Title of Invention	AN ONLINE SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFICATION AND REJECTION OF UNDESIRABLE FOREIGN MATERIAL/CONTAMINATION IN FIBRE STREAM
Abstract	An online system for identifying foreign material like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of leaf, other vegetable fibre etc. in fibre streams and the like such as cotton and if the size / quantum of the same exceeds a pre-set acceptable threshold level, rejecting the portion of the fibre containing the same. Importantly, the online system comprises a feeder assembly adapted for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material to facilitate the detection of foreign materials/contaminant, a detector means for detection of foreign material/contaminants ,signal processing means to generate signals and ejector means adapted to open only when said foreign material/contaminant detected is beyond a preset threshold level. Preferably, in the system of the invention the detection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre web involve use of opto detectors adapted for easy cleaning of the system as and when required. The system would thus provide for an effective, simple and cost-effective method of identification and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre streams such as cotton tuft web/flow in blow rooms and the like. The system further provides for improvement in the method of detection and at the same time ensure that rejection in said foreign materials/contaminants is carried out with much reduced loss of good fibre. Importantly also the system is adapted for use in any conventional blow room operations.

Title of Invention

AN ONLINE SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFICATION AND REJECTION OF UNDESIRABLE FOREIGN MATERIAL/CONTAMINATION IN FIBRE STREAM

Abstract

An online system for identifying foreign material like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of leaf, other vegetable fibre etc. in fibre streams and the like such as cotton and if the size / quantum of the same exceeds a pre-set acceptable threshold level, rejecting the portion of the fibre containing the same. Importantly, the online system comprises a feeder assembly adapted for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material to facilitate the detection of foreign materials/contaminant, a detector means for detection of foreign material/contaminants ,signal processing means to generate signals and ejector means adapted to open only when said foreign material/contaminant detected is beyond a preset threshold level. Preferably, in the system of the invention the detection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre web involve use of opto detectors adapted for easy cleaning of the system as and when required. The system would thus provide for an effective, simple and cost-effective method of identification and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre streams such as cotton tuft web/flow in blow rooms and the like. The system further provides for improvement in the method of detection and at the same time ensure that rejection in said foreign materials/contaminants is carried out with much reduced loss of good fibre. Importantly also the system is adapted for use in any conventional blow room operations.

