Suitability of a fiber for a blend

Fibers in a blend are chosen keeping in mind various properties of the constituent fibers. Thus a blend is chosen which gives the best of properties of the different constituents of the blend. The properties that are considered can be strength, absorbency,crease resistance, resistance to abrasion, resistance to heat, bulkiness,resistance to pilling and Dimensional stability.All the fibers do not have all the properties that are desired. This is the very reason why blend is chosen.

Cotton has moderate strength and dimensional stability. However, it is excellent in

absorbency, resistance to heat and pilling. It has an average resistance to abrasion and poor bulkiness properties and crease retention.Thus it is added in the blend to have excellent absorbency properties.

Viscose Rayon has excellent absorbency, resistance to heat and pilling. Thus it is similar to
cotton in these properties.It has however, poor resistance to abrasion, bulkiness, crease retention and stability. It has an average strength. It has absorbency properties similar to cotton. It is also cheaper than cotton.

Acetate Rayon has excellent resistance to pilling and stability. It has moderate resistance to
heat and average absorbency, crease retention and stability. However its resistance to abrasion is very poor.

Wool has excellent absorbency, bulk and wrinkle resistance. However, it has poor stability. It
has moderate abrasion and heat resistance. Its crease retention, resistance to pilling and strength can only be considered as average.

Nylon has excellent strength, stability and abrasion resistance. However, It has poor absorbency and bulk. It has moderate crease retention and average resistance to heat and pilling. Polyester has excellent strength, stability, crease retention and abrasion resistance. However
it has poor absorbency, bulkiness properties and resistance to pilling. Its resistance to heat is average.

Acrylic has excellent bulk and stability. It has moderate resistance to heat and average crease
retention and strength. Its resistance to abrasion and pilling and absorbency are very poor.It is similar to wool in most of the properties. It is also cheaper than wool.

Modacrylic has excellent stability and bulk properties. However its absorbency, resistance to
heat and pilling is very poor. It has average strength, resistance to abrasion and crease retention.

Polypropylene and Polyethylene have excellent stability and strength. They have poor
absorbency, bulk and heat resistance. The have average crease resistance and resistance to pilling.

How to Identify Constituent Fibre Percentage in a Blend-2

Blend of Acrylic with Wool, Silk, Cotton, Viscose, Polyester or Nylon

1. Dissolve the acrylic fibres in (Dimethyl Formamide DMF). Acrylic Fibres will dissolve

in MF. 2. Filter, rinse and weigh carefully to get the ratio of Acrylic Fibres.

Blend of Protein Fibres ( Wool or Silk) with cotton, polyester, nylon or acrylic 1. Take the blended fibres ( Carefully weighed) in a conical flask. 2. Add a solution of 5% (w/w) solution of Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide and boil for 10 minutes.Protein fibres will dissolve in Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide 3. Rinse the leftover fibres with water and neutralise with dilute Acetic Acid. 4. Weigh the fibres after drying and find the ratio of protein fibres. Blend of Polyester with Cotton or Viscose 1. Weigh the blend and heat it with Meta cresol. Polyester fibres will dissolve. 2. Weigh the residual fibres after rinsing thoroughly and drying and find the percentage of polyester fibres. Blend of Elastane ( Spandex or Lycra) with Cotton or Viscose 1. Treat the blend with DMF. Elastane will dissolve in DMF. 2. Filter, Rinse, dry and get the weight of residual fibres to get the percentage of elastane.

How to Identify Constituent Fibre Percentage in a Blend-1

Blend of Polyester/Cotton (viscose) 1. Take 0.5 to 1.0 gms of blend sample, carefully weighed, and put it in a flask. 2. Add 75% (w/w) Sulphuric Acid (M:L::1:200). 3. Put in a water bath for one hour at 50+-5 deg C. 4. Filter it, whatever is left is polyester. 5. Wash it thoroughly. 6. Neutralise it with Dilute solution of Ammonia 7. Dry at 110 deg C, cool and weigh to find the Percentage of Polyester and the other cellulosic component. Blend of Cotton/Viscose 1. Take 0.5 to 1.0 gms carefully weighed sample and put it in 60% w/w Sulphuric Acid. Keep material to Liquor ratio as 1:100. 2. Stir this solution mechanically for 30 minutes. Viscose fibres will dissolve by this process and cotton fibres will be left. 3. Filter the cotton fibres and wash it in Sulphuric Acid. 4. Again wash it with water and neutralise it with a dilute solution of Ammonium Hydroxide. 5. Dry and Weigh. Note that cotton fibres lose weight by 5% in this process. Apply this correction factor in finding the blend percentage . Blend of Polyester/Cotton/Viscose 1. Put the fibres in 60% w/w sulphuric acid (after weighing). Viscose will dissolve in 60% w/w sulphuric acid. 2. Dry and weigh carefully the rest of the fibres. 3. Put these fibres in 75% sulphuric acid. Cotton will dissolve. 4. The fibres left will be of polyester, which are weighed after thorough washing and drying.

