportional to the
quantity of hooked fibres and crimps present in it.
Optimum settings are those which give a mini-
mum difference in 2.5% span length between for-

147
 INDIAN J. TEXT RLS, VOl. 14. DECEMBER 1989

ward and backward directions of the fibre fleece"

Count variation can be expected to be low only at Table 1 - 2.5U
o span length of draw frame sliver for J-34 cotton
these optimum settings. Drafting Sctting 2.5°/') span length
zone mm (mm)
2 Materials and Methods Forward Backward Difference
In general, the roller settings used in finisher hook hook
drawing are the same as those used in breaker direction direction
drawing in most of the mills. Generally, roller set- Breaker draw frame
tings are determined on the basis of best sliver Back zone 42 22,4 26.0 J.6
evenness (minimum U%). But, minimum UOA,of 40 23.1 26.2 3.1
draw frame sliver is not absolutely to be aimed at, .IX 24.1 26.7 2.6
for too narrow settings can bring low Ustcr values 36 D.5 26.3 2.8
but result in low breaking strength and high count Front zone 3X 23.8 26.2 2.4
variation in the yarn. Therefore, a different crite- 36 24.1 26.3 2.2
rion, i.e. minimum difference in length between 34 24.9 26.9 2.0
forward and backward directions of the fibre 32 24.4 26.9 2.5
fleece, has been used in this study for optimizing Finisher draw frame
roller settings.
Back zone 44 25.3 27.1 1.8
Three cottons (J-34, MCU-5 and DCH-32)
42 25.8 27.4 1.6
were selected for trials at SITRA pilot mill. These
40 26.2 27.6 1.4
cottons were processed through modern high
.IX 25.7 27.3 1.6
speed draw frame (3/5 drafting). When the mate-
Front zone 40 25.2 26.6 1.4
rial (card sliver) passed through the back zone of
38 25.7 27.0 1.3
the breaker draw frame, the front zone was made
36 26.7 27.4 0.7
inoperative. The 2.5% span length of the fibre on
34 26.1 27.1 1.0
the fleece coming out of the back zone in the for-
ward and backward hook directions was mea-
sured. The experiment was repeated till optimum Table 2 - Process parameters adopted
settings were arrived at. The results for J-34 cot- Parameter Cotton
ton are given in Table 1 which shows that the dif-
J-34 MCU-5 DCH-32
ference in 2.5% span length between forward and
backward hook directions is minimum (2.6 mm) at Drawing sliver hank, Ne 0.13 0.16 0.20
Roving hank, Ne 1.15 1.80 3.10
the back zone setting of 38 mm. By keeping the
RovingTM 1.15 1.25 1.00
back zone setting at 38 mm, the experiment was
Yarn count, Ne 20 40 80
repeated for the front zone. The diference in
TPI 21.30 26.84 35.84
2.5% span length between forward and backward
Spindle speed, rpm 12000 14400 15000
hook directions is minimum (2.0 mm) at the front
zone setting of 34 mm.
Once the breaker draw frame settings were opt-
imized, the finisher draw frame settings were also ing effective length concept. The same allowances
optimized. The 2.5% span length in forward and were maintained for breaker and finisher draw
backward hook directions for different finisher frames in all the trials conducted using effective
draw frame settings are also given in Table 1. length concept.
Yarns of appropriate counts were produced us- The same process parameters were used in fly
ing optimum draw frame settings based on span frame and ring frame while spinning the yarn us-
length concept. Equivalent yarn samples were also ing span length and effective length concepts. The
produced using settings based on conventional ef- process parameters used are given in Table 2.
fective length concept. As per effective length The yarn samples obtained were tested for the
concept, unevenness (U%) of finisher draw frame sliver.
corrected CSP, and count and strength variations.
Roller settings (nun) = Effective length (mm) + Allowance (mm)

3 Results and Discussion

An allowance of 8 mm in the front zone and an Lea strength and count and strength variations
allowance of 12 mm in the back zone of the draw for the yarns spun using settings based on span
frame were maintained while producing yarns us- length as well as effective length concept are giv-

148
 RATNAM et al.: OPTIMIZATION OF ROLLER SETTINGS

Table 3 - Properties of yarns and slivers produced using settings based on effective length and span length concepts
Parameter Cotton count, tex (Ne)

J-34 MCU-5 DCH-32

29.5 (20s) 14.8 (40s) 7.5 (80s)

A B A B A B
Draw frame setting, mrn
Breaker: Frontzone 34 34 38 38 44 42
Back zone 38 38 42 44 48 48
Finisher: Front zone 34 36 38 40 44 44
Back zone 38 40 42 46 48 50
Draw frame sliver unevenness
(U%)
Breaker 3.8 4.0 4.6 4.0 3.9 3.6
Finisher 3.8 3.9 3.5 3.9 3.5 3.5
Yarn quality
Corrected CSP' 2100 2280 2480 2600 2141 2234
CV'/o of count 3.3 2.8 3.5 2.8 3.6 2.8
CV'/o of strength 7.2 6.7 7.4 6.5 7.7 6.8

'Results are based on 200 leas testing.

