SPINNING PREPARATION MACHINE

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a spinning preparation machine, in particular a carding machine or carding machine, with an inlet side for fiber flocks, which are fed to a rotating drum by means of rollers and are opened up, aligned and cleaned down to the individual fiber between fixed carding elements and rotating flat bars and the drum, and the resulting fiber web is transferred from the drum to a doffer, which is followed by at least one take-off unit for further processing or depositing the fiber web, comprising a machine control which is designed to process and regulate at least the production data.

[0002] According to the state of the art in textile technology, it is known to use sensors in spinning preparation machines (e.g. carding or carding machines) for treating cotton, chemical fibers or the like to monitor, for example, the temperature of various components, the carding gap, drive or setting motors, and the mass throughput of fibers. The data from the sensors is fed via electrical cables to the carding machine control system, where it is evaluated and used to adjust the card. Either the operator is informed of an expected setting change via a signal, or a control or regulating circuit makes a change automatically. The electrical cables are led from all points on the carding machine into the control cabinet, where they are adapted to terminal blocks using connectors and from there connected to the inputs and outputs of the control system.Typically, the control cabinet is located on the rear of the carding machine near the feed shaft, so the number of sensors, actuators, and drive motors can quickly add up to several hundred meters of electrical cables. Since these electrical cables still transmit some signals in analog form, they must be shielded against the high-frequency and high-current motor cables. Furthermore, the control system must process an increasing number of these input / output signals at equal or shorter intervals. In the event of system errors, it is very time-consuming to check all connections, cables, and connected sensors. The effort required to install these electrical cables and shield them against high-frequency currents is very expensive.

[0003] EP 1167591 A1 discloses a carding machine with several decentralized controllers for controlling the transmission ratio. Data transmission is still analog, and an update always requires the complete software to be installed.

[0004] EP 0801158 A1 discloses a carding machine with a separate programmable controller for carding gap control. This controller also uses analog data transmission, and the cabling for the numerous temperature sensors is very long and complex.

[0005] CH 699003 A2 discloses a carding machine that can be driven by different motors using a digital frequency converter. Locally arranged control systems that enable short cabling routes are not disclosed.

[0006] EP 3354774 A1 describes a carding machine whose flat bars can be adjusted in their contour to the drum by means of an actuator. These flat bars communicate with a control system, which can be arranged locally or centrally. A control system arrangement that allows for short cabling routes is not disclosed.

[0007] EP 1178136 A1 discloses a separate control system for carding gap adjustment, which operates independently of the central carding control system. The arrangement of the control system, which allows for short cabling routes, is not disclosed.

[0008] Accordingly, the invention is based on the object of developing a spinning preparation machine in such a way as to reduce the effort required for laying and shielding these electrical cables and the effort required for rectifying possible errors.

[0009] The invention solves the stated problem by a device having the features specified in claim 1. Advantageous developments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

[0010] A device according to the present invention is for use in a spinning preparation machine, in particular in the form of a card or carding machine, with an inlet side for fiber flocks, which are fed to a rotating drum by means of rollers and are opened up, aligned and cleaned down to the individual fiber between fixed carding elements and rotating flat bars and the drum, and the resulting fiber web is transferred from the drum to a doffer, which is followed by at least one take-off unit for further processing or depositing the fiber web, comprising a machine control which is designed to process and regulate at least the production data.

[0011] The invention includes the technical teaching that the spinning preparation machine has at least one pilot control that is designed to process data from sensors and / or drives independently of the machine control system and to control at least the drives connected to the pilot control system. In particular, the sensors and drives arranged in close proximity are connected to the pilot control system so that the cabling can be carried out more simply and is less susceptible to failure. The sensors and drives that are relevant for the respective assembly are referred to as being arranged in close proximity, for example the sensors and drives that are arranged on and / or in the area of ​​the assembly (drum, revolving flat, side plates), or that are essential for a specific function (carding gap adjustment, or distance between drum and doffer, or foreign part or nep detection behind the doffer, etc.).This also makes it easier to detect possible errors in the control system, as the data communication between the feedforward control and the machine control system can be limited.

