CH684276A5 - Method for bobbin exhange in the creel of a textile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

In a method for bobbin exchange in the creel of a textile machine having at least one inner and one outer row of feed bobbins (44, 46), the extraction of a feed bobbin from the outer row (46) allows access to the next inner row (44) for servicing this row. The apparatus for carrying out the method has inter alia a magazine for bobbins (40), a bobbin-transport appliance (38) and a robot for the displacement of bobbins (40). The robot (52, 54) can be combined with a further servicing appliance (26, 28). The method and the apparatus make it easier to exchange feed bobbins at locations which are difficult to reach. <IMAGE>

Description

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description

The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of independent claim 1 and a device according to the preamble of independent claim 4. The invention is particularly designed for ring spinning machines, of which the individual spinning positions are fed by roving bobbins. The description refers to a ring spinning machine with a roving template as an example. However, the invention is not restricted to this type of machine or template. Accordingly, the limitation to a roving as feed material is dispensed with in the claims.

A ring spinning machine is the last link in a chain of processing machines that convert fiber material into yarn. The spinning machine is limited by the capabilities of the machine supplying it, in particular the one in front of it (pre-spinning machine). Of course, this also applies to a transport system that connects the two machine types.

The technology of ring spinning has been developed for more than a century and its basic features are now largely standardized. In order to ensure the economy of the process and competitiveness, there is a need to make optimal use of the space available in the spinning room. The spinning positions of the individual machines are lined up as closely as possible. The machines usually have a «double-sided» design, i.e. the spinning positions are arranged in two rows, one on each machine side. The machines themselves are crowded in the spinning room. The remaining space for automatic transport systems and for robots for handling spools is therefore limited and can hardly be increased without endangering the competitiveness of the spinning process.

The roving bobbins contain sleeves and are suspended vertically on pins in the so-called creel for feeding spinning positions. The spools for a row of spinning stations are arranged in at least two rows above the spinning stations. The roving runs down through guide elements into the drafting system of the spinning station.

The overall task of automating gate loading can be divided into the following sub-aspects:

1. bringing new (full) coils to the gate,

2. replacement of the new (full) coils with old (empty or almost empty) coils in the work stations of the gate,

3. Return the old bobbins to the pre-spinning machines when the residual material is disposed of, if not all of the original material has been removed from the tube during the exchange.

4. Resumption of spinning at the spinning station in question, if the supply to this spinning station has been interrupted during the exchange process.

The advantages and disadvantages of a partial solution essentially depend on the extent to which this partial solution demands or impairs the other partial solutions necessary for the overall solution.

A first attempt at automated gate loading is contained in DE-A1 1 969 002. However, this document focuses on a transport system for bringing flyer spools to the ring spinning machine and is otherwise limited to hints regarding “automatic devices” that are neither described nor shown.

A partial solution consists of clearing and reloading a whole row or even an entire «machine side» at the same time by «longitudinally extending» or «longitudinally retracting». Such proposals can be found in US-A13 828 682 and DE-A1 3 709 540 (US-A1 4 827 709), a reserve page being provided in DE-A1 3 709 540 so that spinning can be continued without interruption. However, these solutions do not include any suggestions for the automatic operation of the newly introduced coils, i.e. they mainly focus on the transport task. The question of the expandability to a fully automated system remains open with such partial solutions.

Concrete ideas for an overall solution are contained in DD-A1 57 523. The new coils are brought in by means of a conveyor belt. A bobbin exchange device works with the conveyor belt and with the machine gate to carry out the bobbin exchange. Nitscheln connects the new roving to the old roving that is still entering the spinning station, so that there is no interruption in spinning during the ideal process. The disposal of the roving residues on the old tubes is also provided. Accordingly, the overall process is consistently well thought out and all the necessary steps are shown. The devices that are proposed to carry out the individual steps are, however, first indicated purely schematically and secondly very complicated and expensive. It seems unlikely that such a device will be put into practice.

A substantially similar system is contained in DE-A1 3 208 677 (US-A1 4 438 622). The main difference is that according to DE-A1 3 208 677 the new roving should not be attached to the old roving. However, the description in DE-A1 3 208 677 is at least incomplete in that it stops inserting the new fuse into a funnel upstream of the spinning station. The way in which the spinning station is to be put into operation in this way is neither described nor indicated in DE-A1 3 208 677.

