Indian Journal of .Fibre & Textile Research Vol. 36, September 2011, pp. 211-214 Novel technique for improving yarn quality and reducing hairiness in conventional ring frame R Murugan a & C Vigneswaran PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641 004, India and Anindya Ghosh Government College of Engineering & Textile Technology, Berhampore 742 101, India Received 21 September 2010; revised received and accepted 25 May 2011 An attempt has been made to produce condensed yarn using mingling chamber fitted in the front drafting zone in the conventional ring spinning machine. Three combed cotton yarns of 60s, 80s and 100s Ne have been spun on the existing and modified ring spinning systems. A test of significance at 95% level confirms that the condensed yarns produced by the proposed system are much better in strength, elongation, hairiness and imperfections as compared to the yarns produced on existing system. The proposed method of yarn condensing has great potentiality to be used as an alternative method of compact spinning as it is capable of producing optimum quality yarns at lower cost. Keywords: Condensed yarn, Compact spinning, Mingling chamber, Ring spinning, Yarn quality 1 Introduction Although new spinning technologies solved the problem of production and automation to a greater extent, ring spinning still dominates over the others and will continue in the future as a dominant technology, because it exhibits significant advantages in terms of yarn quality and flexibility in comparison with the new spinning process. The spinning triangle is the most troublesome and weakest zone in the yarn formation process in ring spinning as it increases end breakage, fibre loss and yarn hairiness. The introduction of compact spinning has minimized the negative influence of the spinning triangle in ring spinning. Compact spinning has been generated through re- engineering the established ring spinning process by attaching a condensing device which ensures the compaction of fibre band issuing from the drafting system 1, 2 . The compaction of the fibres can be accomplished either by using mechanical condenser or pneumatic condenser. There are two major manufacturers for compact spinning, namely Sussen Elite Spinning and Rieter Comfor Spin. The attached condensing device of Sussen Elite Spinning consists of a tubular profile, which is closely embraced by an indirectly driven perforated lattice apron. The tubular profile has a small slot, which ensures the air suction through the lattice apron. The air current seizes the fibres after they leave the front roller nipping line and condenses the fibre strand, which is conveyed by the lattice apron and transported to the delivery line. In Rieter Comfor Spin, the delivery roller of the drafting system is replaced by a perforated drum, which is fitted with a suction system. There is a stationary diagonal slot inside the drum to allow the passage of air. A subsequent second top roller also presses the drum. The fibres supplied from the delivery nip line of the drafting system are held firmly on the surface of the perforated drum and move with the circumferential speed of the drum. The fibre band emerging from the drafting system is thus condensed. Compact spinning realizes a noteworthy enhancement in yarn quality through better exploitation of fibre length 3-7 . However, the compact spinning has some practical problems 8 . As a consequence, it has been deprived to gain commercial acceptance on a large scale in India. Some technological problems associated with the aforesaid compact spinning systems are discussed below. As far as the Sussen Elite Spinning is concerned, the maintenance cost is very high because of the —————— a To whom all the correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rmuruganavd@gmail.com