Abstract:
A fiber testing instrument having a fiber loading station that is sized to accommodate a fiber sample within a desired size range, a fiber extraction device for extracting a portion of the fiber sample for a first battery of fiber tests, a fiber transport device for conveying at least the remaining portion of the fiber sample, and a micronaire chamber for receiving the conveyed fiber sample, where the micronaire chamber is sized to test any fiber sample within the desired size range.

Description:
This patent application claims all rights and priority on prior pending U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/596,284 filed Feb. 8, 2012. This invention relates to the field of fiber measurement. More particularly, this invention relates to utilizing a single fiber sample for multiple measurements on multiple instruments. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     Introduction 
     Fiber processors, manufacturers, sellers, and buyers perform multiple tests upon the fibers at various stages, so as to know the value of the fibers, how to process the fibers, and other important properties of the fibers. For example, in the cotton fiber industry, properties of the cotton fibers such as micronaire, length, strength, color, moisture content, and trash content are all important properties to measure and know at various stages of processing and sale. 
     Typically, each test requires that a separate sample be taken from the fiber source (such as a bundle or a flow), the individual test performed, and then the sample either discarded or returned to the fiber source. This is typically repeated for each test that is desired. Creating the various samples is time-consuming and somewhat wasteful. While returning the sample to the source generally reduces waste, doing so also tends to increase the amount of time required to perform the test. 
     Some tests are performed by instruments that have been designed to use a single fiber sample for more than one test. For example, the HVI instrument from Uster Technologies AG of Uster Switzerland takes a single cotton fiber sample and first performs a fiber length measurement and then a fiber strength measurement on the same sample. This tends to reduce the amount of time that is required to perform the testing. 
     What is needed, therefore, is more integration of testing so as to continue to reduce the number of fiber samples that need to be taken for fiber testing. 
     SUMMARY 
     The above and other needs are met by a fiber testing instrument having a fiber loading station that is sized to accommodate a fiber sample within a desired size range, a fiber extraction device for extracting a portion of the fiber sample for a first battery of fiber tests, a fiber transport device for conveying at least the remaining portion of the fiber sample, and a micronaire chamber for receiving the conveyed fiber sample, where the micronaire chamber is sized to test any fiber sample within the desired size range. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       Further advantages of the invention are apparent by reference to the detailed description when considered in conjunction with the figures, which are not to scale so as to more clearly show the details, wherein like reference numbers indicate like elements throughout the several views, and wherein: 
         FIG. 1  depicts a fiber sample drum in a fiber sample load position according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  depicts a fiber sample drum in a fiber sample unload position according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  depicts a micronaire instrument in a fiber sample load position according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  depicts a micronaire instrument receiving a fiber sample according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  depicts a micronaire instrument staging a fiber sample in a first position according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  depicts a micronaire instrument staging a fiber sample in a second position according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  depicts a micronaire instrument compressing a fiber sample in the micronaire chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  depicts a micronaire instrument discharging a fiber sample according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  depicts a scale weighing the fiber sample according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  depicts a fiber sample being discharged from a scale according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     The embodiments described herein are applicable to a wide range of instruments, but are described using the specific example of a fiber micronaire measurement instrument in combination with a fiber length and strength instrument, such as the HVI instrument from Uster Technologies AG of Uster Switzerland. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 1 , there is depicted an instrument  10  for combined measurement of fiber length, strength, and micronaire. The instrument  10  has a fiber sample receiving station  12 , which in the depicted embodiment is configured as a rotating drum. The drum  12  has an opening  14  in the peripheral wall, through which an operator can place a fiber sample  26  into a void  18  in the interior of the drum  12 . 
     The amount of the fiber sample  26  placed in the drum  12  is selected so as to be within a fairly broad range of weights. The operator who loads the fiber sample  26 , however, does not weigh the fiber sample  26  that is placed in the drum  12 . Instead, the weight range is sufficiently broad that the operator can select a proper fiber sample  26  size merely by judging the amount of fiber that she holds in her hand. Thus, rough visual approximations of the amount of fiber that is held in hand are sufficient to select a fiber sample  26  size that is within the desired weight range. 
     A mechanism  16  forces the fiber sample  26  against a portion of the peripheral wall of the drum  12  in which apertures have been formed, and press portions of the fiber sample  26  through the apertures such that they protrude outside of the peripheral wall of the drum  12 . The drum  12  then rotates. The rotation of the drum  12  passes the protruding fibers past a comb, which extracts some of the fibers from the fiber sample  26 . The fibers extracted by the comb are then tested in first battery of tests, such as for length and strength, the operations for which are well known in the art. These fibers are then either discarded or returned to the fiber sample  26 , either in the drum  12  or at another point in the process. 
