Inside the FBRI Labs

 

The Micro-Gin Lab
Manager: Noureddine Abidi

The FBRI micro-gin uses transparently-sided, scaled-down versions of commercial Lummus cotton ginning equipment, which can be found in many gins across the South Plains and the state in general. Georgia-based Lummus Corp. is a leading supplier of machinery and replacement parts for the cotton ginning industry.

The Cotton Phenomics Lab
Manager: Khawar Arain

The Cotton Phenomics Laboratory provides in-depth physical testing and evaluation for fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Besides being essential for the research program at the Institute, it is indispensable for serving the testing needs of plant breeders, cotton merchants, textile manufacturers, yarn and fabric importers, waste fiber and linter suppliers, etc. A full range of equipment is housed here. For fibers, measurements are made both on central tendencies (e.g., HVI) and on distributions (e.g., AFIS and FAVIMAT).

The Spinning Evaluation Lab
Manager: Khawar Arain

The Spinning Laboratory contains state-of-the-art ring spinning, compact spinning, and open-end rotor spinning machinery. These are supported by all required facilitating processes; e.g., opening, blending, cleaning, carding, combing, drawing, roving, winding, twisting, and plying. A new state-of-the-art trash and dust handling system ensures constant levels of air pressures and flows, which increases reliability of spinning trials. Besides enabling in-depth observation and documentation of spinning performance, yarns are delivered back to the Materials Evaluation Laboratory for any needed quality measurements.