CARDING FIBER LOAD MEASUREMENT

An optical means is presented for measuring areal fiber density on-lin e on commercial carding elements. The splitting fractions of the vario us elements have been evaluated through a process of peeling fiber loa ds from the elements, and these fractions have subsequently been used in instrument calibration. The optical device is used to monitor fiber loading of the main cylinder while doffer fiber loading and feed roll speed are also being monitored. The instrumentation itself has been s tudied for sensitivity, reproducibility, limitations, and possible sou rces of internal and external noise. The instrumentation is then used on-line to study mechanisms of fiber transfer and storage. Results of dynamic testing under conditions of varying feed rates offer insight i nto the process of carding. The complex nature of element loading and unloading has been partially elucidated. Hypotheses are proposed and e xperimental results provided as supporting evidence.