Blending-2
How to select Blend Constituents Selection of Blend Constituents depends upon the following factors: 1. Type of Fibre Depending upon the end use of the fabric, blend constituents are chosen. For example, it is well known hat a polyester-cotton yarn looks fuller as compared to the lean look of polyester-viscose yarn. Therefore for light constructions like shirtings, polyester-cotton blend is used. However polyester-viscose blend is preferred for medium and heavy construcitons such as suitings. 2. Compatibility of blend fibres Compatibility must be there in terms of the following properties: a. Length and Denier of Fibres: As a general rule, these two fibre properties should be nearly the same for all the constituents. For example in a viscose rayon cotton blend, the rayon staple of 1.5 denier and 29-32 mm length is generally used since the cotton component used has a denier of around 1.5 and a length of 28mm. b. Extensibility - A large difference in the breaking elongation of the fibres in a blend adversly affects the yarn tenacity. c. Density - The blend fibres should prefereably have the same density. Any large differences on this account will lead to selctive separation while conveying the blended stock through ducts under the influence of air suction in the blow rooms. d. Dispersion Properties - This property describes the ability of an individual fibre to separate from its group and disperse thoroughly within the fibre matrix of the blend to produce an intimate and homogeneous blend. e. Drafting Properties - Some fibres like viscose are outstanding it terms of draftability. These fibres, when blended with other fibres act as good carriers to obviate the trouble relating to drafting. f. Dyeing Properties - In case the blend yarn or fabric is to be dyed subsequently, due consideration should be given to the dyeing properties of individual fibre components. CHARACTERISTICS DESIRED IN A BLEND YARN A. The constituent fibres should be arranged at random in the yarn cross section. B. The ratio between the blended fibres should be uniform at any cross section of the yarn. C. There should not be any long-term or short-term irregularity in blend ratio of blended fibres.

How to Control GSM in a Single Jersey Knit Fabric

This is a question asked by one of my readers. To answer this, we start from the first principles. Knitting is a process of fabric forming by the intermeshing of loops of yarn. When one loop is drawn through another, loopstitch is formed. Weft knitting is a method of forming a fabric in which the loops are made in horizontal way from a single yarn and intermeshing of loops take place in a circular or flat form or acrosswise basis. Single Jersey is a weft knitted fabric produced with one set of needles is called single Jersey or plain knitted fabric. GSM can be controlled either by taking a coarse count of yarn. Or for the same count of yarn increasing the stitches per inch. Stitch per inches can be increased by either resorting to a higher gauge machine or by decreasing the loop length. In modern weft knitting machine there is a positive feeder called IRO which regulates the speed of the fed yarn. If the speed of IRO increases, the quantity of yarn passing in the m/c increases, so the loop size increases and hence the GSM decreases. If the speed decreases the reverse happens and the GSM increases. The loop size can also be decreased by adjusting the distance between the cylinder and the dial needles: If the distance is more the loop size increases and hence the GSM decreases.

Quality Control of Knitted Garments Ref. Knitted Clothing Technology, (1) Fabric Quality

Terry Brackenbury

The word quality in knitted fabric sometimes is used to describe the loop density of particular fabric. This dimension, loop density, is the most important one in defining knitted fabric properties, and is directly related to fabric appearance, weight per unit area, thickness, drape. The loop length is the single unit cell formed in knitted fabric and is directly related to loop density In general, as the loop size increases, the loop density decrease. i,e. S=K/l2 where S is loop density, l is loop length and K is constant for particular construction.

