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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #264226
Title: Removing seed coat fragments with newly-designed lint cleaner grid bars

Author
item Armijo, Carlos
item Whitelock, Derek
item Hughs, Sidney
item BARNES, EDWARD - Cotton, Inc
item GILLUM, MARVIS - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2011
Publication Date: 4/26/2011
Citation: Armijo, C.B., Whitelock, D.P., Hughs, S.E., Barnes, E.M., Gillum, M.N. 2011. Removing seed coat fragments with newly-designed lint cleaner grid bars. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 647-658.

Interpretive Summary: Seed Coat Fragments (SCFs) that remain in ginned lint reduce spinning efficiency at the textile mill, and ultimately affect the quality of finished goods. An experiment was conducted to remove SCFs at the saw-type lint cleaner using newly-designed grid bars with angles and edges different from conventional grid bars. Two types of cotton were used, a common upland cultivar and a cultivar known to have a fragile seed coat that breaks easily and contaminates lint with SCFs. Results showed noticeable differences in fiber and lint cleaner trash properties between the cultivars. However, there were very few differences in fiber properties among grid bar treatments, especially AFIS seed coat nep count which was used as an indicator for seed coat fragments. There were differences in lint trash content, and lint loss in the lint cleaner trash, among grid bar designs. It appeared that the 105°, 60°, and 45° grid bars (those with one or more active edges) had less lint loss as the angle of the sharp toe of the grid bar decreased. The clearance between the grid bar and lint cleaner saw may be more sensitive than previously thought; this clearance warrants further testing with the experimental grid bars. Reducing SCFs in ginned lint will provide the producer with a more profitable and desirable fiber.

Technical Abstract: An experiment was conducted to remove seed coat fragments at the saw-type lint cleaner using newly-designed grid bars. The test consisted of four experimental grid bar designs and one control. The experimental grid bar designs included grid bars with angles of the sharp toe of the grid bar (or the clockwise angle from vertical) of 105°, 60°, and 45°, and a grid bar design that had a rounded tip with a 0.79-mm (0.031-in) radius. The 105° and 60° grid bars were unique in that they had a second edge a short distance from the toe of the grid bar. Two types of cotton were used, a common upland cultivar and a cultivar known to have a fragile seed coat that breaks easily and contaminates lint with seed coat fragments. Due to many problems with the control grid bar treatment, it was eliminated from the analysis and the experimental grid bars were compared. Results showed noticeable differences in fiber and lint cleaner trash properties between the cultivars. However, there were very few differences in fiber properties among grid bar treatments, especially AFIS seed coat nep count which was used as an indicator for seed coat fragments. There were differences in lint trash content, and lint loss in the lint cleaner trash, among grid bar designs. It appeared that the 105°, 60°, and 45° grid bars (those with one or more active edges) had less lint loss as the angle of the sharp toe of the grid bar decreased. The clearance between the grid bar and lint cleaner saw may be more sensitive than previously thought in testing the experimental grid bars. Future work includes using a high-speed video camera to help determine the interaction between grid bar design, and clearance between the grid bar and lint cleaner saw. The experiment will be rerun with treatments that use different clearances between the grid bar and lint cleaner saw, as well as using a control set of grid bars mounted on the same lint cleaner as the experimental grid bars.