| Popis: |
A new lint cleaner equipped with spiked cylinders and multiple saw cylinders was developed to improve fiber quality and reduce fiber waste (patent 6,539,585). The new cleaner consists of a modified cylinder cleaner combined with two lint cleaner saws as well as a secondary saw to prevent fiber lost. The new cleaner was evaluated in four operational studies. Study 1 considered the new lint cleaner, and one and two stages of saw-type lint cleaning with two varieties of cotton and two different pre-cleaning sequences. Study 2 compared one and two stages of saw-type lint cleaning with two varieties of cotton and modifications to the new lint cleaner. Study 3 considered two operational speeds of the new lint cleaner and two varieties of cotton. Study 4 considered two varieties of cotton processed with the new lint cleaner including all improvements. For Studies 1 and 2, treatment values for leaf grade were 3.6, 3.0 and 3.3, respectively, for one lint cleaner, two lint cleaners, and the new cleaner while length values were 2.74, 2.73 and 2.76 cm. For Studies 1 and 2, the material wasted averaged across varieties and common pre-cleaning sequences was 7.1, 8.3 and 5.0 kg per bale, respectively, for one lint cleaner, two lint cleaners, and the new cleaner. As modifications were made to the new lint cleaner in subsequent studies, the material wasted was reduced to 3.8 kg per bale and bale value increased about $5 over the standard lint cleaners. The new cleaner is available for commercial use. |