(2) Course Length

For some structure with complex geometry (like fancy jacquard with different loop length), the average loop length value is largely irrelevant. The "quality" is expressed indirectly, either as a course length or loop density. (2.1) Measurement of course length A course length is determined by unroving yarn from a known number of loops of fabric and measuring its length using a crimp tester (BS 5441:1977). For circular machine, which is normally composed with different number of feeders, measurement must be done on each individual feeder. For V-bed machine, care must be taken for the position of -cam system, as the machine changes the direction on each alternative course.

(3) Weight per unit area and cover factor

The "weight" of a knitted fabric is depended on two factors, namely the loop size and the yarn size.

The effect of loop size is simple to express: if the size of the yarn remains constant, then increase loop size produces a decrease of weight per unit area. The effect is an inverse ratio. Example Using the equation of S=K/Pl2, and let K=20 (a) if l = 0.4cm, then S=20/0.42, S = 125 loops/cm2 Length of yarn in 1 cm2 of fabric = 125 X 0.4 = 50cm (b) if l = 0.8cm, then S=20/0.82, S=31.25 loops/cm2 Length of yarn in 1 cm2 of fabric = 31.25 X 0.8 = 25 cm Conclusion :Double the loop size means half the weight per square unit.

Cover Factor
In a knitted fabric, for fabric of similar construction, as the loop length increase, the size of yarn increase. Cover is a simple ratio of the area of a knitted fabric covered by yarn to the area of covered by the gaps in between loops. It can be shown that for a given knitted structure, if the cover ratio is maintained through a range of fabrics with different loop lengths, then those fabrics are related in characteristics of tightness/looseness and other physical properties. The formula of cover factor that take into account of yarn diameter, loop length and loop density is Cover factor = tex/1 Relationship of (a) yam count against loop length; (b) weight per square meter against loop length see the diagrams The graph of the relationship between loop length and weight per square meter for a given construction while maintaining a cover factor, is a straight line. i.e double the loop length, double the diameter of the yarn, double the weight/m2

Measurement of fabric (Relaxation)

It is difficult to measure the dimensions and quantities of cotton fabric because of the extensible nature of the material and the possibility that it is under stress in the time of measurement. Knitted fabric may change dimensions with time, handling and with subsequent wet treatments including steaming, and such change can occur after garment has been produced and sold to public. The concept of relaxation stated for knitted fabric is used. Quality control must ensure that before knitted garments are cut, the fabric is in a relaxed or near relaxed condition (ie. There will be little shrinkage of the fabric/garment when it is in the consumer hands) Relaxation procedure (BS 1955:1981(86)). Most test procedures involve agitation in aqueous solution followed by measurement under water,, and spinning and tumble drying. They attempt to reproduce the conditions under which the garment will be laundered during usage.

Knitted Faults
It can be grouped into horizontal and vertical components. Different course lengths variation is one of the horizontal fault. Most faults in horizontal barring are connected in some repeat of yarn used.

Horizontal faults
* Uneven counts between yam; * Uneven counts within yarns; * Different dyeing shades between yarn; * Different dyeing within one yarn; * Different spinning/batch source of yarn; * Different heat treatment given to man-made yarns. Vertical faults are resulted from the knitting process but can occur with finishing. A common vertical fault is a needle line. It is because a faulty needle may produce a wale slightly larger or smaller or distorted loop. Really faulty needles result in vertical lines of occasional tuck stitches.

Stains
The knitting industry, unlike weaving, uses oil to lubricate machinery where the fabric is being produced. (i.e on needles themselves). Such oil mixed with dust and metallic powder can, cause stain on the fabric being knitted. Minimize the stains 1. Control of the oil itself, by applying it in minimum quantities and delivering it continuously, so that it present in the fabric but does not show up in any build up of soiled material. 2. Using oils that are readily mixed with water, so called scourable or clean oils. The majority of knitted piece goods are wet finished before cutting and therefore, little oil staining will remain in finished fabric. On stitch-shaped garment,, tight control is needed as they are not wet finished, stains are dealt with during examination by solvent based spotting guns. The problem is negligible in fully fashioned where oil is not used on the needles and where wet finishing is usual. Summary Fabric portions at the start of the garment making process may exhibit the following undesirable observable qualities : 1. The wrong construction, with loop length, width and weight per square meter variations from the specification; 2. Variable loop length/course construction, showing horizontal barring; 3. Horizontal barring from a number of yam characteristics; 4. Vertical faults that are machine determined 5. Stains due to oiling or lint contaminating the fabric