[0012] The at least one pilot control is arranged in the drum area on at least one side plate. This allows, for example, data from the temperature sensors located on the side plate or on or in the drum area to be fed into the pilot control. Preferably, the pilot control can be arranged on the side plate in the area of ​​the drum's rotational axis. This also results in short cable lengths and simple cabling.

[0013] Preferably, the at least one pre-control system can process all relevant data from sensors and drives for carding gap control. This allows the pre-control system to operate independently of the production data of the machine control system, which reduces the load on the machine control system and enables, for example, the use of different processors.

[0014] For this purpose, the at least one pre-control system can have at least one processor for processing data. The processor can be programmable independently of the machine control system and, for example, combined with an additional memory to form an electronic module. This allows modular sub-functions to be programmed and modified into the spinning preparation machine according to customer requirements, independent of the basic function stored in the machine control system.

[0015] The pilot control communicates with the machine control system via a bus system. The bus system can consist of a fault-resistant cable, which is very easy to install.

[0016] Preferably, the feedforward control can be programmable independently of the machine control system. This allows software updates for subfunctions to be carried out independently of any intervention in the machine control system.

[0017] In an advantageous embodiment, the spinning preparation machine can have at least two pilot controls, each pilot control being designed to process the data from sensors and drives for one or more separate functional areas and to control the associated drives. For example, a separate pilot control can be arranged on each side plate, which processes the temperature and carding gap data separately for each side of the spinning preparation machine.

[0018] The functional areas can be designed as carding gap control for each card side, or as distance control between at least two components or as a quality feature of the fiber web.

[0019] Preferably, communication between the feedforward control and the machine control system can be limited to the exchange of target and actual values ​​for the input of production data and / or fault or readiness messages. The processing of data from subfunctions thus occurs independently of each other, accelerating the functionality of the spinning preparation machine.

[0020] Further measures improving the invention are described in more detail below together with the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the figures.

[0021] They show: Fig. 1 a schematic side view of a spinning preparation machine in the form of a card in which the device according to the invention is used, Fig. 2 a perspective view of a side plate of a card.

[0022] Below, with reference to the Fig. 1 to 2 Preferred embodiments of the spinning preparation machine and method according to the invention are explained below. Identical features in the drawings are provided with the same reference numerals. It should be understood that the drawing is merely simplified and, in particular, not to scale.

[0023] The spinning preparation machine can be a card K, which is Fig. 1shown in a schematically simplified side view. Alternatively, the spinning preparation machine can also be designed as a carding machine (not shown). Fiber flakes are guided via a chute to a feed roller 1, a feed table 2, via several licker-in devices 3a, 3b, 3c to the drum 4 or the reel tambour. On the drum 4, the fibers of the fiber flakes are parallelized and cleaned by means of fixed carding elements (flat bars) 14 arranged on a revolving flat 13 rotating around flat deflection rollers 13a, 13b. The resulting fiber web is then conveyed via a doffer 5, a doffer roller 6 and several squeeze rollers 7, 8 to a web guide element 9, which forms the fiber web with a web funnel 10 into a fiber sliver, which is transferred via take-off rollers 11, 12 to a downstream processing machine or a can 15 with a can frame 16. M denotes the center point (or bearing axis) of drum 4.The arrow A indicates the working direction in relation to the fiber material or fiber fleece F. The directions of rotation of the rollers are shown in . Fig. 1indicated by curved arrows, where arrow 4b indicates the direction of rotation of drum 4. C denotes the direction of rotation of revolving flat 13 in carding position, and D denotes its return transport direction. The area of ​​card K at which the fiber sliver exits and is deposited in can 15 is referred to as the front of card K. The control cabinet 25 is usually arranged at the rear of card K, i.e. the area into which the fiber flakes are fed. The machine control 26 of card K can also be arranged in control cabinet 25 or in the area of ​​control cabinet 25 and communicates with an input display (not shown here), which can be arranged laterally in the area of ​​the fiber sliver exit from card K. However, machine control 26 can also be arranged in a common housing with the input display.

