Improving productivity of ring frames

Though even under ideal circumstances, certain losses in

efficiency in ring frames are inevitable, some remedial
measures can improve the productivity of ring frames, find
Nilesh P Patil, P P Raichurkar, Arun Karmudi, M S Anjane
and R D Parsi.

Ring spinning has been in existence since its introduction by

an American, John Thorpe in 1828 and then Jenks developed
the traveler that rotated on the ring. These two steps opened
the door to the current ring spinning technology that is the standard of yarn manufacture.
Other spinning technologies have been developed that are higher in productivity, but are
lacking in many aspects of the yarns desirable characteristics.

Ring spun yarn has retained its position as the system that produces the strongest, finest,
softest and most lustrous yarn and fabric. To spin high quality yarn at high spindle speeds the
fibre and its preparation have to be controlled to high standards. The ring frame cannot spin
superior yarn from inferior material or roving.

Review of literature

The ring spinning will continue to be the most widely used form of spinning machine in the
near future, because it exhibits significant advantages in comparison with the new spinning
processes.

The following are the advantages of ring spinning frame:

• It is universally applicable, ie, any material can be spun to any required count.
• It delivers a material with optimum characteristics, especially with regard to structure and
strength.
• It is simple and easy to master.
• The know-how is well-established and accessible for everyone.

Functions of ring frame:

• To draft the roving until the required fineness is achieved,

• To impart strength to the fibre, by inserting twist
• To wind up the twisted strand (yarn) in a form suitable for storage, transportation and
further processing.
 Drafting zone

Drafting arrangement is the most important part of the machine. It influences mainly
evenness and strength. The following points are therefore very important:

• Drafting type
• Design of drafting system
• Drafting settings
• Selection of drafting elements like cots, aprons, travelers, etc
• Choice of appropriate draft
• Service and maintenance

Drafting arrangement influences the economics of the machine -- directly by affecting the
end-break rate and indirectly by the maximum draft possible.

If higher drafts can be used with a drafting arrangement, then coarser roving can be used as a
feeding material. This results in higher production rate at the roving frame and thus reducing
the number of roving machines required, space, personnel and so on.

In fact increase in draft affects the yarn quality beyond certain limit. Within the limit some
studies show that increase in draft improves yarn quality.

Twisting zone

Traveler imparts twist to the yarn. Traveler and spindle together help to wind the yarn on the
bobbin. Length wound up on the bobbin corresponds to the difference in peripheral speeds of
the spindle and traveler. The difference in speed should correspond to length delivered at the
front rollers. Since traveler does not have a drive on its own,
it is dragged along behind by the spindle.

High contact pressure (up to 35 N/square mm) is generated

between the ring and the traveler during winding, mainly due
to centrifugal force. This pressure leads to generation of heat.
Low mass of the traveler does not permit dissipation of the
generated heat in the short time available. As a result the
operating speed of the traveler is limited.

When the spindle speed is increased, the friction work between ring and traveler (hence the
build-up) increases as the 3rd power of the spindle rpm. Consequently if the spindle speed is
too high, the traveler sustains thermal damage and fails. This speed restriction is felt
particularly when spinning cotton yarns of relatively high strength.

If the traveler speed is raised beyond normal levels, the thermal stress limit of the traveler is
exceeded; a drastic change in the wear behaviour of the ring and traveler ensues. Owing to
the strongly increased adhesion forces between ring and traveler, winding takes place
between the two. These seizures inflict massive damage not only to the traveler but to the
ring as well. Due to this unstable behaviour of the ring and traveler system the wear is at
least an order of magnitude higher than during the stable phase. The traveler temperature
reaches 400 to 500 degree Celsius and the danger of the traveler annealing and failing is very
great.

Winding zone

The vast majority of bobbins are wound with the “filling” (cop) build. The bobbin is formed
in three parts:

• The curved base

• The cylindrical body and
• The conical top

The winding procedure is:

The ring rail is raised slowly to “wind” the yarn and is then moved downward at a higher
speed to lay coils at an increased helix angle to lock-in the previous layer.

• The upward and downward movement is referred to as the stroke.

