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Not AvailableCotton lint samples used for fibre quality evaluation must be clean and free from any non-lint content to ensure accurate measurement of quality parameters otherwise there is every possibility of variations in the readings from the actual values. Presently, testing laboratories resort to opening cotton lint samples either manually by hand or by using trash analyser. The extent of lint opening in both these methods is not uniform and optimum and also the speed is too slow to match the handling capacity of the High Volume Instrument (HVI). Therefore, an attempt was made to design and develop a new mechanical device for opening of cotton lint samples used in fibre quality evaluation. The machine consists of feeder roller, licker-in cylinder and suction assemblies mounted on a frame provided with adequate safety covers. It works on the carding principle where licker-in wires having sharp profile open up lint fibres by scrubbing action. Preliminary test trials of the lint opener have yielded satisfactory performance in terms of the handling capacity (40-50 samples/h) and the specific volume after opening (90-100 cc/g), which was found to be nearly double that of the unopened samples (40-60 cc/g).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableIndia is the leading cotton-producing country in the world with production of about 20 mt of seed cotton harvested every year. The harvested seed cotton contains dust particles, leaves, and immature and unopened cotton bolls, called kawdi cotton for resemblance to kawdi sea shells. When raw seed cotton is taken to ginneries, it is passed through many cleaning systems like hot-box dispenser and pre-cleaner where kawdi cotton is removed. If seed cotton is infested by insect attack or improper production technology, significant amount of kawdi cotton is present in it. About 5-25% kawdi cotton is expected in ginneries depending on the extent of infestation and damage. This material is generally ignored by ginners considering it as a waste material. However, it can be processed and good quality lint can be recovered from it that can provide additional income to ginners. Difficulties in processing kawdi cotton are causing ginners huge losses. If this material is cleaned, opened and ginned, a ginner can make about 1000 bales in a single season and earn an additional profit of around Rs. 2 crore from it. Though, research on processing of kawdi cotton is scant with no reported past data, machines like ‘Bajaj Boll Opener’ are available in the market for cleaning and opening of kawdi cotton, selected for performance evaluation in this study. It was found that the machine could process kawdi cotton at about 1.0 t per h capacity with 40% recovery of ginnable seed cotton. The ginning trials and fibre quality analysis revealed that good quality lint could be obtained from the opened kawdi cotton, thus yielding additional profit to ginners.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableCotton lint samples drawn from densely packed bales are required to be well opened and cleaned before being used for fibre quality assessment using modern testing equipment. Importance of proper opening of lint samples introduced into the porosity chamber for measurement of fibre fineness (micronaire) is well recognised to ensure not only correct micronaire but also strength values. If lint samples are tested as such without any opening and cleaning, there is every possibility of variations in the micronaire reading from the actual value. In this paper, performance of the two equipments namely trash analyzer and opener blender has been analysed for opening of cotton lint samples to ensure accurate and precise measurement of fibre fineness using High Volume Instrument. It was observed that while both equipments gave similar quality of opening, the capacity of trash analyser was nearly double due to its larger size when compared to opener blender.Not Availabl