The most recent yarn package handling and packing systems allow applications specifically developed both for open-end spinning and for winding.
In the first case, systems _ of varying degrees of sophistication _ have been developed for the “intelligent” management of open-end spinning machines.

These systems are based on the concept of monitoring the progress of production as a whole, so as to be able to manage doffing occurring contemporaneously on different machines and to optimise sequences without penalising single performances.
Regardless of how many rotors each of the machines in the production line has, automatic unloading of this kind of spinning machine involves the delivery, in the direction of the packing areas, of whole “trains” of packages.
In the second case, while still bearing in mind the need for real-time monitoring of the progress of production, the surveillance systems in operation, regardless how many heads each of the machines present in the production line has, allow the management of single packages or sections of trains.
In both situations, the groups of packages being delivered, not necessarily being multiples of the final packing module, may need to be sorted by article (yarn count) and stored temporarily, prior to packing (Figure 1).

Fig. 1 Package pre-storing conveyors

Once the packages have reached the predetermined number, lifters (installed in front of each spinning machine) pluck them – two at a time in the case of open-end spinning machines and singly in the case of winding machines – from the collection conveyors inside the machine and transfer them, oriented as necessary, to the weighing units of an aerial chain conveyor (or alternatively to a suspended collection belt), which runs in front of the unloading points, and conveys them to the packing area.

Correct identification of trains and single packages in transit is fundamental in order to guarantee correct sorting during the final handling stages. This is done by the writing and subsequent reading of magnetic tags on each weighing unit (or, alternatively, by tracking of the trains themselves, a system in which the packages pass in front of a series of photocells that detect and count them).
If the final packing module is a pallet and if it is not possible to install, for each article produced, a sufficient number of pre-storing conveyors to hold the total number of packages needed to complete it, then the packing area will have a number of pallet points – as many points as there are (different) articles being produced in the spinning mill – where the packages are progressively deposited.

If the final packing module is a box, then the packing area will have a number of collection conveyors – as many conveyors as there are layer separators – for the temporary storage of the number of packages needed to form a group of boxes.

In certain situations, it is still possible to compensate for the number of packages actually leaving the spinning machine and to make up directly, with the number of packages needed (a multiple of the final packing module to be made up), the pallet or series of boxes required. This is done, thanks to in-line vertical rotary stores, either by storing excess packages or by adding to the existing packages.

The packing units (palletisers or boxing machines) are PC-controlled machines that can handle packages singly or in groups according to the production capacity required of whole system. These machines, entirely automatically, make up the pallets (through the placing of layer upon layer) or fill the boxes with layers of packages.

In palletisation cycles, the pallets that are being made up are conveyed inside the machine by service shuttle or, alternatively, it is sometimes the palletiser itself that moves to the operating area; in the case of boxing cycles, on the other hand, the boxes move independently, on service rollers into the boxing station.

Fig. 2 Package palletiser

Palletisers are Cartesian robots driven by brushless electric motors. They are equipped with pneumatic single or multiple spindles that pick up the packages, already centred and oriented as necessary, directly from the tube and deliver them, according to the required geometry, in the layer that is being made up (Figure 2).
These robots also insert separators, and handle empty and full pallets.

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