LINEAR PROGRAMMING
PRODUCT MIX (USING LINEAR PROGRAMMING): Linear programming is a quantitative tool for optimal allocation of limited resources amongst competing activities. It is perhaps the most popular amongst OPERATIONS RESEARCH techniques and has found application in several functional areas of businessproduction, finance, marketing, distribution, advertising and so forth. Any resource allocation problem is characterised by specification of an objective such as minimising cost, or maximising profit. The constraints can be of a financial, technological, marketing or anyother nature. Linear programming involves formulating the problem in linear terms and solving it to provide a plan for deploying the resources in an optimal manner. This technique is being used by many managements to maximise the profit or to minimise the cost. In earlier days, fomulating a linear programming model and solving the same was a tedious process. frontsys software company has developed a tool called solver which will be used with MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEETS to solve LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODELS. This is a very simple tool which can be used by everyone who can use MICROSOFT EXCEL and understand little about formulating the constraints. PRODUCT MIX USING LP FOR A SPINNING MILL Let us assume C1,C2,C3 and C4 are quantities of four counts to be produced in cotton TC1,TC2 and TC3 are quantities of three counts to be produced in Poly/Cotton blend. CX1,CX2,CX3 and CX4 are Contribution in US$/KG for four cotton counts. TCX1,TCX2 and TCX3 are contribution IN US$/KG for three POLY/COTTON counts correspondingly. HOW TO FORMULATE A LP MODEL: EXAMPLE TARGET FUNCTION: (TO MAXIMISE)

(C1*CX1)+(C2*CX2)+(C3*CX3)+(C4*CX4)+(TC1*TCX1)+(TC2*TCX2)+(TC3*TCX3) = CONTBN. MAXIMUM BY CHANGING : ( THE FOLLOWING QUANTITIES) C1,C2,C3,C4,TC1,TC2,TC3 CONSTRAINTS: C1+C2+C3+C4 less than or equal to 180 tons TC1+TC2 less than or equal to 100 tons C1 should be 19.6 tons ( committed to the customer) TC2 more than 19.6 tons ( committed to the customer) C1+C2+C3+C4 no of m/cs allotted should not be more than 20 (m/c constraint) TC1+TC2+TC3 no of m/cs allotted should not be more than 10 (m/c constraint) C1 less than or equal to 20 C2 less than or equal to 20 C3 less than or equal to 20 C4 less than or equal to 20 TC1 less than or equal to 10 TC2 less than or equal to 10 TC3 less than or equal to 10 HOW TO SOLVE THIS: MICROSOFT EXCELL Spreadsheet has a tool called SOLVER. This can be used to solve any LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR EQUATIONS. OPEN an EXCEL SHEET FEED the PARAMETERS in the Excell Sheet SELECT SOLVER in the Tools Menu, Now Solver parameters are seen SET the TARGET cell and it should contain the target function FEED the range of cells to be changed FEED the constraints press SOLVE, THE RESULTS ARE ALREADY THERE ISN'T IT SIMPLE? PLEASE TRY THIS. LP IS THE RIGHT SOLUTION FOR PRODUCT MIX OF ANY INDUSTRY.

