growers@sgcotton.com.au Roger Tomkins - Greenmount Press

Ginning & fibre quality
Series supported by ECOM Commodities
Detecting and removing
contamination in Australian gins
■ By Andrew Krajewski, Stuart Gordon, Scott Barnes, Andrew Abbott, David Fox, Ian Redknap and Neale Gibbons
– CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering
AUSTRALIAN cotton is viewed as a quality product with
little or no contamination and is usually purchased (at a
premium) to produce high quality, fine count ring spun
yarn. Spinners indicate low contamination is one of the most
favorable properties associated with Australian fibre quality.
The advent of new cotton harvesters that produce wrapped
modules on the harvester has reduced harvest costs. But the
plastic that encases these modules is a serious contamination risk.
Evidence over the past two seasons indicates that not all plastic
wrap is removed in the module feed area by operators or the
mechanised systems used to remove the wraps. The consequence
of this is that the yellow plastic has contaminated Australian
export bales.
The ginning industry led by the Australian Cotton Ginners
Association (ACGA) has initiated a project with CSIRO, the CRDC
and Loptex Italia to develop systems that detect and remove
contamination from cotton during ginning before baling. The
Round modules with plastic wrap.
Ginning & Fibre Quality
proudly brought to you with the support of…
aim of the project is to have sensors for Australian cotton gins
that detect and remove fragments of the plastic wrap in the gin
process.
The project, which commenced in April 2012, is developing
sensor systems to detect and allow removal of contaminants at
two positions in the gin; in the module opening bay and between
the gin stand (after the Super-J Cleaner) and the first lint cleaner
(see Figure 1).
The first position is at the module hood and the sensor is a
camera that captures clear images of the module beaters, giving
ginners the ability to see whether or not any contaminant is
caught on them. Linked to the relay controlling forward motion
of the module into the gin, the system has been tested in four
gins this season, each operating different module wrapping
removal systems. The system will be developed further in the next
few months to provide continuously live images to the ginner and
analysis of the captured images to automatically alert ginners if
plastic has entered the gin process.
A sensor detection and removal system is also being developed
FIGuRE 1: Cross-section of modern gin process
showing position of contaminant sensor
systems
Sensor system positions
A tradition of service since 1849
40 — The Australian Cottongrower August–September 2012