The individual work steps for exchanging the bobbins and inserting the roving up to the mentioned funnel are listed in DE-A1 3 208 677. The devices necessary for this are indicated purely schematically and it seems doubtful that a device according to this pattern has been used in practice. In any case, it is clear from this DOS that the operation of the rear (inner) coil row in the gate is extremely delicate.

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A completely different type of solution can be found in a group of Japanese publications, namely JP-A 483 333, JP-A 483 334, JP-A 4 822 848 and JP-A 49 143 520. The approach of the new coils to the gate is not shown here. The new coils are drawn in a shelf above the gate. JP-A 483 333 shows a device which takes the new coils in pairs from this storage and puts them in the gate, presumably after the empty sleeves have been removed from the gate. The subsequent roving handling is shown in JP-A 483 334, while the subsequent commissioning of the relevant spinning positions is dealt with in JP-A 4 822 848 and / or JP-A 4 914 520. In connection with this system, it remains unclear how the new bobbins are to be stacked in the stacker and how the roving inserted in the funnel of the spinning station begins to run through the drafting system. The idea of simultaneous treatment of the inner and outer rows of coils, however, formed the basis for further developments, which are documented in DE-A1 3 537 727 and EP-A1 259 267 (US-A1 4 841 720).

Parallel to the developments in direct connection with the machine creel, the transport systems between the roving machine and the ring spinning machine were developed, in the form of a monorail. The transfer of the flyer spools to such a web is shown in DE-A1 1 510 593 and further developments of this system are in JP-A 5 138 814, JP-A 5 076 341, US-A1 3 935 699 and JP-A 5 123 332 to find. The system comprises trolley trains, each trolley being provided with pins so that the roving bobbins hang from the pins of the trolley like from the pins of a gate.

The transfer of flyer spools from such a trolley directly into the gate is then shown in JP-A 5 881 631 and JP-A 6 331 565. However, this plugging takes place in an overall system according to EP-A1 213 962, according to which the inner and outer coil rows of the gate are periodically exchanged and the plugging of the new coils takes place only in the outer coil row. This requires a complicated and complex gate construction that requires an additional robot. Various possibilities for exchanging coils between a trolley train and a gate without requiring an exchange method within the gate have been shown in the aforementioned DE-A1 3 537 727 and EP-A1 259 267, as well as in DE-A1 3 734 275 . The various proposals include two sets of gripping elements (one set for the new spools and one set for the empty sleeves), empty spaces in the trolley train (EP-A1 259 267) and intermediate storage (EP-A 259 267 and DE-A1 3 734 275) .

Another direction of impact has been shown in EP-A1 0 419 968. In this case, the creel is provided with an empty tube transport path extending in the longitudinal direction of the machine, and the full bobbins are gradually moved inwards from an external reserve position when they supply their roving material to the spinning stations. This arrangement requires a corresponding gate construction, which practically excludes their use in existing machines. For an overall solution including sliver handling and any new start-up of the spinning station, this arrangement causes some complications that can be solved, but require additional effort.

The aforementioned publications show that a key problem is the operation of the inner coil row. In summary, the following four known solutions to this problem can be identified:

1.Reach into the inner row when driving under the outer row (e.g. DD-A1 57 523, DE-A1 3 208 677 and DE-A1 3 734 275).

2. Exchange the inner and outer rows so that only the outer row has to be operated (EP-A1 213 962).

3. Operate the inner and outer rows of coils at the same time (e.g. JP-A 483 333, DE-A1 3 537 727 and US-A1 4 841 720).

4. Lay the bobbins in a predetermined direction (from the outside inwards) when delivering the spinning stations, so that the main operating work can be carried out at one end of the movement path (EP-A1 0 419 968).

It is the object of this invention to provide a simpler solution for the operation of the inner row of coils, which can serve as the basis for a practical overall solution to the aforementioned problems of gate loading.

This object is achieved by the features specified in independent patent claims 1 and 4.

Preferably, each row of workstations of the machine is assigned only the aforementioned inner and outer supply coil rows. Reserve rows are therefore dispensed with.

An inner row coil can be held in a treatment position in or near the device for treatment. Preferably only one treatment position is provided per pair of coils, a pair of coils comprising a coil of the inner row and a coil of the outer row. All four spools of a particular spool change operation, i.e. the two old and the two new coils must pass through this single treatment position.