Spinning & Weaving Developments in comber, speed frame & ring frame

Combers, speed frames and ring frames have gone through such major changes that today they meet not only the requirements of the manufacturers but also the demands of consumers, say Reeti Pal Singh and V K Kothari. The comber has undergone a lot of changes. Consequently, the speed as well as the quality of the combed sliver and hence yarn is improved a lot. Following are the significant modern developments in comber. Change in the kinematics to increase nips/min Most of the latest models of combers are able to run at higher speed. The reason behind this higher speed, apart from others things, is better manipulation of the comber technology, kinematics and air control. Rieter Combers E 65/E 75 with Computer Aided Process Development Rieter has developed computer programmes entitled C A P D+ (subsequently C A P D 500), ie, Computer Aided Process Development, for the optimisation of combing process[1]. Through this programme, elements involve in the combing process were recalculated, optimised and checked for feasibility in several billion computer operations and simulated precisely (Figure1 a). The optimised combing elements and sequences of motion enable nip rates 450 nips/min[2]. The higher nip/min rather reduces load on detaching roller drive (Figure 1 b). The process improvements boost the efficiency and the productivity of the machine and increase MTBA value (Mean time between assists, ie, average time between two unscheduled stoppages) as shown in Figure 1 c. Trtzschler Comber TCO 1 Similarly Trtzschler has redesigned the comber frame for the dynamic load that results into (Comber TCO 1) 500 nips/min. The special software simulates the dynamic loads during the running process and then individual frame components are exactly designed for these alternating loads[3]. This gives sound frame structure without vibrations, impact loads or uncontrolled distortions even at 500 nips/min. Optimised kinematics also lead to lower mechanical work and lower losses through friction and vibrations that consequently lower down the power and energy consumption (Figure 2). Magnesium-aluminium alloys are used to make nippers lighter that reduce vibrations and noise level substantially. Marzoli Comber CM600N Marzoli also claims that comber CM600N can run at 480 nips/min. This becomes possible due to new kinematics of the nipper unit that reduces the closing speed of the nipper jaws, thus giving slowest force of impact during closing of jaws. The comber frame has been redesigning using 3D-CAD software. This leads to considerable reduction in the mechanicals stresses and machine noise, thus the operation becomes smooth without vibrations and heavy shocks[4]. Link mechanism for detaching Motion of Toyota VC5A Comber Toyota also claims that light weight aluminium differential arm along with improved 'Cam-less Mechanism Link Motion' for detaching roller derive reduces amount of inertia in detaching motion and enhances operational speed (Figure 3)[5]. Concentric synchronise movement of the nippers The combing will be better if the bottom nipper lower surface remains at fixed set distance from the bottom comb during the entire circular combing. This is achieved by using the standing pendulum principle (Figure

4). The Rieter E 65/E 75 comber, Trtzschler Comber TCO 1, Marzoli Comber CM600N are equipped with concentric synchronise nippers movement. Toyota Comber with 6'' combing cylinder diameter as compared to 5'' In contrast to concentric nippers movements, Toyota VC5A Comber keeps cylinder gauge wide, at the start of the combing (Figure 5 a) and afterward it is kept constant (min)[5]. It is argued that at the start of the combing sufficient combing is given to fleece by the longer needle length, thus the distance should be wider. It has also 6"combing cylinder dia as compared to 5"(Figure5 b). Reducing the clamping distance By reducing clamping distance, long fibres going into the waste can be avoided (Figure 6 a). If this distance is wide, fibre control during combing is hampered, thus deteriorates combing efficiency (Figure 6 b). Rieter comber has designed this area to keep this distance minimum[6]. Self-cleaning top comb The top-combs, during operation, get loaded with short fibres and impurities. Thus, the machine is stopped intermittently for cleaning and results into production loss. Trtzschler comber is equipped with self-cleaning top combs (Figure 7). An extremely short compressed air blast of a few milliseconds purges the needles from top to bottom and detaches the adhering fibres. The cleaning frequency can be adapted to the respective degree of soiling. Similarly Rieter also provides 'Ri-Q-Top' top-comb with high self cleaning effect[7]. Easy setting of nipper gauge Toyota VC5A Comber offers one-point adjustment for nipper gauge as shown in Figure 8 a. Thus it can be easily adjusted by moving top comb back and forth to align with setting gauge. Hence it is not required to adjust nipper pivot gauge and check cylinder gauge (Figure 8 b). VARIOspeed at Lap winding machine VARIOspeed (optional) of Rieter UNIlap E 32 enables adjustment of the lap speed to the lap diameter during the entire lap build-up[8]. This ensures consistent lap quality along with higher production rates (Figure 9). Similarly, OMEGA lap winding technology is a belt tension and pressure system that encompasses the lap on a circumferential area ranging from 180 to 270 from start to full lap (Figure 10). The uniform pressure distributed through this principle, allows constant production speeds of 180 m/min (max) and results in no drift, hence lower CV[9]. Constant Lap weight (g/m) during lap build-up In Trtzschler Superlap TSL 1, the draft, speed and pressure are manipulated in such a way that the lap g/m is kept constant through out the lap build (Figure 11 a, b). Similarly on Marzoli LW2N lap winding machine, all the above parameters are adjusted to keep lap count constant through out the lap build. The 'Automatic grain adjuster' of Toyota Lap former, adjusts the set grain (weight) of the lap from start to the end to maintain constant lap g/m as shown in Figure 12[12]. Developments in speed-frame The speed frame is the machine that has gone least change. This can be realised fromm the fact that a spindle speed of 1,500 rpm as on date as compared to 600 rpm in 1950s. Still there are certain changes that have