• The height of the stroke is normally about 15 to 20% greater than the diameter of the ring.
• The downward movement of the ring rail is 2 to 3 times faster than the upward movement.
• The combination of the two layers having different winding angles is beneficial in the
stability of the build in the re-winding process.
• Occasionally the spinning ends down will be higher during the faster downward movement
and should be considered in setting up the speeds and conditions of the machine.
• The stroke is short at the beginning of the build and is increased throughout the formation
of the curved base. After the base formation the stroke length remains constant.

Spinning geometry

From roving bobbin to cop, the fibre strand passes through drafting arrangement, thread
guide, balloon control rings and traveler. These parts are arranged at various angles and
distances relative to each other. The distances and angles together are referred to as the
spinning geometry, has a significant influence on the spinning operation and the resulting
yarn. They are:

• Yarn tension
• Number of end breaks
• Yarn irregularity
• Binding-in of the fibres
• Yarn hairiness
• Generation of fly, etc
 Spinning triangle

Twist in a yarn is generated at the traveler and travel against the direction of yarn movement
to the front roller. Twist must run back as close as possible to the nip of the rollers, but it
never penetrates completely to the nip because, after leaving the rollers, the fibres first have
to be diverted inwards and wrapped around each other. There is always a triangular bundle of
fibres without twist at the exit of the rollers; this is called as spinning triangle.

Most of the end-breaks originate at this point. The length of the spinning triangle depends
upon the spinning geometry and upon the twist level in the yarn. The top roller is always
shifted 3 to 6 mm forward compared to bottom roller. This is called top roller overhang. This
gives smoother running and smaller spinning triangle. The overhang must not be made too
large, as the distance from the opening of the aprons to the roller nip line becomes too long
resulting in poorer fibre control and increased yarn irregularity.

Continuous variation of the operating conditions arises during winding of a cop. The result is
that the tensile force exerted on yarn must be much higher during winding on the bare tube
than during winding on the full cop, because of the difference in the angle of attack of the
yarn on the traveler. When the ring rail is at the upper end of its stroke, in spinning onto the
tube, the yarn tension is substantially higher than when the ring rail is at its lowermost
position. This can be observed easily in the balloon on any
ring spinning machine.

The tube and ring diameters must have a minimum ratio,

between approximately 1:2 and 1:2.2, in order to ensure that
the yarn tension oscillations do not become too great. Yarn
tension in the balloon is the tension, which finally penetrates
almost to the spinning triangle and which is responsible for
the greater part of the thread breaks. It is reduced to a very
small degree by the deviation of the yarn at the thread guide.
An equilibrium of forces must be obtained between the yarn tension and balloon tension.

Experimental plan

Material and methods

A medium grade cotton was used in the study. The cotton fibres were processed through a
blowroom, carding and one passage of draw frame as breaker, unilap, comber & one passage
post comb draw frame as finisher.

The specification of the cotton, which was used in the study is as follows:

Raw material properties

Effective length 31 mm S - 6 (Shankar-6)
Bundle strength 24.5 (gm/tex)
Micronaire 4.2 gm/cc
Trash content 2.5%
Short fiber percentage 2.8%

Raw material properties

In this experiment, trials were conducted at ring frame considering various factors, which
directly affect to the ring frame productivity, such as end breakage rate, idle %, doffing loss
% and Pneumafill waste%. The project study was taken for 2 different counts – 9 combed
wool and 24 carded count. For all trials, the ring frame machine (Zinser Model E-321) with a
speed of 9,800 and 15,500 rpm is used respectively for both counts. The details of machinery
parameter, which are selected for study.

Details of samples

Machine speeds

Machine 9 combed wool 24 carded count

Carding 140 mts/min 100 mts/min
Draw frame (breaker) 550 mts/min 550 mts/min
Unilap 120 mts/min -
Comber 160 mts/min -
Draw frame (finisher) 450 mts/min 450 mts/min
Roving frame 950 rpm 1050 rpm
Ring frame 9800 rpm 15500 rpm