Full Text	Field of the invention The present Invention relates to an online system for identifying foreign material like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of leaf, other vegetable fibre etc. in fibre streams and the like such as cotton and if the size / quantum of the same exceeds a pre-set acceptable threshold level, rejecting the portion of the fibre containing the same. The system would thus provide for an effective, simple and cost-effective method of identification and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre streams such as cotton tuft web/flow in blow rooms and the like. Background Art Quality of yarn and fabric has been steadily improving over the years. It has become necessary to identify Foreign Material and remove them as eariy as possible in the processing stage. This avoids wastage of processed fibre, yarn or fabric. It is desirable that the fibres are cleaned early in the processing as any foreign material left in the fibres result in defects and cause a lot of wastage and loss depending on the stage at which its presence is detected. So far. two approaches for identifying the Foreign Material in fibre and removing the same on-line, have been suggested and practiced to a limited extent One approach is to sense such Foreign Material in a duct in the Blow Room. The duct is made sufficiently thin and wide to ensure that the fibres under process flows as a thin web. This facilitates suitable machine-based observation of web and identification of Foreign Material. Removal of portion of the fibres containing the Foreign Material is done at a following stage by diverting that segment of the fibres using a flap diverter or a set of ejectors lined across the web section. The flap / ejector is activated with a specific time delay and for a specific time duration. The delay and time duration are pre-calculated to ensure that the Foreign Material detected eariier. arrives at the rejection zone when it is activated. The fact that the fibres flowing through the detection area is not moving with a fixed or known speed can result in one of two things. Firstly, activation of the flap/ ejector, may not synchronise with the presence of the Foreign Material in front, resulting in Foreign Material not being rejected. Alternately, the flap / ejector activation may be made long enough by making allowance for the total spread in the speed of the moving web of fibres, to ensure that the Foreign Material is definitely rejected. The former makes the scheme ineffective while the later results in a lot of wastage of precious fibre. In the second approach, a separate system / arrangement is incorporated in the flowing fibre stream in the Blow Room, The fibres are made to flow over a zone brightly illuminated by a set of lights. The light reflection blocked by a Foreign Material produces a signal in an array of photodiodes. By a proper processing of the signals from the detectors, Foreign Material is identified. Removal of such Foreign Material is carried out through an array of nozzles arranged in a tine immediately following the belt. Air at a high enough pressure impinges the fibre web laterally and throws it out. The speed detection of fibre movement and positioning of the array of nozzles ensures that the detection of Foreign Material and its rejection are well synchronized. US 6,243.166 B1 discloses a method and a device for detecting impurities wherein in order to provide better detection of the impurities the fibre stream and at least one reference quantity are artificially visually sensed. The ufilisation of such a reference quantity atleast periodically, enables the efficient detection and removal of even impurities that are normally difficult to remove. It is however experienced that due to lack of proper control of the flow of feed material to be detected and also non-uniform exposure of the fibre tuft for the detection of the foreign material, problems still exist in effective identification of foreign materials/contaminant in conventional systems. Moreover, the speed of fibre movement and the position of the ejection nozzle were found not effective enough to reduce the possible loss of good fibres along with the foreign materials/contaminant. Objects of the Invention It is thus the basic object of the present invention is to provide for a simple, cost-effective and at the same time more reliable system for online detection of foreign materials/contaminants like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of lead, other vegetable fibre etc. in a flowing fibre stream such as cotton web in the blow room. Another object of the present invention is to provide for a simple and cost effective system of identification of foreign materials/contaminants in a flowing fibre stream such as cotton web operatively linked to a rejection means whereby the foreign materials/contaminants can be detected and rejected substantially free of any undesired loss of good fibre. Another object of the present invention is to provide for a system for detection and rejection of foreign materials/contaminants in a flowing fibre/ web in the blow room which would provide for effective identification of such foreign materials/contaminants and its rejection so as to improve the method of detection and at the same time ensure that rejection in said foreign materials/contaminants is carried out with much reduced loss of good fibre. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide for a system of detection of foreign materials/contaminants in flowing fibre web in a blow room whereby it would be possible to identify and detect such foreign material and at the same time have it rejected through a rejection outlet only when the character/amount of the foreign materials/contaminants exceeds preset values to thereby maintain uniformity for the quality of the fibre. Yet another object of the present invention is directed to provide for a system of detection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre web involving use of opto detectors comprising photo diodes and wherein signals from each photo diodes is utilised for identification of the foreign material thereby improving the efficiency and consistency in identification of such foreign material/contaminants. Yet further object of the present invention is directed to provide for a system of detection / rejection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre stream which would the simple and cost effective and at the same time would include its adaptability in conventional blow room operations. Yet another object of invention is directed to provide a system of detection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre web involving use of opto detectors adapted for easy cleaning of the system as and when required. Summary of the Invention Thus, according to the present invention there is provided an online system for identification of foreign material/contamination in fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre and rejection of undesired foreign materials/contaminations from said fibre stream comprising: 1. a feeder assembly adapted for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material to facilitate the detection of foreign materials/contaminant; 2. a detector means operatively connected to said feeder assembly for detection of foreign material/contaminants in said flow of fibre material and having signal processing means to generate signals; 3. ejector means operatively connected to said output of the signal processing means and adapted to open only when said,foreign material/contaminant detected is beyond a preset threshold level; 4. said ejector means operatively connected to said detector means such as to selectively open to reject the unwanted foreign materials/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an improved method of detection and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre flow in blow room and the like using the above system comprising; 1. feeding the fibre material to be detected through said feeder assembly; 2. detecting any foreign particles/contaminants using said detection means; 3. ejecting any detected foreign particles/cohtaminants through said ejector means. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a feeder assembly for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material for fibre processing such as detection of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising: 1. an inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material; 2. said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of fibre material comprising of perforated roller and a stripping roller to facilitate opening of the fibre tuft and uniformly spreading the same; 3. outlet duct adapted to receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for subsequent processing. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a detection system for identifying the presence of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising: 1. a duct through which the moving fibre is adapted to flow provided with photo detection arrays internally on both sides thereof; 2. a source of light to light the moving fibre stream to be detected and reflect into set of photodiode sensors; 3. signal processing means to sense conditions and generate corresponding signals selected from a), no fibre flow in the duct; b) normal fibre flow through the duct; and c) signal variations due to various contaminants/foreign material. According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided an ejection system for on-line rejection of foreign materials /contaminants in fibre processing systems and the like comprising- 1. valve means operatively connected to a detector means for detecting any undesired foreign particles/contaminants in a fibre stream; 2. said valve means adapted to selectively open only when the fibre stream is found to contain undesired foreign particles/contaminants beyond a preset threshold value; 3. said valve means opening for rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants synchronized based on the movement of the fibre stream such that the valve is open only to reject unwanted foreign particles/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible. Detailed Description of the invention The above-disclosed system of the Invention provides for identifying the Foreign Material like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of leaf, other vegetable fibre etc. in a flowing fibre web in the Blow Room, in an economical method using opto detectors instead of a camera system. A feeder assembly is used to make the material flow more uniform so that the contaminants are effectively exposed to the detectors and at a uniform spread. Also the system utilizes a set threshold index for the extent of Foreign Material, compare the detected extent with the threshold and decide its acceptability or otherwise. Use the individual signal levels of the photodiodes instead of an average value to improve the detection effectiveness. The system is directed to reject only a minimal portion of good fibre around the Foreign Material, using a set of pneumatic valves. Importantly, the effectiveness is achieved by detecting and synchronizing the movement of fibres along the duct and controlling the ejecting time based on the traverse time of the fibres from detection to ejection. The system of the invention enables canrying out all the above activities at the machine stage at the blow room so that removal of Foreign Material is done sufficiently eariy. This ensures that wastage of processed fibres and loss due to it are minimal. The feeder assembly used in the above system comprises; 1. inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material to be detected; 2. said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of the tuft/fibre comprising perforated roller and a stripping roller to thereby open the fibre tuft and uniformly spread the same; 3. outlet duct adapted to operatively receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for detection of foreign particles/contaminants. A drive motor adapted to operate the perforated roller in relation to said stripping roller and suction means applied on to the inner side of the perforated roller facilitating uniform tuft spreading to the full width of the outlet duct. The uniformly spread tuft