[0024] The machine control system 26 of card K processes all data important for card production, such as the tuft feed, the speed of the drive motors, the mass control of the fibers to be processed, the applied air pressures, the can fill level, and all options for wear-related components. The machine control system 26 can communicate with a central control system for spinning preparation, allowing data from all spinning preparation machines to converge there, allowing quality control and presetting of the various machine types to be carried out.

[0025] The at least one pilot control 24 according to the invention is preferably arranged in the region of the drum 4, for example on a side plate 17 or in the region of the rotational axis of the drum 4, since this is the central point for bringing together the electrical lines to the sensors and actuators arranged on or around the drum 4. The at least one pilot control 24 intelligently preprocesses and summarizes the data from the sensors arranged in close proximity, so that the electrical lines are shorter and the sensitivity to interference is significantly reduced. This has the advantage that the incoming signals are preprocessed independently of the machine control 26, so that the load on the machine control 26 is reduced.For this purpose, the pilot control 24 can comprise an electronic assembly embodied as hardware (processor and memory) with which the signals from the sensors and actuators can be preprocessed, or alternatively, it can be embodied as a high-performance processor that can be configured via software. In particular, the pilot control 24 is designed to process all relevant data for controlling the carding gap, for example, various temperature signals from different components in the machine, various contact signals from the drum 4 with the adjacent components such as licker-in, carding and separating elements, rotating flat bars 14 and / or doffers 5, counting signals from the revolving flat 13 and the drum 4, and / or control signals and feedback for the motorized adjustment of the wedge bar and thus the carding gap.The pilot control 24 can be designed to process the signals permanently, so that carding gap control independent of the machine control 26 is possible.

[0026] The contact signals can be evaluated at high frequency in the pilot control 24, for example to calibrate and adjust the carding gap between the clothings of the revolving flat 13 and the drum 4. Alternatively or additionally, the contacts of elements with the drum 4 outside the revolving flat 13 can be recorded and processed in the pilot control 24. The control loop of the actuators of the wedge bar ensures that a preselected carding gap is set and kept constant. Data from the various temperature sensors is also incorporated, so that the carding gap can be kept constant even if the temperature on the machine changes. Communication between the pilot control 24 and the machine control 26 can be limited to an exchange of setpoint and actual values ​​for input, fault or readiness messages, and is carried out via a digital BUS system.This bus system can consist of a fault-resistant cable with multiple wires. Consolidating the functions close to the sensors allows the machine operator to perform troubleshooting and inspections more effectively without the laborious task of identifying the associated modules in the control cabinet. LEDs can be arranged on the digital bus node to indicate the basic function of each module and its operational readiness.

[0027] After Figure 2the pilot control 24 is arranged, for example, in the area of ​​the rotational axis of the drum 4 on a side plate 17. The pilot control 24 can also expediently be arranged at another central location in the area of ​​the drum 4. The data from the actuators and sensors relating to the temperature of the side plates 17a, the ambient temperature 18, the material inlet monitoring 19, the temperature of the drum cover 21 and the carding gap adjustment 22 are fed to the pilot control 24 via various electrical lines 23. In the event of electrical contact between the clothings of the revolving flats 13 and the drum 4, an electrical short circuit is transmitted as a signal to the pilot control 24 via at least one of four contact arcs 20 on each side of the card.Especially for automatic carding gap adjustment, software can be uploaded to the pre-control 24. This software can more precisely determine the location of contact between the clothing tips using statistical analysis. This allows the pre-control 24 to be specifically adapted to specific carding operation requirements without having to intervene in the central machine control system.