been carried out for better production and quality like, increase in the roving bobbin diameter from 4" to 7" and lift from 8" to 16", use of straight cone drum instead of hyperbolic cone drum for better control over the roving tension etc. Now all closed (AC Type) flyers are used to overcome the problem of air drag on roving. These flyers are aerodynamically balanced and are of light weight. The roving frames are equipped with auto doffing system that, apart from avoiding man handling, reduces doffing time (Figure 13)[11]. Even the Toyota claims to have auto doffing on FL100 roving frame in record time of 3 minutes. Roving bobbins auto doffing and transportation, to the ring spinning through over head rails, becomes a standard feature of the roving frame. Apart from above, some of the developments those are really significant will be discussed in subsequent sections. Equal roving geometry for front and back row roving Deposition of roving spindles in two rows leads to variation in roving twist and count in front and back row due to different level of twist attained by roving in front and back row. This is due to change in roving path geometry (Figure 14 a). Modern speed frames have raised flyer top of the back row as compared to the front row to maintain the roving delivery angle (Figure 14 b). Rieter F15/F35 [12] roving frame, Zinser 668 roving frame[13], Marzoli FTN roving frame[14] and Lakshmi LFS 1660 speed frame[15] incorporate this development in their machines. Individual motor drive In multi-motor drive system, drafting rollers, flyers, bobbins and bobbin rail are driven directly by individual servomotors and are synchronised throughout package build by the control system (Figure 15). The advantages of this system are like, no need of heavy counter weight for bobbin rail balancing and differential gear, reduced maintenance, lower energy consumption, etc. All machine manufacturers incorporate fourmotor-drive system except Toyota that uses three servomotors on FL100 roving frame. One motor for drafting system and flyer while one motor each for bobbin drive and bobbin rail [16]. Roving tension sensors Roving tension sensors measure and control the roving tension (constant) through out the bobbin build. These tension sensors do not actually contact the roving while measuring the tension (Figure 16). The tension is measured at periodic intervals and the required change in tension is actuated by changing the bobbin speed through servomotor. Rieter F15/F35 roving frame, Zinser 668 roving frame, Marzoli FTN roving frame, Lakshmi LFS 1660 speed frame and Toyota FL100 roving frame [16]have incorporated roving tension sensor on their machines. Developments in ring frame The ring frame has under significant changes. One of the most innovative developments that have been incorporated on this machine is compact spinning. The authors have discussed in detail different methods of spinning compact yarn in the paper titled 'Different technologies to spin compact yarn' [17]. The other significant modern developments will be discussed in subsequent section. Tackling spindle underwindings Rieter SERVOgrip The yarn has to wind several times around the lower end of the spindle to hold it in the spinning position at the time of doffing. These underwindings often cause multiples end down and lead to fibre fly when machine is restarted after doffing. SERVOgrip is a system of doffing ring cop without the underwinding threads. The main element of the SERVOgrip is a patented clamping crown. At time of doffing the ring rail moved downward and the clamping crown gets open while the spindle is still revolving slowly (Figure 17). The yarn