to the full width of the duct is adapted to be moved out on to the outlet duct with said stripper roller The feeder assembly is also preferably with means for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. The detector means for detecting the foreign material/contaminant used in the above system comprises: 1. photo detector array placed on both sides of the outlet duct through which the spread out fibre material flows; 2. means to light moving fibre material and reflect into set of photodiode sensors; 3. signal processing means to sense condition selected from (a) no fibres in the duct (b) normal fibre flow through the duct (c) signal variations due to various colour contaminants/foreign material. The signal processing means used in the system comprise means to receive the signals from the photo sensors and process the same digitally. The signal processing means further comprise comparator means to compare the detected values of character/amount of foreign materials / contaminants with preset threshold values and generate signals to said ejection means. The means to light the flowing fibre material comprise fluorescent light with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range. Importantly, in the system of the invention the movement of said foreign particles / contaminants in the tuft and time taken to reach the ejection valve is based on the time of movement of said particles/contaminants between sensor arrays which have fixed distance. This enables synchrohizing the presentation of the detected contaminants to the ejection valve system to thereby reduce the amount of loss of any good fibres along with contamination. The fibres substantially free of any undesired contaminants/foreign material are released through an outlet after any detected unwanted foreign material/contaminant is exited through said ejector means. An air blow means is provided to force the contaminants into waste collection duct via an exhaust duct. The system of the invention can additionally comprise- 1. waste fill detector to monitor the amount of waste collection in the waste collection duct; 2. said waste fill detector operatively connected to waste evacuation motor such that as soon as the waste reaches a preset level it activates the waste evacuation motor. In accordance with a further aspect the system of the invention is adapted for easy cleaning as and when desired. The flow of fibre through the ducts as well as the dusty surrounding in a blow room of a mill, results in fine dust collecting over the light sources as well as on the transparent duct through which the sensor gets the reflected signal from the fibre. In normal process it is difficult to remove all the associated parts and clean them. Also aligning them in to their correct position is another difficult task after such cleaning. In the system of the invention a new arrangement is made of sliding mechanism which contains both the light sources and the sensor assembly as an integrated part. This composite module can be slid from its position by loosening the bolt and provides enough space to clean the light sources as well as the outer transparent duct manually. Aligning is not a problem in this case since the light sources and the detectors are moved together and hence needs no special alignment after cleaning. Another airtight cover can be removed by its handle and provides space to clean the inner surfaces of the transparent duct. i The details of the invention, its objects and advantages are explained hereunder in greater details in relation to non-limiting exemplary illustrations as per the accompanying figures wherein: Figure 1 is a sectional illustration of the system in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is an illustration of the signal processing and identification of status of foreign material/contaminants in the fibre tuft/fibre; Figure 3 is a sectional view of the feeder assembly used in the system of the invention. Figure 4 is a sectional view of the easy cleaning arrangement provided in the system of the invention. Reference is first invited to accompanying Figure 1, which shows the system of the invention. As represented in said figure, the system basically comprises -a feeder assembly (FA) feeding in the fibre tuft and providing an uniform spread of the tuft to be detected, a detector means (DM) and an ejection system (ES) including a waste collection duct. The fibres enter the contamination sorter through the feed and distribution duct (1). The transport air outlet filter (2) and its slide (3) are provided for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. The perforated chute wall (4) and its cover (5) are also used for the same purpose. The fibres then enter the feeder assembly, which contains a perforated roller (6), stripping roller (7) and an air suction mechanism to spread the fibre tufts uniformly to the full width of the duct. The fibres delivered from the feeder assembly (FA) are uniformly spread across the duct and hence has an uniform speed as well as spread across the full duct width exposing the embedded contaminants. This fibre flow enters the detection system (DS) including the optical path (10) which has lighting modules (11a, 11b). These lighting modules 1 la, b are fluorescent lights with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range. The fibre material moving in the optical path reflects the light into the array of photodiodes (13a, 13b). The processed signals indicate a detected foreign particle / contaminant, once the given set of thresholds exceed and the corresponding ejection valves of the valve array (14) are activated. The time taken for the material to reach the ejection valve is calculated by the time of movement between the sensor arrays 13a, 13b which has a fixed distance. This method synchronises the presentation of the detected contaminants to the ejection valve system (14) thereby reducing the amount of ejecting good fibres along with contaminants. Normally other systems use a fixed opening time of the valves, for longer periods to cover the entire range of fibre speeds. The air blows from the valves push the contaminants into the waste collection duct (16) via the waste exhaust duct (16). There is a waste-fill detector (18) which monitors the amount of waste collected into the waste collection duct (16) and as soon as it reaches the level it activates the waste evacuation motor. This method of intermittent waste evacuation system saves energy as well as saves on the quality of good fibres ejected along with the contaminants. The fibre material free of contaminants move through the material out duct (21). Reference is now invited to accompanying Figure 2, which shows the signal processing system used. To effectuate the signal processing, the use of photo detector arrays (d1, d2. d3 d8 ) placed on both sides of the duct is made in which the fibre material is moving. The light from the fluorescent bulbs falls on the moving fibre material and is reflected into the set of photodiode sensors. The signal is processed in three levels (a) The signal for no fibres in the duct (b) The signal at next level when a normal fibre flows through the duct (c) The signal variations due to various colour contaminants. The signals from the photosensors are collected and processed digitally. When there is no fibre in the duct, the reflections from a strip, which resemble fibre flow pattern, are fed into the photosensors and form the base value. Since there will be variations due to sensors as well as the reflection path, these values are stored and adjusted for the individual values for signals with fibre flow. Normally to save the processing time, group averages of the without fibre and with fibre signals are processed and hence result in errors due to variations in sensor. Such system of individual processing reduces such variation errors and results in better detection of contaminants. The threshold set detects the contaminants, which exceed the limit and activate the ejection. Reference is now invited to accompanying figure 3 which illustrates the Feeder assembly (FA), which converts the random fiow of tufts of fibre entering the system into a more uniform flow, and has the following parts. As shown in said figure 3. the assembly comprises of the Inlet duct (1). perforated roller (2), stripper roller (3) from which spread out tuft is passed to outlet duct (4). The feeder also includes a drive motor (5) along with suction duct (6) and drive belt (7) for effectively carrying out the above said operation. The fibre material entering the inlet duct (1) fall on the perforated roller (2) which is driven by the drive motor(5) via belt(7). Suction is applied onto the innerside of roller (2) and as the application of such suction is uniform around all the perforations, a more uniform tuft spread to the full width of the duct is obtained and is moved out onto the outlet duct (4) with the help of the stripper roller (3). Thus the feeder assembly provides uniformly distributed -fibres at the outlet and hence ensures: i) Exposure of all contaminants inside the bunches of fibres (to the sensor) for effective detection and removal ii) Uniform speed of all particles in front of sensor for efficient detection and ejection. Reference is now invited to Fig. 4 which illustrate a sectional view of the easy cleaning arrangement. As illustrated in said figure, the arrangement consists of a sliding rail mechanism (3), on which the composite modules (1&2) of light sources (4) and the array of photodetectors (5) are placed. The bolt (6) hold the composite modules (1&2) in their position. By loosening the bolts (6), the composite module (1&2) can be easily moved away from the duct (5.7). The space available after sliding of these modules (1&2) are sufficient for a manual cleaning. The Modules (1&2) can be slid back again into their old positions and fixed with the bolts (6). The an-angement thus retains mutual alignment between the light sources (4) and the photodetector arrays (5) intact resulting inconsistent results. Also an additional cover (3) with handle is provided on both sides of the duct, which when removed provides enough space for manually cleaning the inner surfaces of the transparent part of the duct (6). It is thus possible by way of the system of the invention to provide for a simple and cost-effective means and a method of identifying foreign material in moving fibre material, in an economical way. using an array of photo sensors- The feeder mechanism is adapted to spread the fibre material flow in a more uniform manner across the full width of the duct and the photodiode array resulting in effective exposure of the contaminants as well as uniform speed for efficient detection and ejection. Using the system of the invention it is possible to classify the identified Foreign Material into acceptable / not acceptable categories, by using an individual signal assessment instead of a group average based on the signals from photosensors. A method of rejecting the not acceptable lot using the air blow ensure maximum effectiveness and causing minimum wastage of fibre, for the contaminants identified. The effective means for detecting the speed of the material flow in the system providing for synchronising the ejection and maximize the clearing of contaminants and reducing unnecessary ejection of good material-It is possible to discriminate between foreign matter and the basic variations in the fibre, by processing the signals from the photodiodes suitably by fixing a threshold on the base material flow. Method of removing the ejected contaminants intermittently when the waste chamber is filled up to a given level, to save energy as well as to preserve the quality of good fibres ejected along with the contaminant. We Claim: 1. An online system for identification of foreign material/contamination in fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre and rejection of undesired foreign materials/contaminations from said fibre stream/cotton tuft/fibre comprising: (i) a feeder assembly adapted for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material to facilitate the detection of foreign material/contaminant; (ii) a detector means operatively connected to said feeder assembly for detection of foreign material/contaminants in said flow of fibre material and generate signals having signal processing means; and (iii) ejector means operatively connected to said output of the signal processing means and adapted to open only when said foreign material/contaminant detected is beyond a preset threshold level; (iv) said ejector means operatively connected to said detector means such as to selectively open to reject the unwanted foreign materials/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible. 2. An online system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said feeder assembly comprises; (i) inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material to be detected; (ii) said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of the tuft/fibre comprising perforated roller and a stripping roller to facilitate opening the fibre tuft and uniformly spreading the same; (iii) outlet duct adapted to receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for detection of foreign particles/contaminants. 