The invention is applicable both in a system according to which a new roving is made with a roving still running, and in a system according to which the new roving has to be re-threaded into the spinning station.

A device according to this invention can be equipped with its own carried (backpack) magazine for new and old spools. However, it can be designed to work with a traveling coil transport device or to work with a pre-positioned coil transport device. Empty spaces can be provided in the magazine or in the transport device and / or the device can be provided with a buffer and / or it can

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a set of coil grippers for the new coils and a set of coil grippers for the old coils are provided. The coil-gripping elements can be provided with pins or with gripper jaws. The necessary movements of the various coils between the magazine or transport device and the gate can be carried out by repositioning and / or by moving the coils along a guide.

In a preferred arrangement, all necessary relative movements are accomplished by moving the device or moving elements mounted on the device relative to a stationary transport device (and a stationary gate).

The residual material from the old coils can be disposed of on the device or on the transport device or in a suitable location in the overall system.

Individual embodiments of the invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings.

Show it:

1 shows a schematic cross section through a ring spinning machine according to this invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of six adjacent advance coil locations in the gate of a machine according to Fig. 1, to explain the preferred arrangement according to this invention, and

3, 4 and 5 similar floor plans of alternative arrangements, according to this invention.

The machine according to FIG. 1 comprises a double-sided frame 10 with two rows of spinning positions 12 and 14, which are symmetrical to a central plane ME of the machine. In a modern machine, each such row of spinning positions 12, 14 contains between 500 and 600 closely spaced spinning positions. Each spinning station comprises a drafting unit 16, thread guide elements 18 and a bobbin-forming unit 20. The unit 20 contains individual working elements such as e.g. Spindle, ring and rotor, but they are irrelevant to this invention and are not shown individually. These elements are known to the person skilled in the art and are e.g. can be seen from EP-A1 0 382 943. A doffing machine 22, 24 is provided for each row of spinning stations 12 and 14, which serves all spinning stations of the row of spinning stations assigned to it at the same time. This automat is also not described in detail here, details of which can be found in EP-A1 303 877.

Each row of spinning stations 12 and 14 is also assigned to at least one operating device 26 and 28, which can be moved along the respective row and can perform operating operations at the individual spinning stations. Details of such an operating device are e.g. can be seen from EP-A1 388 938.

The frame 10 carries a gate 30 which is formed from vertical bars 32 and cross members 34. Rails 36 are mounted on the outer ends of the cross members 34 and extend in the longitudinal direction of the machine. Each rail 36 serves as a guideway for a trolley train 38 which leads new coils 40 to the gate 30.

The gate 30 also includes carriers 42 for supply spools 44, 46, which supply the individual spinning stations with roving. The supports 42 are drawn as transverse rails, but this arrangement is of no importance for this invention. In the example according to FIG. 1, the supply bobbins for each row of spinning positions 12 and 14 are arranged in two rows, namely in an inner row 44 in the vicinity of the central plane ME and an outer row 46 which is distant from the central plane ME. For each row of spinning stations 12 and 14, a bobbin of the inner row 44 and an adjacent bobbin of the outer row 46 form a pair of feed bobbins, which supplies a respective pair of adjacent spinning stations with roving.

The cross members 34 also carry a rail arrangement 48 or 50 on each machine side, which serves as a guideway for a respective mobile robot 52 or 54. The robot 52 or 54 therefore runs between the outer supply spool row 46 and the new spools 40 carried by the trolley train 38 and above the respective operating device 26 or 28. The robot 52 is designed to operate the two feed spool rows of the gate, as described below with reference to FIG 2 to 5 should be explained in more detail.

FIG. 2 again shows the central plane ME of the machine according to FIG. 1 together with supply coils 56, 58, 60 of the inner coil row 44 and supply coils 62, 64 of the outer supply coil row 46. A part of the robot 52 is also indicated schematically. The supply coils 56, 62 form a first pair of coils and the supply coils 60, 64 form a second pair of coils. In normal operation, a further coil 66 of the outer row 46 is assigned to the coil 58 in order to form a third pair of supply coils. In the state according to FIG. 2, this coil 66 has been removed from the gate 30 by the robot 52 in order to form an “alley” 70 between the coils 62 and 64 of the outer row 46. This alley 70 enables access to the coil 58 or the corresponding suspension point of the inner row 44, which considerably facilitates the operation of this coil 58 of the inner row.