[0028] Advantageously, multiple pre-controls 24 can also be used, for example, to separately evaluate the sensor data on each side of the card on each side plate 17 for setting and maintaining the carding gap. This allows the wedge bars on both sides of the drum 4 to be controlled independently to adjust the carding gap when exposed to one-sided temperature stress across the working width of the card. The two pre-controls 24 can communicate with each other independently of the machine control system and forward their data independently of each other to the machine control system 26. This also contributes to easier installation and troubleshooting.

[0029] A further pre-control 24 can be arranged in the area of ​​the doffer 5 in order, on the one hand, to regulate the distance of the clothings between the doffer 5 and the drum 4, and, on the other hand, to pre-process the data from the nep sensor(s) arranged in the area of ​​the doffer 5.

[0030] Due to the technological advancement of textile machines, more and more sensors and actuators are inevitably being used, so that the pilot control 24 according to the invention can systematically preprocess the signals, thus reducing the complexity and error susceptibility of the overall system. The installation of the sensors and actuators becomes simpler, more cost-effective, and less error-prone, since the electrical lines from the area of ​​the drum 4 or the side plate 17 only need to be connected to the pilot control 24. In contrast to existing and available BUS systems from the supplier industry, the BUS system used in the pilot control 24 can be individually configured via software in order to be able to perform any conceivable control task, even of high complexity, independently of the machine control 26. Reference symbol:

[0031] KCard 1Feed roller 2Feed table 3a, 3b, 3cLicker-in roller 4Drum 4bDirection of rotation (of drum 4) 5Doffer 6Skating roller 7, 8Squeeze roller 9Web guide element 10Flow funnel 11, 12Take-off rollers 13Revolving flat 13a, 13bFlat deflection rollers 14Flat rods 15Can 16Can frame 17Side plate 17aSide plate temperature sensor 18Ambient temperature sensor 19Material inlet monitoring sensor 20Contact sheet 21Drum cover temperature sensor 22Carding gap adjustment sensor 23Cable 24Feed control 25Switch cabinet 26Machine control AWorking direction CRotation direction (of the revolving flat 13) DReturn transport direction (of the flat bars 14) MCenter point or bearing axis (of the drum 4)

Claims

1. Spinning preparation machine, in particular a card (K) or roller card, with an entry side for fibre tufts which are fed by means of rollers into a rotating main cylinder (4), and are opened, aligned and cleaned between fixed carding elements and rotating flat for cards (14) and the main cylinder (4) until the individual fibres are released, and the fibre web which is produced in the process is transferred from the main cylinder (4) to a detacher (5), downstream of which there is at least one take-off unit for further processing or depositing the fibre web (19), comprising a machine control (26) which is designed to process and regulate at least the production data, the spinning preparation machine having at least one pilot control (24) which is designed to process data from sensors and / or drives independently of the machine control (26) and to control at least the drives connected to the pilot control (24), characterised in that the at least one pilot control (24) is arranged in the area of the main cylinder (4) on at least one lateral shield (17) and that the pilot control (24) communicates with the machine control (26) by means of a BUS-system.

2. Spinning preparation machine according to claim 1, characterised in that at least one pilot control (24) processes all relevant data from sensors and drives for controlling the carding gap.

3. Spinning preparation machine according to claim 1, characterised in that the at least one pilot control (24) has at least one processor for processing data.

4. Spinning preparation machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the pilot control (24) is programmable independently of the machine control (26).

5. Spinning preparation machine according to claim 1, characterised in that the spinning preparation machine has at least two pilot controls (24), wherein each pilot control (24) is designed to process the data from sensors and drives to one or more separate functional areas and to control the associated drives.

6. Spinning preparation machine according to claim 5, characterised in that the functional areas are configured as a carding gap control for each side of the card, as a distance control between at least two components or as a quality feature of the fibre web.

7. Spinning preparation machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the at least one pilot control (24) is designed to process the data from the sensors and drives arranged in close proximity.

8. Spinning preparation machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the communication of the pilot control (24) with the machine control (26) is limited to the exchange of setpoint and actual values for the input of production data and / or to fault or readiness messages.