Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Searcy, 2005). Automatic tramping systems have recently been developed, but they
do not distribute cotton in the builder or prevent cotton from being pushed out of
the builder by the tramper. Hardin (2010) developed an autonomous module form-
ing system that uses sensors to measure the location of loose cotton on top of the
forming module and thereby controls the tramper to spread the cotton evenly. As
this type of system gains acceptance, it will become possible for cotton in a module
to be properly distributed and automatically compressed to build modules with a
desirable shape.
6.4 COTTON GINNING
6.4.1 T
YPICAL
G
IN
P
ROCESSING
The raw cotton harvested from the cotton plant is called seed cotton because the
fibers are attached to the seeds. The fibers must be removed from the seeds to be use-
ful for textile production, whereas the separated seeds are used for other purposes.
A cotton gin is a mechanical system that fundamentally separates cotton fibers from
their seeds, i.e., transforms seed cotton into lint cotton. The cotton gin was invented
by Eli Whitney in 1793, and it revolutionized the cotton industry by mechanizing the
fiber-seed separation process. Before his invention, fiber-seed separation was done
by hand, and took a tremendous amount of labor and time. After more than two cen-
turies of development, the cotton gin has become an automated mechanical system
that takes raw seed cotton, removes the seeds as well as a great deal of foreign matter
and moisture, and produces bales of clean lint.
A typical cotton ginning system today includes the following devices: a mod-
ule feeder, dryer, cylinder cleaner, stick machine, extractor feeder, gin stand, lint
cleaner, and bale press (Figure 6.3). Modules are generally unloaded onto an
Seed
cotton
module
Cylinder
cleaner 1
Cylinder
cleaner 2
Stick
machine
Module feeder
Dryer 1
Dryer 2
Seed cotton
Extractor
feeder
Lint
Lint
cleaners
Bale press
Gin stand
FIGURE 6.3
Schematic diagram of a typical cotton gin. (From Sui, R., Byler, R.K.,
J.
Cotton Sci
., 16, 27-33, 2012. With permission.)
