ICC’s innovative ‘On Card’ technology

One of the oldest Indian manufacturers and exporters of card clothing and card room accessories, The Indian Card Clothing Co Ltd (ICC) is showcasing its award-winning ‘Tops Height Measuring’ (THM) device, an innovative ‘On Card’ technology, to solve uncertainty and a pain area faced by spinners in the carding department at the upcoming India-ITME.

The THM, which has been developed by ICC’s own R&D team, is a well-thought-out, engineered device, which can measure the flat tops variations on the machine and can also be digitalised. This new device takes the data and presents in such a way that a user can identify essential data in his/her laptop or PC in Microsoft Excel file format.

The data which can be identified includes overall flat tops height variation, measured in individual flats online; how much grinding cut will be required to get a certain level of variation standard; how many points will be ground to achieve the required level.

The THM device also pinpoints the exact flats which need to be ground for achieving the required level and lastly also offers data on which flat tops the on-card grinding machine need to be set. The data can be stored for future reference, thus enabling mills to maintain service records.

THM can also be used to know the distortion in tops due to change in production rate, raw material and settings. In addition to this, the THM can avoid excessive cylinder wear-out on account of inappropriate carding action, due to a few rogue flats and enhance lifetime of flat tops. The THM has also won the Research & Development 2015-16 award from the Textile Machinery Manufacturers Association (TMMA).

“So far, in case of flat tops maintenance, there is no scientific method available with the mill technicians, to check the tops height evenness on card, and the contributing factors in case of variations,” said Prasad Mahale, VP – Sales and Marketing, ICC.

“Everyone uses a common work method to level the flat tops, which often shortens the life of the tops and results in inconsistency in quality output, as the industry still does not have proper equipment to measure the height variation of the flat tops on the card itself when it is working and in hot condition,” he added.

“Variation cannot also be checked time to time and hence there is no opportunity to correct the level of the flat tops, which also results in reduced cylinder wire life and poor quality. ICC, understood the need and developed the THM to address this problem,” Mahale informed.