3. An online system as claimed in claim 2 comprising drive motor adapted to operate the perforated roller in relation to said stripping roller and suction means applied on to the inner side of the perforated roller to facilitate uniform tuft spreading to the full width of the outlet duct. 4. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3 wherein the uniformly spread tuft to the full width of the duct is adapted to be moved out on to the outlet duct with said stripper roller. 5. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 4 comprising foreign material/contaminant collection units. 6. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 5 wherein said feeder assembly comprises means for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. 7. An online system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said means for regulating the air flow comprises transport air outlet filter with slides for controlling the flow of fresh air into duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. 8. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 6 or 7 comprising perforated chute wall and cover adapted for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. 9. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 8 wherein said detector means comprises: (i) photo detector array placed on both sides of the outlet duct through which said spread out tuft / fibre flows; (ii) a source of light to light moving tuft / fibre and reflect into set of photodiode sensors; (iii) signal processing means to sense condition selected from (a) no fibre in the duct (b) normal fibre flow through the duct (c) signal variations due to various contaminants/foreign material. 10. An online system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said signal processing means comprise means for processing the signals comprising means to receive the signals from the photo sensors and process the same digitally. 11. An online system as claimed in claim 10 wherein said signal processing means comprise comparator means to compare the detected values of character/amount of foreign materials / contaminants with preset threshold values and generate signals to said ejection means. 12. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 9 to 11 wherein said source of light preferably comprise fluorescent light with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range. 13. An online process as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 12 wherein the movement of said foreign particles / contaminants in the tuft and time taken to reach the ejection valve is based on the time of movement of said particles/contaminants between adjacent sensor arrays which have fixed distance. 14. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 13 comprising means to synchronize the presentation of the detected contaminants to the ejection valve system to thereby reduce the amount of loss of any good fibre along with contamination. 15. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 14 wherein the tuft/fibre substantially free of any undesired contaminants/foreign material is released through an outlet with any detected unwanted foreign material/contaminant exited through said ejector means. 16. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 15 comprising air blow means from the ejector valves adapted to force the contaminants into waste collection duct via a exhaust duct. 17. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 16 comprising: (i) waste fill detector to monitor the amount of waste collection in the waste collection duct; (ii) said waste fill detector operatively connected to waste evacuation motor such that as soon as the waste reaches a preset level it activates the waste evacuation motor. 18. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 17 wherein said light source and photodetector arrays are positioned pair of in composite modules and adapted such that for cleaning purpose the said pair of modules can be spaced apart and retracted to the original position for detection after cleaning is complete. 19. An online system as claimed in claim 18 wherein said pair of modules are held in position by nut & bolt means and as and when cleaning is desired the said modules are released from its bolted connection and adapted to slide to be spaced from one another from the cleaning. 20. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 18 & 19 wherein said modules are support on sliding rails for slidable displacement/spacing from one another for cleaning. 21. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 18 to 20 comprising releasable cover in said fibre duct for cleaning purpose. 22. An online system as claimed in claim 21 wherein said releasable cover is provided on both sides of the duct. 23.An improved method of detection and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre flow in blow room and the like using the system comprising; (I) feeding the tufts/ fibre to be detected through said feeder assembly; (II) detecting any foreign particles/contaminant using said detection means; (iii) ejecting any detected foreign particles/contaminants through said ejector valve means. 24. A method as claimed in claim 23 wherein prior to said step of detection of foreign materials/contaminant the tuft/fibre is uniformly spread out by using said feeder assembly. 25. A method as claimed in anyone of claims 23 or 24 wherein the detection of foreign material in the moving fibre mass is attracted using on any of photo sensors. 26. A method as claimed in anyone of claims 23 to 25 wherein the character/amount of the foreign materials/contaminant is classified based on signals from each individual photo sensors. 27. A method as claimed in anyone of claims 23 to 26 wherein the motion of said tuft/fibre through adjacent photo sensors is monitored and the ejection means synchronized based on such motion of the tuft/fibre. 28. A feeder assembly for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material for fibre processing such as detection of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising: (i) an inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material; (ii) said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of fibre material comprising of perforated roller and a stripping roller to facilitate opening of the fibre tuft and uniformly spreading the same; (iii) outlet duct adapted to receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for subsequent processing. 29. A feeder assembly as claimed in claim 28 comprising drive motor adapted to operate the perforated roller in relation to said stripping roller and suction means applied on to the inner side of the perforated roller to facilitate uniform tuft spreading to the full width of the outlet duct. 30.A feeder assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 28 or 29 wherein the uniformly spread tuft to the full width of the duct is adapted to be moved out on to the outlet duct with said stripper roller. 31. A feeder assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 28 to 30 wherein said feeder assembly comprises means for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. 32. A feeder assembly as claimed in claim 31 wherein said means for regulating the air flow comprises transport air outlet filter with slides for controlling the flow of fresh air into duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. 33. A feeder assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 28 or 32 comprising perforated chute wall and cover adapted for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. 34. A detection system for identifying the presence of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising: (i) a duct through which the moving fibre is adapted to flow provided with photo detection arrays internally on both sides thereof; (ii) a source of light to light the moving fibre stream to be detected and reflect into set of photodiode sensors; (iii) signal processing means to sense conditions and generate corresponding signals selected from a), no fibre flow in the duct; b) normal fibre flow through the duct; and c) signal variations due to various contaminants/foreign material. 35. A detection system as claimed in claim 34 wherein said signal processing means comprise means for processing the signals comprising means to receive the signals from the photo sensors and process the same digitally. 36. A detection system as claimed in claim 35 wherein said signal processing means comprise comparator means to compare the detected values of character/amount of foreign materials / contaminants with present threshold values and generate signals to said ejection means. 37. A detection system as claimed in anyone of claims 34 to 36 wherein said source of light to light comprise any suitable source of light preferably fluorescent light with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range. 38. An ejection system for on-line rejection of foreign materials /contaminants in fibre processing systems and the like comphsing- (i) valve means operatively connected to a detector means for detecting any undesired foreign particles/contaminants in a fibre stream; (ii) said valve means adapted to selectively open only when the fibre stream is found to contain undesired foreign particles/contaminants beyond a preset threshold value; (iii) said valve means opening for rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants synchronized based on the movement of the fibre stream such that the valve is open only to reject unwanted foreign particles/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible. 39. An ejection valve system as claimed in claim 38 wherein the.movement of said foreign particles/contaminants in the tuft and time taken to reach the ejection valve is based on the time of movement of said particles/contaminants between adjacent photodiode sensors arrays of a detection means to detect foreign material/contaminants which have fixed distance. 40. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 39 comprising means to synchronize the presentation of the detected contaminants to the opening of the ejection valve to thereby reduce the amount of loss of any good fibre along with contamination. \| 41. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 40 wherein the tuft/fibre substantially free of any undesired contaminants/foreign material is released through an outlet with any detected unwanted foreign material/contaminants exited through said ejector means. 42. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 41 comprising air blow means from the ejector valves adapted to force the contaminants into waste collection duct via a exhaust duct. 43. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 42 comprising: (i) waste fill detector to monitor the amount of waste collection in the waste collection duct; (ii) said waste fill detector operatively connected to waste evacuation motor such that as soon as the waste reaches a preset level it activates the waste evacuation motor. 44. An online system for detection and rejection of foreign material/contaminants from fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre and a method for using the system of detection and rejection of contaminant substantially as herein described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying figures. Dated this 15th day of May 2002