Technical specification for Ring frame machine

Ring frame No. 4 9

Count 9 combed wool 24 carded
Roving hank 0.4 0.6
Break draft 1.3 1.3
Spacer colour Black White
Spacer size 3.8 mm 2.8 mm
TM/TPI 4.0/14.4 4.0/20.58
Traveller no. 4 Bracker 2/0 Bracker
Traveler profile U 1 CS UDR C 1 MM UDR
Traveler clearer guage 3.3 2.3 mm
Bottom roll setting 44/60 mm 44/60 mm
Saddle guage 48/58 mm 48/58 mm
Top arm loading color Red Red
Top arm loading
15 Kgs 18 Kgs
weight(kgs)
Cops color Violet Mehendi
Cops length 230 mm 230 mm
Taper 1:40 1:40
Wharve diameter 20.5 mm 20.5 mm
Ring diameter 44 mm 42 mm
Ring type R&F Bracker titan
Chase length 42 mm 46 mm
Winding length 4.5 mm 4.5 mm
Pitch of the yarn 3.46 mm 3.46 mm
Number of spindles 1136 1136
Lift 205 mm 205 mm
Bobbin length 230 mm 230 mm
Spindle guage 70 mm 70 mm
Tangential belt Tangential belt
Spindle tape drive
drive drive

Results and discussion

Final results For 9 combed wool

%
Factors Before After
improve
1) End breakage rate
4.01 3.27 18.45
(breaks/100spdl/hour)
2) Idle spindle % (including
2.11 1.23 41.70
missing spdl)
3) Pneumafil waste % 2.97 2.4 19.19
1.23*7
1.02*7doff =
4) Doffing loss % doff = 17.07
7.14
8.61
5) R/F efficiency loss % 13.69 10.77 21.32
6) R/F efficiency % 86.31 89.23 2.92

For 24 carded count

%
Factors Before After
improve
1) End breakage rate
4.17 3.41 18.22
(breaks/100spdl/hour)
2) Idle spindle % (including
2.81 1.93 31.31
missing spdl)
3) Pneumafil waste % 2.87 2.52 12.19
1.30*3 1.11*3
4) Doffing loss % doff = doff = 14.61
3.90 3.33
5) R/F efficiency loss % 9.58 7.78 18.78
6) R/F efficiency % 90.42 92.22 1.8
Project trends

End breakage study: (Breaks/100 spdl/hour)

To improve the productivity of ring for 9 combed wool and 24 carded count the obtained
result was breaks/100 spdl/hour plotted in Figure1a against the counts. Figure 1a clearly
indicated that breaks/100 spdl/hour was reduced after implementing the remedial measures.

Idle spindle study: (idle spindle percentage)

To improve the productivity of ring for 9 combed wool and 24 carded count the obtained
result was idle spindle percentage plotted in Figure 2a against the counts. Figure 2a clearly
indicated that idle spindle percentage was reduced after implementing the remedial measures.

Doffing time loss study: (doffing time loss percentage)

To improve the productivity of ring for 9 combed wool and 24 carded count the obtained
result was doffing time loss percentage plotted in Figure 3a against the counts. Figure 3a
clearly indicated that doffing time loss percentage was reduced after implementing the
remedial measures.

Pneumafill waste study: (pneumafill waste percentage)

To improve the productivity of ring for 9 combed wool and 24 carded count the obtained
result was pneumafill waste percentage plotted in Figure 4a against the counts. Figure 4a
clearly indicated that pneumafill waste percentage was reduced after implementing the
remedial measures.

Ring frame efficiency percentage

To improve the productivity of ring for 9 combed wool and 24 carded count the obtained
result was Ring frame efficiency percentage plotted in Figure 5a against the counts. Figure
5a a clearly indicated that Ring frame efficiency percentage is increases after implementing
the remedial measures.

Improvement in ring frame efficiency percentage

To improve the productivity of ring for 9 combed wool and 24 carded count the obtained
result was improvement in Ring frame efficiency percentage plotted in Figure 6a against the
counts. Figure 6a clearly indicated that Ring frame efficiency percentage is increases after
implementing the remedial measures by 2.92 and 1.8 percentage respectively.

Conclusion

In case of 9 combed wool and 24 carded counts efficiency losses are reduced and efficiency
increases by 2.92 & 1.8% respectively after implementing the remedial measures. It is
concluded that for both count implementation of remedial measures gives better efficiency
result.

Result

Count Efficiency improved %

1) 9 combed wool 2.92
2) 24 carded count 1.8