Progress Report in Development of Air-Bar Lint Cleaner

Saw-type lint cleaners at gins have higher cleaning efficiency than the other type lint cleaners. However, during the cleaning process the saw-type lint cleaners damage fiber in creating short fibers and neps. Sui and Byler reported a prototype of air-bar lint cleaner (ABLC) in 2012.  Preliminary tests showed that the ABLC had better performance in preserving fiber quality in comparison with the conventional saw-type lint cleaner. However, in building the air-bar for the ABLC, there were gaps between the nozzles, which caused the air flow across the air-bar not evenly distributed. That might affect the effectiveness of the air-bar in the cleaning process. The objective of this project was to continue the study on the ABLC reported by Sui and Byler. A new prototype of air-bar was designed, built, and implemented on a lint cleaner. The tests showed that the new prototype of air-bar generated less lint waste and had a higher turnout rate than STLC. Use of the air-bar could save 2.8 kg of lint in each 225 kg bale of cotton. The High-Volume Instrument (HVI) analysis indicated the fiber properties in fiber length, uniformity, short fiber content, and color were not significantly different between ABLC and STLC. However, the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) tests showed STLC had better performance than ABCL in fiber length and short fiber content while the trash and dust content with ABCL was lower than the STLC. More research was necessary to further prove the concept of ABLC and improve its performance in preserving cotton fiber quality.