Cotton quality during storage can be maintained by constructing modules with shapes that prevent water from collecting on the cover and using covers that resist water penetration. Because covers are susceptible to tears, weathering, and other defects, it is necessary to build properly shaped modules to maintain a higher level of seed cotton quality.

Previous research has shown that the compressed height of seed cotton is directly related to the mass of seed cotton. This led to the design of an operator feedback system for the module builder based on sensing the location of the carriage and the tramper foot. Previous work discussed the design of this system; however, no data on the module building process had been collected.

In this paper, an analysis of the carriage and tramper foot position data collected while building modules will be presented. An algorithm will be developed for implementation in the feedback system that can accurately identify when the cotton is being tramped, as opposed to being moved, and subsequently, the compressed height of the seed cotton. Improvements to the system hardware will also be discussed.