     After extracting some of the fibers using the comb, the drum  12  is rotated to a position as depicted in  FIG. 2 , and the fiber sample  26  within the drum  12  is moved into a transport tube  20 . The fiber sample can either be ejected from the drum  12 , either mechanically or under pressure, or drawn into the transport tube  20 , such as by a vacuum. In one embodiment a venturi  22  creates the vacuum that is used to draw the fiber sample  26  along the transport tube  20 , and towards a micronaire measurement instrument  24 . 
     In various embodiments, one or more transport tubes  20  can be disposed to receive fiber samples  26  from one or more drums  12  that are included in the instrument  10 . As depicted, the instrument  10  has only one drum  12 . However, in other embodiments, the instrument  10  has two or more drums  12 . In some embodiments, the fiber samples  26  from any or all of the drums  12  included in the instrument  10  can be transported towards the micronaire instrument  24 , using one or more transport tubes  20 . 
     With reference now to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , there are depicted more detailed views of the micronaire  24 , the venturi  22 , and the fiber sample  26  as it enters the micronaire  24 .  FIG. 5  depicts the fiber sample  26  after it has passed through the venturi  22  and into the micronaire loading tube  28 . After the fiber sample  26  passes out of the transport tube  20 , through the venturi  22 , and into the loading tube  28 , a gate  32  is placed across the transport tube  20 , as depicted in  FIG. 6 . Once the gate  32  is dropped, the venturi  22  naturally produces a pressure that pushes the fiber sample  26  further into the micronaire chamber  34 , as depicted in  FIG. 7 . A rear piston  30  compresses the fiber sample  26  within the micronaire chamber  34  and against an opposing front piston  36 . Micronaire measurements are taken on the fiber sample  26 , according to methods known in the art. 
     One benefit of the present embodiments is that the amount of fiber sample  26  that the operator is able to visibly judge in her hand by size or volume is the same amount of fiber sample  26  (less any amount of the fiber sample  26  that was extracted by the comb, if such amount is not returned to the fiber sample  26 , such as by being drawn into the transport tube  20  from a different position within the instrument  10 ) that is tested in the micronaire  24 . Normally, the drum sample that feeds the length/strength instrument is selected by size or volume and the Micronaire sample is normally selected by weight or mass. It is unique to use one sample for both a first instrument that typically uses a sample that is selected by size (the drum that feeds the length/strength instrument) and a second instrument that uses a sample that is typically selected by weight (the micronaire  24 ). 
     Further, it is novel in the art that a micronaire chamber  34  and a fiber sample receiving drum  12  for a length/strength instrument are sized with respect to one another such that the desired size of the fiber sample  26  is the same for both. In one embodiment, the micronaire chamber  34  is sized so as to receive a fiber sample  26  that is sized for an existing drum  12  size. In another embodiment, the drum  12  is sized to receive a fiber sample  26  that is sized for an existing micronaire chamber  34  size. In either embodiment, correlating the sizes of both the drum  12  and the micronaire chamber  34  has not previously been considered in the art. Neither has using a drum  12  as a common input for the fiber sample  26  for both a first set of tests and a micronaire measurement. Further benefits include the single fiber sample  26  being selected merely by visual inspection in hand. 
     After the micronaire measurements have been made, the front piston  36  is withdrawn, the rear piston  30  is extended through the micronaire chamber  34 , and the fiber sample  26  falls into a bin  40 , as depicted in  FIGS. 8 and 9 . The bin  40  is, in one embodiment, disposed on a scale  38 , and the fiber sample  26  is weighed. The weight of the fiber sample  26  is used to calculate the micronaire of the fiber sample  26 , in conjunction with the micronaire measurements that were taken in the chamber  34 . However, the acceptable weight range for the micronaire chamber  34  and associated measurements is selected to be compatible with the amount of the fiber sample  26  that the operator judges in her hand and places within the drum  12  for all of the testing. Once the weight of the fiber sample  26  has been read, the fiber sample  26  can be ejected or otherwise withdrawn from the micronaire  24 , as depicted in  FIG. 10 . The fiber sample  26  is, in some embodiments, either discarded or returned to the fiber source from which it was originally extracted by the operator. 
     In some embodiments a single control panel on the instrument  10  provides for control input to and measurement output from the first battery of tests, the transport mechanism, and the micronaire test. 
     The foregoing description of embodiments for this invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments are chosen and described in an effort to provide illustrations of the principles of the invention and its practical application, and to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.