A - Setting based on efective length concept.
B - Setting based on span length concept.

en in Table 3. In addition, the actual settings used
in breaker and finisher draw frames and sliver un-
evenness values (U%) are also given in this table.
It is clear from Table 3 that the optimization of
draw frame roller settings using span length con-
cept improves yam CSP by 4-8% in different
counts; At optimum level of draw frame roller settings,
the hook removal is maximum.'. Therefore, the
contribution of fibre length to yam strength im-
proves due to increase in spinning-in-coefficient.
In addition, the CV of lea count also improves
significantly by 0.5-0.8% (absolute values). The
corresponding improvements in relative variance
are 28%, 36% and 39% for 20s, 40s and 80s re-
spectively.
The coefficient of variation of yam count is
nothing but the weight variation between the
lengths of yam, the length being 120 yards. Due
to the maximum removal of hooks at settings
based on span length concept, it is logical to ex-
pect a reduction in weight variation between the
lengths of yam. This could be the reason for the
significant reduction in yam count variation at
modified settings. Since count CV is highly corre-
lated with strength CV, strength CV has also
come down for yarns spun using the modified set-
tings.
However, the unevenness values (U%) of draw
frame slivers produced using settings based on the
two concepts do not vary much.
The improvement in yam count CV'/o could be
expected to be the result of improvement in draw
frame slivers only since the modifications were
carried out at draw frame. Therefore, CV values
were calculated for breaker and finisher draw
frame slivers and rovings for the equivalent cut-
lengths (Table 4 ).
The procedure for calculating the equivalent
cut-length is given in Appendix I.
Table 4 shows that the modification in the
method of optimizing roller settings improves
CV% of breaker draw frame sliver (for equiva-
lent cut-length). This leads to improvement in
CV'/o of materials produced in subsequent pro-
cesses (i.e. finisher drawing, roving and yarn for
equivalent cut-lengths).
Larger trials in mills have also shown that the
adoption of span length by testing in-proc-ess
length of fibres for roller optimization improves
CSP by 2.7-4.3%, CV of yarn count by 0.4-0.6%
(absolute values) and CV of strength by 0.4-1.0%
in different counts (carded).
From the mill level trials it was observed that
for combed counts, the yarn quality improvement

149
 INDIAN J. TEXT. RES .. VOL 14. DECEMBER 19119

Table 4 - CV'/o of breaker and finisher slivers and rovings for equivalent cut-lengths
Count CV'/o
Tex (Ne)
Breaker sliver Finisher sliver Roving

A B A B A B
29.5 (20s) 3.9 3.1 3.5 2.8 3.9 3.2
14.8 (40s) 4.1 3.4 4.2 3.6 4.1 3.4
7.5 (80s) 3.5 3.1 2.9 2.2 4.3 3.4
A - Yarn produced using effective length concept.
B - Yarn produced using span length concept.

due to the adoption of span length concept in 2 Investigation of optimum roller drafting parameters using
post-comber draw frame is marginal and probably the digital firbograph and sliver clamps, Am Text Rep/Bull,
October 1975,42-47.
insignificant. The fibre hooks and crimps present
3 Ramamoorthy Rao T N, Muntazir Ahmed & Parthasarathy
in the pre-combed material are straightened out M S. Proceedings, 24th joint technological conference of
by the half-lap needles of the comber and, there- ATlRA, BTRA, SITRA & NITRA (SITRA, Coimbatore)
fore, the benefits due to hook and crimp removal 1983,161-166.
may not be expected to accrue for combed
counts. Appendix I-Procedure to Calculate Equivalent
Cut-Lengths
4 Conclusions
4.1 Adoption of roller settings based on span Equivalent lengths of material at different
length concept improves yarn quality of carded stages of processing for length equivalent to one
counts. The improvement for carded counts va- lea of yarn are obtained as follows:
ries 3-8% in CSP and 0.4-0.8% (absolute va- Department Equivalent length of material
lues)in CV of count (28-39% in terms of relative Ring frame One lea (120 yd)
variance). Due to the improvement in CV% of
count, the CV% of strength also improves. 120
4.2 The improvement in count variation for yarns Speed frame (roving)
Draft in ring frame
produced using settings based on span length ac-
120
crues mainly from the improvement in weight var- Finisher draw frame
Draft in Draft in
iation of draw frame slivers for equivalent cut- (finisher draw frame x
sliver) ring frame speed frame
lengths.
4.3 For combed counts, the use of span length
concept to optimize roller settings does not seem 120
Breaker draw frame
to improve any of the quality characteristics. (breaker draw frame Draft in Draft in Draft in
x x
sliver) ring frame speed frame finisher
draw frame
Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to Miss Indra Dorais-
wamy, Deputy Director, SITRA, for the sugges-
tions during the study. They are also thankful to In the case of 20s count produced from J-34
the management and staff of the SITRA member cotton, drafts of 17, 15 and 8 were used in spinn-
mills for help in experimental work. ing frame, fly frame and finisher draw frame re-
spectively. Therefore, the equivalent cut-lengths in
References different process were as follows:
Fly frame : 7.70 m
1 Byerley W G, Buckley J T, Miller W, Jolly G H, Battersby
G & Charnley F, Manual of cotton spinning- carding,Vo\. Finisher draw frame : 0.869 m
III, (The Textile Institute - Butter Worths) 1965,240. Breaker draw frame : 0.1089 m

150