Full Text

Field of the invention
The present Invention relates to an online system for identifying foreign material like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of leaf, other vegetable fibre etc. in fibre streams and the like such as cotton and if the size / quantum of the same exceeds a pre-set acceptable threshold level, rejecting the portion of the fibre containing the same. The system would thus provide for an effective, simple and cost-effective method of identification and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre streams such as cotton tuft web/flow in blow rooms and the like.
Background Art
Quality of yarn and fabric has been steadily improving over the years. It has become necessary to identify Foreign Material and remove them as eariy as possible in the processing stage. This avoids wastage of processed fibre, yarn or fabric. It is desirable that the fibres are cleaned early in the processing as any foreign material left in the fibres result in defects and cause a lot of wastage and loss depending on the stage at which its presence is detected.
So far. two approaches for identifying the Foreign Material in fibre and removing the same on-line, have been suggested and practiced to a limited extent One approach is to sense such Foreign Material in a duct in the Blow Room. The duct is made sufficiently thin and wide to ensure that the fibres under process flows as a thin web. This facilitates suitable machine-based observation of web and identification of Foreign Material. Removal of portion of the fibres containing the Foreign Material is done at a following stage by diverting that segment of the fibres using a flap diverter or a set of ejectors lined across the web section. The flap / ejector is activated with a specific time delay and for a specific time duration. The delay and time duration are pre-calculated to ensure that the Foreign Material detected eariier. arrives at the rejection zone when it is activated. The fact that the fibres flowing through the detection area is not moving with a fixed or known speed can result in one of two things. Firstly, activation of the flap/ ejector, may not synchronise with the presence of the Foreign Material in front, resulting in Foreign Material not being rejected. Alternately, the flap / ejector activation may be made long enough by making allowance for the total spread in the speed of the

moving web of fibres, to ensure that the Foreign Material is definitely rejected. The former makes the scheme ineffective while the later results in a lot of wastage of precious fibre.
In the second approach, a separate system / arrangement is incorporated in the flowing fibre stream in the Blow Room, The fibres are made to flow over a zone brightly illuminated by a set of lights. The light reflection blocked by a Foreign Material produces a signal in an array of photodiodes. By a proper processing of the signals from the detectors, Foreign Material is identified. Removal of such Foreign Material is carried out through an array of nozzles arranged in a tine immediately following the belt. Air at a high enough pressure impinges the fibre web laterally and throws it out. The speed detection of fibre movement and positioning of the array of nozzles ensures that the detection of Foreign Material and its rejection are well synchronized.
US 6,243.166 B1 discloses a method and a device for detecting impurities wherein in order to provide better detection of the impurities the fibre stream and at least one reference quantity are artificially visually sensed. The ufilisation of such a reference quantity atleast periodically, enables the efficient detection and removal of even impurities that are normally difficult to remove.
It is however experienced that due to lack of proper control of the flow of feed material to be detected and also non-uniform exposure of the fibre tuft for the detection of the foreign material, problems still exist in effective identification of foreign materials/contaminant in conventional systems. Moreover, the speed of fibre movement and the position of the ejection nozzle were found not effective enough to reduce the possible loss of good fibres along with the foreign materials/contaminant.
Objects of the Invention
It is thus the basic object of the present invention is to provide for a simple, cost-effective and at the same time more reliable system for online detection of foreign materials/contaminants like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene,

leaf, bits of lead, other vegetable fibre etc. in a flowing fibre stream such as cotton web in the blow room.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for a simple and cost effective system of identification of foreign materials/contaminants in a flowing fibre stream such as cotton web operatively linked to a rejection means whereby the foreign materials/contaminants can be detected and rejected substantially free of any undesired loss of good fibre.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for a system for detection and rejection of foreign materials/contaminants in a flowing fibre/ web in the blow room which would provide for effective identification of such foreign materials/contaminants and its rejection so as to improve the method of detection and at the same time ensure that rejection in said foreign materials/contaminants is carried out with much reduced loss of good fibre.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide for a system of detection of foreign materials/contaminants in flowing fibre web in a blow room whereby it would be possible to identify and detect such foreign material and at the same time have it rejected through a rejection outlet only when the character/amount of the foreign materials/contaminants exceeds preset values to thereby maintain uniformity for the quality of the fibre.
Yet another object of the present invention is directed to provide for a system of detection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre web involving use of opto detectors comprising photo diodes and wherein signals from each photo diodes is utilised for identification of the foreign material thereby improving the efficiency and consistency in identification of such foreign material/contaminants.
Yet further object of the present invention is directed to provide for a system of detection / rejection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre stream which would the simple and cost effective and at the same time would include its adaptability in conventional blow room operations.

Yet another object of invention is directed to provide a system of detection of foreign materials/contaminants in fibre web involving use of opto detectors adapted for easy cleaning of the system as and when required.
Summary of the Invention
Thus, according to the present invention there is provided an online system for identification of foreign material/contamination in fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre and rejection of undesired foreign materials/contaminations from said fibre stream comprising:
1. a feeder assembly adapted for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material to facilitate the detection of foreign materials/contaminant;
2. a detector means operatively connected to said feeder assembly for detection of foreign material/contaminants in said flow of fibre material and having signal processing means to generate signals;
3. ejector means operatively connected to said output of the signal processing means and adapted to open only when said,foreign material/contaminant detected is beyond a preset threshold level;
4. said ejector means operatively connected to said detector means such as to selectively open to reject the unwanted foreign materials/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an improved method of detection and rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants from fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre flow in blow room and the like using the above system comprising;
1. feeding the fibre material to be detected through said feeder assembly;
2. detecting any foreign particles/contaminants using said detection means;
3. ejecting any detected foreign particles/cohtaminants through said ejector means.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a feeder assembly for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material for fibre processing such as detection of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising:

1. an inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material;
2. said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of fibre material comprising of perforated roller and a stripping roller to facilitate opening of the fibre tuft and uniformly spreading the same;
3. outlet duct adapted to receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for subsequent processing.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a detection system for identifying the presence of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising:
1. a duct through which the moving fibre is adapted to flow provided with photo detection arrays internally on both sides thereof;
2. a source of light to light the moving fibre stream to be detected and reflect into set of photodiode sensors;
3. signal processing means to sense conditions and generate corresponding signals selected from a), no fibre flow in the duct; b) normal fibre flow through the duct; and c) signal variations due to various contaminants/foreign material.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided an ejection system for on-line rejection of foreign materials /contaminants in fibre processing systems and the like comprising-
1. valve means operatively connected to a detector means for detecting any undesired foreign particles/contaminants in a fibre stream;
2. said valve means adapted to selectively open only when the fibre stream is found to contain undesired foreign particles/contaminants beyond a preset threshold value;
3. said valve means opening for rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants synchronized based on the movement of the fibre stream such that the valve is open only to reject unwanted foreign particles/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible.

