The Science Behind Web Handling
February 2006
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The Web Handling Research Center studies the science and technology that drive web handling.
WEB HANDLING IS a science every packaging printer or converter should understand. It's applied physics that carries a continuous-roll substrate through printing and/or converting machines with the goal being a defect-free end product. The Web Handling Research Center (WHRC), based at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., has spent the last 20 years studying this science.
The WHRC was initiated in 1986 as a National Science Foundation center with a mission "to advance the knowledge base in technologies applicable to the transport and control of continuous-strip materials through processes and machines." At the WHRC, research efforts are aimed at "establishing a fundamental understanding of the effect on web behavior or web physical properties, machine configurations, processes, and operating conditions."
Supported by 16 sponsors—including printers/converters, suppliers, brand owners, and science and technology organizations—the center offers application seminars with an eye on educating the variety of industries that use webs of flexible materials. The WHRC has hosted 25 such seminars on web handling, with one scheduled for March 19-22 at the Wes Watkins Center on the campus of Oklahoma State University.
The seminar covers tracking and steering, wrinkling and control, winding, and tension and tension control. Bruce Feiertag, adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State University, will be the seminar speaker. Feiertag has more than 35 years of experience in web handling, including process development at E.I. DuPont Corp.; equipment design and manufacturing at Fife Corp.; and applied research and development at the University. He is a recognized consultant to the industry.
Technical managers, engineers, and technologists will benefit from the seminar. For more on the WHRC or application seminar, log on to http://www.engext.okstate.edu.
Read on for more on today's web handling technology, including web guides, and register and tension controls.
Vamped up tension measurement
ABB Automation
www.us.abb.com
ABB has developed a series of digital tension electronics—the PFEA11X-series—to further strengthen the advantages of its Pressductor® Load cells. The Tension Electronics PFEA11X is compact and includes an integrated display with interactive menus, which guides the commissioning step-by-step in a fast set-up sequence. This eliminates the potential for making mistakes and significantly reduces the start-up time. It also offers commissioning without calibration weights; fieldbus communication via Profibus-DP, providing a scaled and zeroed tension output that's ready for use in control and monitoring; self-diagnostics; and max load memory, a maintenance tool to help identify tension extremes and causes of load cell faults.
WEB HANDLING IS a science every packaging printer or converter should understand. It's applied physics that carries a continuous-roll substrate through printing and/or converting machines with the goal being a defect-free end product. The Web Handling Research Center (WHRC), based at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., has spent the last 20 years studying this science.
The WHRC was initiated in 1986 as a National Science Foundation center with a mission "to advance the knowledge base in technologies applicable to the transport and control of continuous-strip materials through processes and machines." At the WHRC, research efforts are aimed at "establishing a fundamental understanding of the effect on web behavior or web physical properties, machine configurations, processes, and operating conditions."
Supported by 16 sponsors—including printers/converters, suppliers, brand owners, and science and technology organizations—the center offers application seminars with an eye on educating the variety of industries that use webs of flexible materials. The WHRC has hosted 25 such seminars on web handling, with one scheduled for March 19-22 at the Wes Watkins Center on the campus of Oklahoma State University.
The seminar covers tracking and steering, wrinkling and control, winding, and tension and tension control. Bruce Feiertag, adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State University, will be the seminar speaker. Feiertag has more than 35 years of experience in web handling, including process development at E.I. DuPont Corp.; equipment design and manufacturing at Fife Corp.; and applied research and development at the University. He is a recognized consultant to the industry.
Technical managers, engineers, and technologists will benefit from the seminar. For more on the WHRC or application seminar, log on to http://www.engext.okstate.edu.
Read on for more on today's web handling technology, including web guides, and register and tension controls.
Vamped up tension measurement
ABB Automation
www.us.abb.com
ABB has developed a series of digital tension electronics—the PFEA11X-series—to further strengthen the advantages of its Pressductor® Load cells. The Tension Electronics PFEA11X is compact and includes an integrated display with interactive menus, which guides the commissioning step-by-step in a fast set-up sequence. This eliminates the potential for making mistakes and significantly reduces the start-up time. It also offers commissioning without calibration weights; fieldbus communication via Profibus-DP, providing a scaled and zeroed tension output that's ready for use in control and monitoring; self-diagnostics; and max load memory, a maintenance tool to help identify tension extremes and causes of load cell faults.
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