Friday, January 12, 2007 - 9:00 AM

On-line Fiber Length Measurement at the Gin

David McAlister.III, Joe Mansfield, Warren Landis, and Yankey Joe. Uster Technologies, 456 Troy Circle, Knoxville 37919, TN 37919

The world market for cotton is increasingly sensitive to fiber length. With most of the world spinning infrastructure dedicated to ring spinning, it is necessary to have a minimum of 35 staple cotton. Therefore preservation of and measurement of cotton fiber length at the gin becomes increasingly important. Real-time fiber length measurement can facilitate ginning decisions to preserve lenght and thereby preserve value. In 2005, the initial concept was tested at a the USDA Stoneville Ginning Laboratory and a commercial gin and reported on at the 2006 Beltwide Conference. For 2006 season, based on the experience from the 2005 season, an on-line length measurement module was designed, built and installed at a commercial gin. Data were collected to evaluate this uniquely designed on-line lenght measurement.

Recorded presentation