Detailed Description of the invention
The above-disclosed system of the Invention provides for identifying the Foreign Material like jute, hair, paper pieces, polythene, polypropylene, leaf, bits of leaf, other vegetable fibre etc. in a flowing fibre web in the Blow Room, in an economical method using opto detectors instead of a camera system. A feeder assembly is used to make the material flow more uniform so that the contaminants are effectively exposed to the detectors and at a uniform spread.
Also the system utilizes a set threshold index for the extent of Foreign Material, compare the detected extent with the threshold and decide its acceptability or otherwise. Use the individual signal levels of the photodiodes instead of an average value to improve the detection effectiveness.
The system is directed to reject only a minimal portion of good fibre around the Foreign Material, using a set of pneumatic valves. Importantly, the effectiveness is achieved by detecting and synchronizing the movement of fibres along the duct and controlling the ejecting time based on the traverse time of the fibres from detection to ejection.
The system of the invention enables canrying out all the above activities at the machine stage at the blow room so that removal of Foreign Material is done sufficiently eariy. This ensures that wastage of processed fibres and loss due to it are minimal.
The feeder assembly used in the above system comprises;
1. inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material to be detected;
2. said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of the tuft/fibre comprising perforated roller and a stripping roller to thereby open the fibre tuft and uniformly spread the same;
3. outlet duct adapted to operatively receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for detection of foreign particles/contaminants.

A drive motor adapted to operate the perforated roller in relation to said stripping roller and suction means applied on to the inner side of the perforated roller facilitating uniform tuft spreading to the full width of the outlet duct.
The uniformly spread tuft to the full width of the duct is adapted to be moved out on to the outlet duct with said stripper roller
The feeder assembly is also preferably with means for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
The detector means for detecting the foreign material/contaminant used in the above system comprises:
1. photo detector array placed on both sides of the outlet duct through which the spread out fibre material flows;
2. means to light moving fibre material and reflect into set of photodiode sensors;
3. signal processing means to sense condition selected from (a) no fibres in the duct (b) normal fibre flow through the duct (c) signal variations due to various colour contaminants/foreign material.
The signal processing means used in the system comprise means to receive the signals from the photo sensors and process the same digitally. The signal processing means further comprise comparator means to compare the detected values of character/amount of foreign materials / contaminants with preset threshold values and generate signals to said ejection means. The means to light the flowing fibre material comprise fluorescent light with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range. Importantly, in the system of the invention the movement of said foreign particles / contaminants in the tuft and time taken to reach the ejection valve is based on the time of movement of said particles/contaminants between sensor arrays which have fixed distance. This enables synchrohizing the presentation of the detected contaminants to the ejection valve system to thereby reduce the amount of loss of any good fibres along with contamination.

The fibres substantially free of any undesired contaminants/foreign material are released through an outlet after any detected unwanted foreign material/contaminant is exited through said ejector means. An air blow means is provided to force the contaminants into waste collection duct via an exhaust duct.
The system of the invention can additionally comprise-
1. waste fill detector to monitor the amount of waste collection in the waste collection duct;
2. said waste fill detector operatively connected to waste evacuation motor such that as soon as the waste reaches a preset level it activates the waste evacuation motor.
In accordance with a further aspect the system of the invention is adapted for easy cleaning as and when desired. The flow of fibre through the ducts as well as the dusty surrounding in a blow room of a mill, results in fine dust collecting over the light sources as well as on the transparent duct through which the sensor gets the reflected signal from the fibre. In normal process it is difficult to remove all the associated parts and clean them. Also aligning them in to their correct position is another difficult task after such cleaning. In the system of the invention a new arrangement is made of sliding mechanism which contains both the light sources and the sensor assembly as an integrated part. This composite module can be slid from its position by loosening the bolt and provides enough space to clean the light sources as well as the outer transparent duct manually. Aligning is not a problem in this case since the light sources and the detectors are moved together and hence needs no special alignment after cleaning. Another airtight cover can be removed by its handle and provides space to clean the inner surfaces of the transparent duct.
i
The details of the invention, its objects and advantages are explained hereunder in greater details in relation to non-limiting exemplary illustrations as per the accompanying figures wherein:
Figure 1 is a sectional illustration of the system in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is an illustration of the signal processing and identification of status of foreign material/contaminants in the fibre tuft/fibre;
Figure 3 is a sectional view of the feeder assembly used in the system of the invention.
Figure 4 is a sectional view of the easy cleaning arrangement provided in the system of the invention.
Reference is first invited to accompanying Figure 1, which shows the system of the invention.
As represented in said figure, the system basically comprises -a feeder assembly (FA) feeding in the fibre tuft and providing an uniform spread of the tuft to be detected, a detector means (DM) and an ejection system (ES) including a waste collection duct.
The fibres enter the contamination sorter through the feed and distribution duct (1). The transport air outlet filter (2) and its slide (3) are provided for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct. The perforated chute wall (4) and its cover (5) are also used for the same purpose. The fibres then enter the feeder assembly, which contains a perforated roller (6), stripping roller (7) and an air suction mechanism to spread the fibre tufts uniformly to the full width of the duct.
The fibres delivered from the feeder assembly (FA) are uniformly spread across the duct and hence has an uniform speed as well as spread across the full duct width exposing the embedded contaminants. This fibre flow enters the detection system (DS) including the optical path (10) which has lighting modules (11a, 11b). These lighting modules 1 la, b are fluorescent lights with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range. The fibre material moving in the optical path reflects the light into the array of photodiodes (13a, 13b).

The processed signals indicate a detected foreign particle / contaminant, once the given set of thresholds exceed and the corresponding ejection valves of the valve array (14) are activated. The time taken for the material to reach the ejection valve is calculated by the time of movement between the sensor arrays 13a, 13b which has a fixed distance. This method synchronises the presentation of the detected contaminants to the ejection valve system (14) thereby reducing the amount of ejecting good fibres along with contaminants. Normally other systems use a fixed opening time of the valves, for longer periods to cover the entire range of fibre speeds. The air blows from the valves push the contaminants into the waste collection duct (16) via the waste exhaust duct (16).
There is a waste-fill detector (18) which monitors the amount of waste collected into the waste collection duct (16) and as soon as it reaches the level it activates the waste evacuation motor. This method of intermittent waste evacuation system saves energy as well as saves on the quality of good fibres ejected along with the contaminants.
The fibre material free of contaminants move through the material out duct (21).
Reference is now invited to accompanying Figure 2, which shows the signal processing system used. To effectuate the signal processing, the use of photo
detector arrays (d1, d2. d3 d8 ) placed on both sides of the duct is made in
which the fibre material is moving. The light from the fluorescent bulbs falls on the moving fibre material and is reflected into the set of photodiode sensors. The signal is processed in three levels
(a) The signal for no fibres in the duct
(b) The signal at next level when a normal fibre flows through the duct
(c) The signal variations due to various colour contaminants.
The signals from the photosensors are collected and processed digitally. When there is no fibre in the duct, the reflections from a strip, which resemble fibre flow pattern, are fed into the photosensors and form the base value. Since there will be variations due to sensors as well as the reflection path, these values are stored

