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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #135779
Title: EVALUATION OF CYLINDER CLEANER GRID BAR CONFIGURATION AND CYLINDER SPEED FOR CLEANING OF SEED COTTON, LINT, AND LINT CLEANER WASTE

Author
item WHITELOCK, D. - UNIV OF WISCONSIN
item Anthony, William

Submitted to: Applied Engineering in Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/3/2003
Publication Date: 4/3/2003
Citation: WHITELOCK, D.P., ANTHONY, W.S. EVALUATION OF CYLINDER CLEANER GRID BAR CONFIGURATION AND CYLINDER SPEED FOR CLEANING OF SEED COTTON, LINT, AND LINT CLEANER WASTE. APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE. 2003. 19(1):31-37

Interpretive Summary: When cotton arrives at the gin, it contains 5 to 15% foreign matter such as plant parts. Different types of cleaners are used to remove the foreign matter from raw seed cotton before fiber-seed separation and from the fiber. In addition, the waste from the fiber cleaning process is cleaned to extract the good fiber. Improvements in the current cleaning technology for all three types of material are needed to reduce fiber damage, improve cleaning efficiency, and increase farmer profits. Thus, different designs of cleaning bars for standard seed cotton cleaners were constructed and tested at different cylinder speeds for cleaning seed cotton, fiber, and fiber waste. Results showed that more aggressive, square grid bars were better than conventional round grid bars in cleaning all three types of material, but allowed more fiber to escape with the trash when cleaning seed cotton. Increasing cylinder speeds from 480 to 1100 rpm also increased the cleaning efficiency. A cylinder cleaner equipped with flat, square grid bars and operated at 1100 rpm was best for balancing fiber waste cleaning and fiber wastage. However, different grid bar configurations and cylinder cleaner speeds are required for each of the three types of material in order to optimize processing. Further testing of these new configurations is required but these data clearly indicate the potential for increased profits and reduced damage.

Technical Abstract: Since cotton arrives at the gin contaminated with foreign material such as plant parts, cleaning is required. Standard machines are used for this purpose. In this study, tests were performed to remove the foreign material from seed cotton, lint, and lint cleaner waste with cylinder cleaners operated with different types of grid bars and cylinder speeds. Results showed that more aggressive, square grid bars performed better than conventional round grid bars in cleaning all three types of material, but allowed more fiber to escape with the trash when cleaning seed cotton. Increasing cylinder speeds from 480 to 1100 rpm also increased the cleaning performance of the cylinder cleaners. Of the five types of grid bars evaluated in this study, the normal grid bars remained the preferred type for seed cotton cleaning. The cylinder cleaner with sharp, square grid bars operated at 1100 rpm cylinder speed cleaned lint better than the other treatments and was 80% as effective as a conventional saw-type lint cleaner. In addition, a cylinder cleaner equipped with flat, square grid bars and operated at 1100 rpm was the best solution to balancing lint cleaner waste cleaning and fiber wastage. These modifications provide additional cleaning and may cause less fiber damage.