Practical constraints in spinning operations are given as under:

· In order to compete, yarn quality that is “designed" for the end product and in particular is consistent is essential.
· The international yarn trade calls for continuous systematic cost-cutting.
· Customers require short response times and thus indirectly very fast blend changes at the individual process stages.
· There is often a shortage of specialists with expertise in analyzing technological problems.
· Frequent changes in operating personnel impose heavy demands on the simplest levels of machine operation.

These practical constraints apply to all process stages in the spinning mill, especially in the drawframe sector. Alongside the further development of its drawframe models, Rieter has created a tool for helping its customers face the challenges described above.

The Sliver Professional expert system
Rieter has developed the sliver professional offline expert system to provide easy, rapid technological support. The unique software offers two valuable functions: machine setting recommendations and assistance with fault finding.

Machine setting recommendations The Sliver Professional is very easy indeed to operate following the input of raw material data and feed/delivery sliver weights. Sliver Professional provides a complete recommendation for setting drawframe parameters. The recommended setting require only fine tuning in order to utilize the quality potential of an RSB/SB to the full. If required, the operator receives information on the location of each setting point in the form of 3D illustrations. Sliver Professional significantly reduces the time required for material changes! Laborious searching for suitable settings in, therefore, a thing of the past.

3D displays help to locate the defined machine components

The recommended settings together with the operator's own optimization can be saved in the PC. This enables the user to manage his application - specific drawframe setting data. The great benefit of Sliver professional, namely the prevention of widely incorrect settings, is apparent from the following practical example. Due to high personnel turnover, a rotor spinning mill did not have the know-how to adjust the cylinder gaps on the drawframes. Very close cylinder gaps were selected in order to obtain the lowest possible sliver CV% values. The negative impact on yarn quality and especially OE efficiency was not recognised. However, this changed when Sliver Professional was used: yarn quality was improved and the efficiency of the rotor spinning machine boosted by an impressive 2%.

Rapid elimination of faults
A further valuable function provided by Sliver Professional is an analytical programme for periodic spectrogram faults, so-called stacks.
After manual input of the wavelength of the spectrogram fault, the software defines all the machine components which could be responsible for this.
The results are displayed in plain text and by a drive diagram with color-coded machine components. Solid 3D displays also provide information on the position of the components defined. This is not to say that all the marked components need to be replaced, but the potential sources of error should be checked thoroughly and the components replaced if necessary.
Using Sliver Professional means that locating the causes of periodic faults is not confined to specialists. It speeds up the elimination of faults and thus increases the availability of the drawframe. Reliable supplies of sliver material to downstream process stages are made more secure.

Sphere of application of Sliver Professional
Sliver Professional can be used for the RSB-D 35 and SB-D 15 generations of drawframes and for their predecessors, the RSB-D 30 and SB-D 10. The software is currently available in the following languages: English, Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, French and German. The expert system runs on any PC with MS Windows (Version 95 or later).
In addition to Sliver Professional, Rieter has also responded to the requirements of the textile industry described above with the further development of its drawframe models.

Latest RSB/SB technology
The further improved RSB-D 35 autoleveler drawframe and SB-D 15 (without autoleveling) again set standards for quality, flexibility and economy:

· superior long-term sliver count maintenance with minimum testing effort in the textile laboratory due to precise scanning and a new AC servo drive
· productivity of subsequent processes ensured by detection of thick places
· maximum spinning mill efficiency through constant suction performance and cleaning efficiency by means of automatic filter cleaning
· low energy consumption due to flow-optimized suction
· very easy machine operation and low training effort for new personnel due to illustrative fault indication on the display
· fast, reliable maintenance due to centralized lubrication
· rapid batch change due to centralized drafting system adjustment, rapid-action clamping elements, good accessibility by means of three wide-opening hoods.

Wide RSB experience
Rieter's drawframe experience is based on almost 20000 RSB/SB drawframes in more than 2000 spinning mills in 98 countries. The Sliver Professional expert system complements the performance package of your RSB/SB drawframes in an outstanding way and ensures the economical manufacture of high-quality yarns.

Courtesy: Rieter Link Vol 16/41/January 2004

USTER® YARN GRADES
New standard for yarn faults

Uster Technologies regularly publishes standards such as USTER® YARN GRADES and USTER® STATISTICS, designed to improve the quality in the "fiber to fabric" process and to give significant added value to the yarns produced. USTER® is the first and only company to make YARN GRADES and STATISTICS available online to all interested parties, thus setting standards valid worldwide for all quality parameters in the textile industry.

USTER® YARN GRADES represent a complete collection of yarn faults in visual form, both for thick places and for foreign fibers. USTER® YARN GRADES show all yarn faults in color and in full size, in accordance with the only classification accepted worldwide, the USTER® CLASSIMAT QUANTUM, thus setting the standard for yarn fault assessment for spinning mills, weaving mills and in yarn trading. With the help of USTER® YARN GRADES, clearing curves of yarn clearers such as the USTER® QUANTUM 2 can be defined in the simplest way possible, as each fault is pictured and the border between disturbing and non-disturbing yarn faults is immediately visible. So the number of cuts and splices in the winding process and in open end spinning can be reduced to a minimum and the yarn quality improved at the same time.
A large selection of USTER® YARN GRADES for different types of yarn such as ring spun yarn, compact yarn, open end rotor yarn and even foreign fibers can be obtained in printed form from Uster Technologies' local representatives (to find on www.uster.com). USTER® YARN GRADES and USTER® STATISTICS can also be downloaded free of charge from the website.

Uster Yarn Grades