It is now assumed that the bobbins 58 and 66 only consist of empty tubes because they have delivered all of their roving to their respective spinning positions. The empty sleeve 66 can be hung on a spigot of the trolley train 38, after which the empty sleeve 58 can be removed from the gate 30 and hung on the trolley train. A full spool 40 (FIG. 1) can now be removed from the trolley train 38 and, after a suitable treatment, inserted through the alley 70 into the work area of the inner row 44. After the work of the inner row 44 has been fully served, e.g. If the new roving is placed on the old roving or the new roving is threaded into the drafting unit 16 of the relevant spinning position, a further spool 40 can be removed from the trolley train 38 and into the appropriate working position of the outer one

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Row 46 will be introduced. Examples of the various operating operations are described in more detail below. For now, however, alternative arrangements according to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 will be described to explain the inventive principle.

In the arrangement according to FIG. 2, the alley 70 forms approximately a right angle together with the central plane ME. FIG. 3 shows that this is not absolutely necessary, where the elements of FIG. 2 are shown again and provided with similar reference numerals. Since the coils 62, 64 and 66 of the outer row 46 are unchanged from FIG. 2, they have the same reference numerals. In Fig. 3, however, it is assumed that the second bobbin 58A of the third pair of bobbins still has a lot of stock material, while the bobbins 56A and 60A of the first and second bobbin pairs have delivered their roving material entirely to their respective spinning positions, in which case the alley 72 extends diagonally between the coils 62, 58A or diagonally between the coils 64, 58A. The arrangement according to FIG. 2 is preferred. 2 and 3 each show an arrangement, according to which the alley 70 and 72 has a width which corresponds approximately to the diameter of a full spool.

Fig. 4 shows an arrangement according to which a wide lane is created with a width of three coil diameters, which further facilitates the operation of the suspension points of the inner row. However, this additional relief has to be bought with certain difficulties in the overall process and will normally not be worthwhile compared to the preferred arrangement according to FIG. 2. The additional difficulties mentioned become apparent from the following description of the individual operating operations.

Finally, Fig. 5 shows that a "long lane" up to the innermost supply reel row is also possible. This, of course, requires longer controls on the robot 52 and, in particular, can cause problems related to the operation of roving guide members for the roving of the innermost row. The arrangement is possible in principle and the difficulties mentioned can be overcome with somewhat more complex constructions.

In the description so far it has been assumed for the sake of simplicity that the used-up coils (in FIG. 2 the coils 58, 66) are removed individually (sequentially) from the gate. However, if it can be ensured that no residual material remains on these coils when changing the bobbin, it is not necessary to remove the bobbins of a pair from the gate one after the other. They can be removed from the gate together at the same time. However, this does not apply to the re-insertion of the full bobbins. When introducing a new bobbin, it is necessary to handle at least the roving, so that the presence of the alley is essential for the operation of the inner or innermost row of bobbins when the new bobbin is introduced and requires the new bobbins to be introduced sequentially.

Claims (10)

Claims I. Process for exchanging bobbins in the creel of a textile machine, with each row of work stations (12, 14) of the machine being assigned at least one inner and one outer supply bobbin row (44, 46), characterized in that by removing a supply bobbin (66) from the outer one Row (46) access to the next inner row (44) for operating this row is achieved. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a new roving of a new spool (40) is attached to a roving still running of an old spool (58). 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the new roving is re-threaded into the appropriate job in a row of jobs (12, 14). 4. Device for performing the method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it has a magazine for new and / or old coils (40, 66). 5. The device according to claim 4, characterized by coil grippers for new or old coils (40, 66) with pins or gripping jaws. 6. The device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized by a guide for changing or moving coils (40, 66). 7. Device according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that the coil gripper is associated with a coil transport device (38). 8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that the coil transport device is a trolley train (38). 9. Device according to one of claims 4 to 8, characterized by a mobile robot (52, 54). 10. The device according to claim 9, characterized by a guide track (48, 50) for the robot (52, 54). II. Device according to one of claims 4 to 10, characterized by an operating device (26, 28) which can be moved along a row of spinning positions (12, 14). 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5