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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #174165
Title: INITIAL EVALUATION OF A MODIFIED CYLINDER-TYPE CLEANER FOR SEED COTTON

Author
item Ray, Sam
item Anthony, William

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/4/2005
Publication Date: 1/7/2005
Citation: Ray, S.J., Anthony, W.S. 2005. Initial evaluation of a modified cylinder-type cleaner for seed cotton. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. CD ROM pp. 732-744.

Interpretive Summary: During gin processing, two saw-type lint cleaners are currently recommended to clean the lint after fiber-seed separation. Though lint cleaners remove an impressive amount of foreign material, the aggressive cleaning action degrades the quality of the lint, as well as expels a considerable amount of fiber. Prior to fiber-seed separation, seed cotton cleaners are much less aggressive and essentially do not affect the quality of the fiber. However, the gentle cleaning action is compromised by lower cleaning efficiency. Previous work has shown that three seed cotton cleaners can be used in lieu of the second lint cleaner. This study investigated parameter modifications of a cylinder-type seed cotton cleaner, with the goal of reducing the number of seed cotton cleaners required to replace the second lint cleaner. Cylinder cleaners consist of spiked cylinders that scrub seed cotton across a series of cleaning points known as grid bars, which allow the foreign material to fall through the gaps between the bars. Test treatments were combinations of cylinder speed (conventional and high) and grid bar type (conventional round, thin square, large square, thin diamond, large diamond). The results indicated that the large square grid bars at the higher cylinder speed performed significantly better than the conventional grid bar and cylinder speed, considering both cleaning efficiency and fiber loss. Adoption of these findings will produce bales of cotton with less fiber damage.

Technical Abstract: The effectiveness of eight grid bar/speed treatments of a gravity-fed inclined six-cylinder cleaner equipped with "paddles" was evaluated for cleaning seed cotton, based on cleaning efficiency and fiber wastage. The conventional grid bar configuration with round grid bars was analyzed, as well as 3/8-in. and 1/4-in. wide square bars, with 1/4-in. and 3/8-in. gaps, respectively. The square grid bar configurations included both flat square bars, in which the sides of the square bars were tangential to cotton flow, and sharp square bars, with the corner tangential to the flow of cotton. A cylinder speed of 480 rpm (conventional) was evaluated for all grid bar configurations, and a speed of 980 rpm was evaluated for all configurations except the thin square bars. Also, half the seed cotton was pre-cleaned before testing, so both first and second stage cleanings could be simulated. The study also included a performance evaluation of the first three and second three grid sections by capturing the wastes from each separately. Results indicated that the flat, square 3/8-in. bars at a cylinder speed of 980 rpm performed the best in overall cleaning performance and first and second stage cleaning performance. Analysis of the first three and second three grid sections revealed that the flat, square 1/4-in. bars at a cylinder speed of 480 rpm performed the best on the first threes sections, while the flat, square 3/8-in. bars at a cylinder speed of 980 rpm performed the best on the second three sections.