and adjusted for the individual values for signals with fibre flow. Normally to save the processing time, group averages of the without fibre and with fibre signals are processed and hence result in errors due to variations in sensor. Such system of individual processing reduces such variation errors and results in better detection of contaminants.
The threshold set detects the contaminants, which exceed the limit and activate the ejection.
Reference is now invited to accompanying figure 3 which illustrates the Feeder assembly (FA), which converts the random fiow of tufts of fibre entering the system into a more uniform flow, and has the following parts. As shown in said figure 3. the assembly comprises of the Inlet duct (1). perforated roller (2), stripper roller (3) from which spread out tuft is passed to outlet duct (4). The feeder also includes a drive motor (5) along with suction duct (6) and drive belt (7) for effectively carrying out the above said operation.
The fibre material entering the inlet duct (1) fall on the perforated roller (2) which is driven by the drive motor(5) via belt(7). Suction is applied onto the innerside of roller (2) and as the application of such suction is uniform around all the perforations, a more uniform tuft spread to the full width of the duct is obtained and is moved out onto the outlet duct (4) with the help of the stripper roller (3). Thus the feeder assembly provides uniformly distributed -fibres at the outlet and hence ensures:
i) Exposure of all contaminants inside the bunches of fibres (to the sensor)
for effective detection and removal ii) Uniform speed of all particles in front of sensor for efficient detection and
ejection.
Reference is now invited to Fig. 4 which illustrate a sectional view of the easy cleaning arrangement. As illustrated in said figure, the arrangement consists of a sliding rail mechanism (3), on which the composite modules (1&2) of light sources (4) and the array of photodetectors (5) are placed. The bolt (6) hold the

composite modules (1&2) in their position. By loosening the bolts (6), the composite module (1&2) can be easily moved away from the duct (5.7). The space available after sliding of these modules (1&2) are sufficient for a manual cleaning. The Modules (1&2) can be slid back again into their old positions and fixed with the bolts (6). The an-angement thus retains mutual alignment between the light sources (4) and the photodetector arrays (5) intact resulting inconsistent results. Also an additional cover (3) with handle is provided on both sides of the duct, which when removed provides enough space for manually cleaning the inner surfaces of the transparent part of the duct (6).
It is thus possible by way of the system of the invention to provide for a simple and cost-effective means and a method of identifying foreign material in moving fibre material, in an economical way. using an array of photo sensors- The feeder mechanism is adapted to spread the fibre material flow in a more uniform manner across the full width of the duct and the photodiode array resulting in effective exposure of the contaminants as well as uniform speed for efficient detection and ejection. Using the system of the invention it is possible to classify the identified Foreign Material into acceptable / not acceptable categories, by using an individual signal assessment instead of a group average based on the signals from photosensors. A method of rejecting the not acceptable lot using the air blow ensure maximum effectiveness and causing minimum wastage of fibre, for the contaminants identified. The effective means for detecting the speed of the material flow in the system providing for synchronising the ejection and maximize the clearing of contaminants and reducing unnecessary ejection of good material-It is possible to discriminate between foreign matter and the basic variations in the fibre, by processing the signals from the photodiodes suitably by fixing a threshold on the base material flow. Method of removing the ejected contaminants intermittently when the waste chamber is filled up to a given level, to save energy as well as to preserve the quality of good fibres ejected along with the contaminant.

We Claim:
1. An online system for identification of foreign material/contamination in fibre
stream such as cotton tuft/fibre and rejection of undesired foreign
materials/contaminations from said fibre stream/cotton tuft/fibre comprising:
(i) a feeder assembly adapted for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the
fibre material to facilitate the detection of foreign material/contaminant; (ii) a detector means operatively connected to said feeder assembly for
detection of foreign material/contaminants in said flow of fibre material and
generate signals having signal processing means; and (iii) ejector means operatively connected to said output of the signal processing
means and adapted to open only when said foreign material/contaminant
detected is beyond a preset threshold level; (iv) said ejector means operatively connected to said detector means such as
to selectively open to reject the unwanted foreign materials/contaminants
avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible.
2. An online system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said feeder assembly
comprises;
(i) inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material to be detected;
(ii) said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of the tuft/fibre comprising perforated roller and a stripping roller to facilitate opening the fibre tuft and uniformly spreading the same;
(iii) outlet duct adapted to receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for detection of foreign particles/contaminants.
3. An online system as claimed in claim 2 comprising drive motor adapted to
operate the perforated roller in relation to said stripping roller and suction
means applied on to the inner side of the perforated roller to facilitate uniform
tuft spreading to the full width of the outlet duct.

4. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3 wherein the uniformly spread tuft to the full width of the duct is adapted to be moved out on to the outlet duct with said stripper roller.
5. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 4 comprising foreign material/contaminant collection units.
6. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 5 wherein said feeder assembly comprises means for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
7. An online system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said means for regulating the air flow comprises transport air outlet filter with slides for controlling the flow of fresh air into duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
8. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 6 or 7 comprising perforated chute wall and cover adapted for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
9. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 8 wherein said detector means comprises:
(i) photo detector array placed on both sides of the outlet duct through which
said spread out tuft / fibre flows; (ii) a source of light to light moving tuft / fibre and reflect into set of photodiode
sensors; (iii) signal processing means to sense condition selected from (a) no fibre in
the duct (b) normal fibre flow through the duct (c) signal variations due to
various contaminants/foreign material.
10. An online system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said signal processing means
comprise means for processing the signals comprising means to receive the
signals from the photo sensors and process the same digitally.

11. An online system as claimed in claim 10 wherein said signal processing means comprise comparator means to compare the detected values of character/amount of foreign materials / contaminants with preset threshold values and generate signals to said ejection means.
12. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 9 to 11 wherein said source of light preferably comprise fluorescent light with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range.
13. An online process as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 12 wherein the movement of said foreign particles / contaminants in the tuft and time taken to reach the ejection valve is based on the time of movement of said particles/contaminants between adjacent sensor arrays which have fixed distance.
14. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 13 comprising means to synchronize the presentation of the detected contaminants to the ejection valve system to thereby reduce the amount of loss of any good fibre along with contamination.
15. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 14 wherein the tuft/fibre substantially free of any undesired contaminants/foreign material is released through an outlet with any detected unwanted foreign material/contaminant exited through said ejector means.
16. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 15 comprising air blow means from the ejector valves adapted to force the contaminants into waste collection duct via a exhaust duct.
17. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 16 comprising:
(i) waste fill detector to monitor the amount of waste collection in the waste collection duct;

(ii) said waste fill detector operatively connected to waste evacuation motor such that as soon as the waste reaches a preset level it activates the waste evacuation motor.
18. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 17 wherein said light source and photodetector arrays are positioned pair of in composite modules and adapted such that for cleaning purpose the said pair of modules can be spaced apart and retracted to the original position for detection after cleaning is complete.
19. An online system as claimed in claim 18 wherein said pair of modules are held in position by nut & bolt means and as and when cleaning is desired the said modules are released from its bolted connection and adapted to slide to be spaced from one another from the cleaning.
20. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 18 & 19 wherein said modules are support on sliding rails for slidable displacement/spacing from one another for cleaning.
21. An online system as claimed in anyone of claims 18 to 20 comprising releasable cover in said fibre duct for cleaning purpose.
22. An online system as claimed in claim 21 wherein said releasable cover is provided on both sides of the duct.
23.An improved method of detection and rejection of unwanted foreign
material/contaminants from fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre flow in blow
room and the like using the system comprising;
(I) feeding the tufts/ fibre to be detected through said feeder assembly;
(II) detecting any foreign particles/contaminant using said detection means;
(iii) ejecting any detected foreign particles/contaminants through said ejector valve means.

