OFDA 4000

The OFDA4000 is the world's first instrument that measures length and diameter profile of fibres in top form. In one measurement using 1 minute of operator time, the values of diameter, diameter profile, curvature, length, hauteur & barbe can be determined.

Measuring the fibre length directly provides a different view of your product than measuring hauteur, which is actually cross section biased length. Short fibre content can be very different when measured by length rather than by hauteur, and previously unexplained processing results may be resolved with the new measurements.

OFDA4000 also measures fibre snippets in the same mode as the OFDA100, so that diameter and curvature of non-aligned fibres can also be measured.

OFDA4000: The world’s advanced Fiber Information System – your solutions for quality problems.

For textile mills, research institutes and arbitrators, the OFDA 4000 opens a world of possibilities never before available. The buyer can judge his activities safely and with confidence by improved feedback on fiber characteristics and processing performance; and furthermore, the spinning mill manager can systematically introduce remedial action instead of proceeding by trial and error.

Prevent or reduce faults

With the digital video technology of OFDA4000, you can manage long thin places and short fibre content that affect your product quality and your profits. Now you can analyze not only the raw material, but also the entire spinning process. The OFDA4000 can measure most fibre types, including wool, cashmere, mohair, silk and many synthetic fibres.

• Lower total cost of ownership than the 3 instruments (Fibroliner, Almeter, OFDA100 or Laserscan) that it replaces.
• Measure the major fiber characteristics in one measurement - the speed is now up to 50% faster.
• Determination of the content of coarse fibers which cause the prickly feeling found in certain garments.
• Labor and time saving due to one sample preparation and no operator involvement in measurement phase.
• The process of cost optimization can only be controlled with precise measuring data which will provide relevant textile technology-related facts.
• For the first time, Diameter Profile can be automatically obtained (diameter vs. length - are the long fibers broader than the short fibers etc)

OFDA 4000 is user-friendly and mill-oriented

OFDA 4000 Fiber Characteristics - Measurements

• Fibre fineness
The fineness of wool fibres can vary over the growth period as a result of external conditions such as season, weather, feed, etc.
OFDA4000 is currently the most powerful system for determining the OFDA automatically calculates the coefficient of variation (CV) of diameter when a sample is measured.

• Fibre length
The OFDA4000 measures length by counting the number of fibres across the beard at 5mm steps.
Diameter, Length, Hauteur and Barbe (by numbers or by weight) and their distributions are the most important measurements of long staple fibres influencing the spinning quality. A change in fibre diameter profile along the beard will cause the Hauteur to be different from the fibre length.

• Diameter Profile
Causes of diameter profile in a beard:

-Wool used to blend for the top has a profile, such as wool sourced at the same time of year from sheep running in conditions of seasonal feed variation.

-Fibres are selectively broken during the top making process, for example: if the fine fibres break then the diameter will increase along the beard.

-Wool is blended from different sources, for example: short fine wool blended with broader longer wool would create an increasing diameter profile along the beard.

• Fiber curvature
Recent research has shown a high correlation between projection-microscope-measured curvature and wool staple crimp frequency. OFDA100 introduced the measurement of single fibre curvature on snippets, OFDA4000 measures curvature on both snippets and full length fibres in the beard.

• Comfort factor
Some garments feel prickly when they are worn next to the skin. This is related to the percentage of coarse fibres in the raw material. Reducing mean diameter and the CV pulls the product back into the comfort zone. OFDA4000 determines the quantity and percentage of coarse fibres by providing a comfort factor result, which is the percentage of fibres less than or equal to 30um. For general usage, a comfort factor greater than 95% is acceptable.

• Blob & Along Fibre Measurement
The function works by measuring the fibre diameter at 2µm spacing along the segment, and then smoothing the diameter. The blob factor should be a measure of the cleanliness of the fibres, and hence a quality control tool for monitoring scouring performance and locating the source of spinning problems. The lower the blob %, the cleaner the fibres are. The lower the standard deviation of diameter along the fibre, the more uniform the fibre is.