gets inserted in the open crown and the crown gets closed afterward. When the cop is replaced, the length of the yarn remains firmly clamped, enabling piecing after machine is started[18]. Marzoli Wondercleaner for cleaning underwind Marzoli rather uses a wonder cleaner to remove the underwind. Wondercleaner is an overhead cleaner with suction unit (Figure 18). This removes underwind only when the ring rail has reached certain minimum height. Changes in spinning geometry and drafting components Zinser optimised spinning geometry Zinser has claimed that the yarn path has been made short, thus causes less disturbance to twist transmission as compared with a long thread run as shown in Figure 19 a[19]. The programme controlled motor gives drive to yarn guiding element consequently bobbin build can also be pre-programmed from the control panel by setting winding length, traverse length and ring rail upward displacement (Figure 19 b). The traversing yarn guide remains at standstill at the start of the bobbin build operation for effective adaptation to the spinning tension (Figure 19 c) that results into constant yarn tension[20]. Toyota optimises spinning geometry The reduction in stretch length and higher spinning angle (Figure 20 a) on Toyota RX240 NEW ring frame results into high-speed due to better twist propagation and stable ballooning with reduced yarn breakage [21]. Similarly balloon control ring that moves together with the lappet at the start of winding and then with the ring from about 40% cop winding leads to stable balloon form (Figure 20 b). Marzoli different winding geometry for different tube length Similarly, depending upon the tube length, the spinning angle on Marzoli MPN ring frame is optimised for better running condition as shown in Figure 21[22]. The distance between the BC ring, delivery angle, lappet and ring rail has been also optimised. Suessen ACP cradle and top roller loading via, spring plate Suessen Active Cradle with special Pinspacer (ACP) is able to improve the yarn quality (Figure 22 a). The sector length of 15 or 20 mm, in the drafting system, where the inter-fibre friction is minimum, do not able to guide short fibres (Figure 22 b). The Pinsapcer of ACP deflects the fibre in this zone thereby increases the friction field of the front roller nipping line towards the cradle as shown in Figure 22 c[23]. The tendency of the fibre spread is suppressed along with improvement in fibre orientation and extension consequently improves overall regularity and strength of the yarn. The top rollers are also loaded directly by plate springs (Figure 23). The force of the springs is carried over to the top rollers without the use of any moving part and therefore involves no friction. The pre-tension of the spring can be changed by a cam at the front weighting unit to adjust the load[24]. Monitoring systems Rieter Individual Spindle Monitoring (ISM) Individual Spindle Monitoring (ISM) is a quality monitoring system[25]. This system reports faults and anomalies by means of a 3-level light guidance system thus enable personnel to locate the problem spindles without unnecessary searches (Figure 24). Signal lamps at the end of the machine indicate the side of the machine on which the ends down rate has been exceeded (Level 1). An extra-bright LED on each section guides the operator to the location of the fault (Level 2). The indicator on the spindle itself signals ends down with a continuous light and slipping spindles with a flashing light (Level 3).

Zinser GUARD system (RovingGuard and FilaGuard) The individual yarn monitor FilaGuard monitors the rotation of the steel ring travellers on each spindle and detects any yarn break immediately (Figure 25 a). Optical signals indicate the specific yarn break, directing the operating personnel to the spindle of yarn break to rectify the problem[26]. The automatic roving stop RovingGuard, which responses within milliseconds, interrupts the roving feed in case of yarn break thereby prevents material loss and minimise lapping tendency (Figure 25 b). Multi-motor drive system Rieter FLEXIdraft FLEXIdraft flexible drive, equipped on Rieter G 33 ring spinning machine, features separate drives for the drafting system and the spindles. This system enables change in the yarn count, twist and twist direction (S/Z) via, the control panel of the machine. The drafting rollers are split in the centre of the machine to ensure smooth running of drafting operation[27]. On the basis of FLEXIdraft, each drafting system drive can be started or stopped individually via, FLEXIstart system (Figure 26). Thus depending on machine length, 1sided or 2-sided drafting system drives are used[28]. FLEXIdraft has a further advantage of noise level reduction due to elimination gear wheels. Zinser SynchroDrive, SynchroDraft and ServoDraft Zinser SychroDrive is a multi-motor tangential belt drive system[29]. The system employed several motors arranged at defined positions to drive spindles through tangential belt (Figure 27 a). The consistency in spindles speed relative to each other minimizes the twist variation apart from reduction in noise level and minimum power requirement [30]. SynchroDraft transmission is for long machines to drive the middle bottom rollers from both ends, consequently minimizes twist variation between gear end and off end of the machine (Figure 27 b). Zinser ServoDraft system employs individual motors for driving bottom rollers of the drafting system. Hence yarn count and twist change can be done by simply feeding required parameters at the control panel of the machine that adjust the motors speed accordingly[31]. Toyota ElectroDraft System The Toyota ElectroDraft System (optional) features independent servo motors drive for front and back rollers. The spindles are also driven by separate tangential drive system where one motor drives 96 spindles[32]. Thus the required draft and yarn twist can be set via, control panel. Marzoli multi-motor drive system Marzoli MPN ring frame also equipped with multi-motors drive system. The main motor drives the spindles whereas the ring rail along with thread guide and BC rings are driven from another brushless motor. The drafting rollers have two separate drives (one on each side of the frame) consequently required draft, yarn twist and cop build parameters can be set via, machine control panel. Toyota Servo motor-driven positive lifting mechanism Toyota's proprietary screw shaft positive lifting mechanism is used to on RX240 NEW ring for ring rail lifting motion [21]. This eliminates disparity in the ring rail motion during long periods of continuous operation. The different cop parameters like chase length, cop diameter, winding start position, bobbin diameter (bottom and top), total lift, etc, can be fed via, key operation of the machine panel. Fancy yarn and core spun yarn spinning Rieter VARIOspin for fancy yarns and Rieter ring-spun core