24. A method as claimed in claim 23 wherein prior to said step of detection of foreign materials/contaminant the tuft/fibre is uniformly spread out by using said feeder assembly.
25. A method as claimed in anyone of claims 23 or 24 wherein the detection of foreign material in the moving fibre mass is attracted using on any of photo sensors.
26. A method as claimed in anyone of claims 23 to 25 wherein the character/amount of the foreign materials/contaminant is classified based on signals from each individual photo sensors.
27. A method as claimed in anyone of claims 23 to 26 wherein the motion of said tuft/fibre through adjacent photo sensors is monitored and the ejection means synchronized based on such motion of the tuft/fibre.
28. A feeder assembly for regulated and uniformly spread flow of the fibre material for fibre processing such as detection of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising:
(i) an inlet duct for feeding in the fibre material;
(ii) said inlet duct operatively connected to means for uniform spreading of fibre material comprising of perforated roller and a stripping roller to facilitate opening of the fibre tuft and uniformly spreading the same;
(iii) outlet duct adapted to receive said uniformly spread tuft/fibre for subsequent processing.
29. A feeder assembly as claimed in claim 28 comprising drive motor adapted to
operate the perforated roller in relation to said stripping roller and suction
means applied on to the inner side of the perforated roller to facilitate uniform
tuft spreading to the full width of the outlet duct.
30.A feeder assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 28 or 29 wherein the uniformly spread tuft to the full width of the duct is adapted to be moved out on to the outlet duct with said stripper roller.

31. A feeder assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 28 to 30 wherein said feeder assembly comprises means for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
32. A feeder assembly as claimed in claim 31 wherein said means for regulating the air flow comprises transport air outlet filter with slides for controlling the flow of fresh air into duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
33. A feeder assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 28 or 32 comprising perforated chute wall and cover adapted for controlling the flow of fresh air into the duct and stabilize the air velocity in the duct.
34. A detection system for identifying the presence of foreign material/contaminants in fibre stream comprising:
(i) a duct through which the moving fibre is adapted to flow provided with
photo detection arrays internally on both sides thereof; (ii) a source of light to light the moving fibre stream to be detected and reflect
into set of photodiode sensors; (iii) signal processing means to sense conditions and generate corresponding
signals selected from a), no fibre flow in the duct; b) normal fibre flow
through the duct; and c) signal variations due to various
contaminants/foreign material.
35. A detection system as claimed in claim 34 wherein said signal processing means comprise means for processing the signals comprising means to receive the signals from the photo sensors and process the same digitally.
36. A detection system as claimed in claim 35 wherein said signal processing means comprise comparator means to compare the detected values of character/amount of foreign materials / contaminants with present threshold values and generate signals to said ejection means.

37. A detection system as claimed in anyone of claims 34 to 36 wherein said source of light to light comprise any suitable source of light preferably fluorescent light with a white spectrum spread over the entire visible range.
38. An ejection system for on-line rejection of foreign materials /contaminants in fibre processing systems and the like comphsing-
(i) valve means operatively connected to a detector means for detecting any undesired foreign particles/contaminants in a fibre stream;
(ii) said valve means adapted to selectively open only when the fibre stream is found to contain undesired foreign particles/contaminants beyond a preset threshold value;
(iii) said valve means opening for rejection of unwanted foreign material/contaminants synchronized based on the movement of the fibre stream such that the valve is open only to reject unwanted foreign particles/contaminants avoiding loss of good fibre to the extent possible.
39. An ejection valve system as claimed in claim 38 wherein the.movement of said foreign particles/contaminants in the tuft and time taken to reach the ejection valve is based on the time of movement of said particles/contaminants between adjacent photodiode sensors arrays of a detection means to detect foreign material/contaminants which have fixed distance.
40. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 39 comprising means to synchronize the presentation of the detected contaminants to the opening of the ejection valve to thereby reduce the amount of loss of any good fibre along with contamination. |
41. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 40 wherein the tuft/fibre substantially free of any undesired contaminants/foreign material is released through an outlet with any detected unwanted foreign material/contaminants exited through said ejector means.

42. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 41 comprising
air blow means from the ejector valves adapted to force the contaminants into
waste collection duct via a exhaust duct.
43. An ejection valve system as claimed in anyone of claims 38 to 42 comprising:
(i) waste fill detector to monitor the amount of waste collection in the waste
collection duct; (ii) said waste fill detector operatively connected to waste evacuation motor such that as soon as the waste reaches a preset level it activates the waste evacuation motor.
44. An online system for detection and rejection of foreign material/contaminants
from fibre stream such as cotton tuft/fibre and a method for using the system of
detection and rejection of contaminant substantially as herein described and
illustrated with reference to the accompanying figures.
Dated this 15th day of May 2002

Documents:

373-mas-2002-abstract.pdf

373-mas-2002-claims duplicate.pdf

373-mas-2002-claims original.pdf

373-mas-2002-correspondance others.pdf

373-mas-2002-correspondance po.pdf

373-mas-2002-description complete duplicate.pdf

373-mas-2002-description complete original.pdf

373-mas-2002-drawings.pdf

373-mas-2002-form 1.pdf

373-mas-2002-form 26.pdf

373-mas-2002-form 3.pdf

373-mas-2002-other documents.pdf

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Patent Number

205197

Indian Patent Application Number

373/MAS/2002

PG Journal Number

26/2007

Publication Date

29-Jun-2007

Grant Date

22-Mar-2007

Date of Filing

20-May-2002

Name of Patentee

M/S. PREMIER POLYTRONICS PVT.LTD

Applicant Address

304, TRICHY ROAD, SINGANALLUR,COIMBATORE 641 005

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	RAMACHANDRAN AHKARIPURAM NARAYANASAMY,	SHREE NIVAS NO.3,4TH CROSS ROAD,CHINTHAMANI NAGAR,K.K.PUDUR,COIMBOTER-641 038
2	VENKATARAMAN KALLIDAIKURICHI KRISHNAN,	49-A NRG STREET,K.K.PUDUR,COIMBATORE-641 038
3	ANBARASAN MARIAPPAN.	N07,OM MURUGA STREET,THANNEER PANDAL,V.K.ROAD,PEELAMEDU,COIMBATORE-641 004

PCT International Classification Number

D06H-3/08

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1			NA