Conditioning Maestro
The Conditioning Hopper is not only not a new product for Sam Jackson, but one of its oldest products, dating back to the late 1950’s. The principle of hopper operation is simple. When dry seed cotton is being ginned, moist air valves located above the gin stand open automatically placing the dry seed cotton effectively in a sauna chamber (the hopper) where the dry fiber accepts the moisture from the moist air. This method of moisture restoration just before the gin stand has several proven effects of great value. These effects include an increase of saw gin stand capacity of approximately 20%; total elimination of static electricity in dry ambient conditions; documented increases in fiber length, strength, and uniformity; and a positive impact of an additional 5 pounds of moisture restored to the bale in downstream moisture restoration when ginning in dry conditions. It has been a tried and true preserver of cotton fiber properties in West Africa for over six decades where it is widely employed. Although used on a limited basis among cotton gins in the United States for the past 25 years, a big challenge is using conditioning hoppers effectively in hot or cold ambient cotton ginning conditions and running them aggressively for maximum benefit. Enter the new Maestro Hopper from Sam Jackson to address this challenge.
Like Sam Jackson hoppers of the past 25 years, each Maestro Hopper is custom built for each installation and can be configured as either Classic-Entry or End-Entry. End-Entry offers the neatest aesthetic appearance and Classic-entry offers the highest capacity limit. The most common decision-influencer in this choice is simply installation preference.
The first big and obvious change in the Maestro Hopper is its construction and appearance. All stainless steel construction is standard with the Maestro Hopper, replacing mild painted steel and galvanized materials. This lets your gin operator run aggressive moist air saturation levels when conditions are dry without worrying about rust or corrosion on any of the hopper components. For those with powerful moist air generators (King Mesa or Sahara Storm and later), this should be particularly welcome news.
The next big change is the hopper moist air valves. Compressed air is no longer required as all valves offered are electrically-actuated. For those in tropical or sub-Saharan regions, the on-off electrically actuated valve may be appropriate and is the most economical choice. As a contrasting example to this, for those on the high plains of Texas where ginning conditions can be hot or cold and hoppers may be run particularly aggressively, the modulating electrically-actuated valve will be the best choice as it allows the operator to customize moist air volume to each gin stand. He can then safely approach the redline and reap the benefits without a compromise or a worry. Modulating valves require a Moisture Mirror 3X, 4X, or Spectrum Control and a separate Maestro Control panel to allow the operator to make these adjustments. One Maestro Control panel conveniently fits in either of the lower two spaces in a Sam Jackson Toolbox enclosure and can manage a maximum of six Maestro Hoppers.
The next big change is the moist air relief valve. The old pop-off valve has been replaced with an electrically-actuated relief valve that maintains a consistent flow of moist air to each hopper valve, automatically compensating for the many variables that can impact this flow during the ginning process. This modulating moist air relief system may be used with either on-off or with the modulating hopper valves with equally nice improvement noted in seed cotton conditioning consistency. The same Maestro Control panel used for the modulating valves is required to operate this modulating moist air relief valve.
In summary, the Maestro expands on six decades of seed cotton conditioning experience to accommodate today’s higher capacity cotton gins, faster changing incoming cotton conditions, more powerful moist air generators, and more unpredictable weather variations during the gin season. The hopper principle remains simple, but the Maestro design makes the challenges of implementing the simple principle look and feel easy for the operator.