yarns Rieter VARIOspin (optional) is a fancy yarn production system incorporated on ring frame (Rieter G33) and compact ring frame (Rieter K44). Windows-based VARIOspinData PC software is used to transfer fancy yarn data to the machine control system via, the RS 232 interface[33]. The change between fancy yarn and standard yarn is effected via, the machine control system thus no need of complicated retrofitting is required. The various yarn effects that can be achieved with VARIOspin are given in Table 1. Similarly ring-spun core yarn can be spun on Rieter ring spinning and ComforSpin machines[34]. Integration of the filament is done by the additional roving guide in the break draft zone through high-precision guidance in the compacting zone on the K 45 machine (Figure 28). The feeding of the core filament can be adjusted accurately via, the feed roller and in case of a filament break the roving stop motion interrupts roving feed immediately. Zinser two-fold ply yarn and core spun yarn Zinser offers to spin two ply twisted yarn (SiroSpun option) at the ring spinning machine [35]. In SiroSpun process, two rovings are fed in parallel through the drafting system and are only combined after the front rollers nip point (Figure 29). Similarly hard and soft core-spun yarn (hard: Non-elastic, but high-tensile component in core and soft: Elastic component in core) can also be spun with CoreSpun system on Zinser ring spinning machines. The core-spun yarn can be spun with the little modifications and additional elements in the creel and drafting system of ring frame (Figure 30). Similarly, Multicount, Multitwist and other fancy yarn can be spun via, a software tool named FancyDesigner through FancyDraft. The FancyDesigner generates the production data for ring spinning machine directly from the design. The Zinser memory card can transfer the design data from one machine to another. Toyota Electro-draft system (E-draft) to spin fancy yarn Similarly, Toyota electro-draft system (E-Draft) is used to spin fancy yarn like multislub, multicount and multitwist on ring frame[36]. Marzoli fancy and slub yarn Multi-motors drive system of Marzoli ring frame enables to spin fancy yarn like, slub, multi-twist or multicount, etc. The yarn contains controlled irregularities in term of thickness and twist variation can be actuated by moving bottom rollers at different speed via, a microcontroller. Marzoli MPN ring frame is also capable to process core spun yarn. Suessen two ply and core spun yarn Suessen incorporates devices under different trade names to spin two ply and core-spun yarn on compact ring frame. The EliTwist spinning method combines compact spinning and twisting of a yarn to get two-ply compact ring spun yarn. The EliCore is the trade name given to spin core-spun on compact ring frame[37]. EliCore-rigid is for core-spun yarn with low elastic elongation but high strength filament in core whereas EliCore-elastic is for high elongation and stand strength filament in core. EliCoreTwist is trade name given to spin two-ply (SIRO) compact ring spun yarn[38]. SUESSEN has redesigned the core-spun yarn (EliCore and EliCoreTwist) under the trade name COREflex. This attachment works irrespective of the type of top weighting arm used and gives jerk- free movement to the traverse motion of fibre strand and filament. The filament feed roller is independently adjustable in two planes without touching the front top roller. Setting of tension draft and traverse motion is made at a central control panel[39]. Other developments

Zinser OptiStep and OptiStart OptiStep is a system of adjusting spindle speed in 10 different ranges through out the cop build on Zinser ring spinning machines. The start-up, tip and main spinning speeds can be defined with a 10 point speed curve[40]. Similarly OptiStart (optional) is a running-in programme for ring travellers to perform the runningin phases of the ring travellers with precise accuracy up to production speed. Hence the traveller service life is substantially extended. Zinser OptiMove Zinser uses separate electric roving guide drive OptiMove to traverse the roving guide [41]. This is claimed that top rollers wear is reduced and service life is increased significantly (Figure 31). The roving guide drive can be easily set using inductive proximity switches. Marzoli twin traverse method A double traverse motion for the roving guide used by Marzoli covers the wider area over the cots and consequently increases the cots and apron life (Figure 32). Conclusion The task of the ring frame and other machines is not just to produce quality product, but must have the flexibility to handle the ever-increasing needs of the consumer market. Keeping this in mind, the machine manufacturers are, to a large extent, able to fulfill the demands of the customer.