Agency:

Agricultural Research Service

August 8, 1996

The invention involves an automated cotton gin process that will maximize lint recovery and quality. Conventional cotton ginning uses a standard sequence of steps regardless of fiber length, the level of trash, moisture content and color of a particular batch of cotton. Consequently, cotton may be over dried or fiber strength may weaken by processing through more dryers or cleaners than necessary. The invention precisely measures color, moisture content and trash content of seed cotton as it enters the gin and travels through each processing step. A computer program determines optimal ginning conditions and activates controls to bypass lint from certain machines. The optimum gin machine sequence for each batch of cotton is created as the batch enters the gin and/or as it passes through initial processing steps.

William S. Anthony	Richard K. Byler
USDA, ARS, CGR	USDA, ARS, CGR
111 Experiment Station Road	111 Experiment Station Road
Stoneville, MS 38776	Stoneville, MS 38776
(601) 686-3093	(601) 686-3095
(601) 686-5483 -- fax	(601) 686-5483 -- fax
e-mail: santhony@ag.gov	e-mail: rbyler@ag.gov

Industry Keywords:

cotton, gin, optimization, moisture content, trash content, precision agriculture, computer, software, fiber agriculture, computer, software, fiber