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Application note
Tension control
AN00212-002
Introduction
A brief background is given of the common mechanical setups for web
tension control. Problems associated with winding or unwinding of web materials are described. Finally, an example shows how to
code a servo application for taper tension control of a re-winder.
A tension zone will exist between any two rolls that are either driven or braked. An example of a two zone machine would be as
follows. A driven master roller draws the web material through the machine and sets the machine speed. An unwind brake at the
start pulls against the master roller to create the first tension zone. A re-winder at the end of the machine operates in torque mode.
The re-winder pulls against master roller creating tension in zone 2. It is much easier to fault find problems with web transport if a
machine is divided into different tension zones.
All materials will elongate or strain under the effects of tension or stress. The material tension will be in proportion to its elongation
by the coefficient of elasticity for the material, up until the point of failure. If the material strain goes above its elastic limit the material
will be permanently deformed. If the material is under strain it will try to retract to its original length like a spring. For a wound roll this
will create compressive forces on the inside layers. As a guide the maximum tension should never exceed 25% of the materials
elastic limit but it will depend on the material.
Tension induced from a driven roller If the nip roll is driven from a servo system we have the option of adding or subtracting
tension from the web. We could apply a positive or negative torque. For a constant
diameter roller the tension is proportional to the torque. The torque operates like a
lever in reverse. In a lever we apply a force at a distance to achieve a torque and the
greater the distance the smaller the force required to achieve the same torque.
Because we are driving the roller from the center however we need more torque to
achieve the same tension as the diameter of the roller increases.
Tq = T * R Tq = Torque
T = Tension
R = Radius
The servo system gives us the additional option of changing the tension by driving the
roller via speed control faster or slower than the web. We would control the tension by
controlling the amount of elongation in the material. The formula opposite describes
this relationship. V2 is our controlling function. Suppose we want to increase the
speed of the material from 100m/min to 102 m/min and EA is 200N. For simplicity let
T1 =0
In reality you can often get away with a constant torque applied to the centre of the reel if the brake or clutch is sized for the tension
required between the minimum and maximum reel diameter. If different widths and types of material are used then the range of
tensions is likely to exceed the available settings on the brake. A servo drive may be used in these circumstances to set a varying
torque to achieve constant tension as the reel diameter changes.
The code example at the end of this application note is for re-winders but it can be used for un-winders as well. Remember though
that the Taper Tension option should not be used with un-winders.
An un-winder will generate energy which would be dissipated as heat if a brake is used. A servo system offers the option of
recovering this energy if the drive shares a DC link with others on the machine. Since brakes are normally quite large to cope with
the heat dissipation, servo systems offer a low inertia which allows much better tension control, particularly at low diameters.
If the web is accelerating during machine start-up, the un-winder may need to be driven to accelerate the web onto the machine.
Web breaks can occur in the machine when the reel is unwound.
Rolls can burst during storage.
Tension wound into the material can create circumferential forces within the reel. If these become too high the material could
wrinkle or the core could collapse.
Rolls can block i.e. some of the layers may fuse together.
Web materials are not perfectly uniform and the thickness could vary across the width of the material. Thicker layers will build up on
top of each other forming a mound. If the reel is wound too hard then the material will stretch and deform over the mound but not in
other areas. This causes a defect called corrugation or rope marks in the rolls.
If the tension in the roll is too low this can lead to telescoping of the reel during winding or unwinding. It is particularly important for
the core of the roll to be tighter as this must take the load of the outer layers of the roll.
If the web is a laminate of two or more materials then the web tension could distort the materials differently and cause the laminate
to curl or de-laminate.
If multiple print patterns are applied to a roll then the tension at each printing zone must match. Otherwise the web elongation will
be different and the print patterns will not line-up with each other.
The best way to choose the correct winding tension for a roll is from experience. It is helpful
to wind some test rolls. A good test is to do the following: Wind the material onto an empty
core up to say 100mm. Draw a straight line on the side of the reel from the edge of the core
to the edge of the reel. Wind on another 50mm thickness of material and then extend this line
to the edge of the reel. Continue this process in 50mm steps up to about 200mm and then in
100mm steps to the max reel diameter.
If the reel is wound too soft the layers will slip past one another as shown here and the
straight line will become a curved J line. The reel should be wound until the line remains
straight.
Centre winding
Surface winding
Centre surface winding
There are many variations and improvements on these basic methods. Some of these variations are described below to provide an
overview of the basic principles of rewinding.
Centre winding The core is driven from the centre by a motor and the material is wound
around the surface of the core. The main challenge with this geometry is
that air can get in between the layers of material during winding. Too
much air will produce a weak roll that will slip sideways.
With a single rewind roller there is no direct means of controlling web tension on the reel. This makes tension control difficult. By
adjusting the contact force of the roller against the reel, the tension can be controlled to some extent.
The effect can be enhanced if the winding roller is driven by a servo system. If the winding roller is driven at a speed faster than the
incoming web material it will pre tension it.
Centre surface winding As the name would suggest, this is basically a combination of
centre and surface winding. An adjustable force applies the reels
surface into contact with a roller running at constant speed. The
reel is also driven from the centre. A motor applies a torque
through the reel to apply a counteracting tension in the web
material at the surface.
Centre surface winding has an advantage over centre winding in that the wound in tension may be applied to the reel from a surface
roller and doesnt all need to come from central torque. This means that the web tension upstream of the winder may be lower than
the wound in tension in the reel. Centre surface winding provides more options and so allows larger and denser rolls to be wound.
Twin roller surface winding Twin roller surface winding is typically used on thick materials such as paper or
textiles and is not suitable for thin plastics.
The reel surface rests between two driven rollers. A force may be applied from
a rider roller from the top. As the diameter increases the reel weight will
increase so the applied force can be gradually reduced.
Shown here are two variations for loading the web material onto the reel. In the
top diagram the web material is brought between both surface rollers and the
reel. In the bottom diagram the web is brought around only the rear roller and
then onto the reel.
In the bottom diagram the rear roller drives the top layer of material onto the
roller and the front roller drives the layer underneath. The front roller is driven at
a higher speed to generate a frictional force between the layers of material. By
controlling this over-speed the amount of tension wound into the roll can be
controlled
The top configuration is ideal for slitting the material as it achieves the minimum
distance between slitter and reel. Both rolls may be driven at a similar speed
although you can get a drooping of material between the rolls.
Tw = Web tension
Vw = Velocity of Web
Tr = Tension in outer surface of reel
Vr = Tangential velocity of reel surface layer
Vf = Tangential velocity of front roller
Ff = Force created by the reel on the front roller
Fr = Force created by the reel on the rear roller
= Coefficient of friction between rewind roller and material
Dr = Diameter of rear roller.
If the reel tension Tr needs to be lower than the web tension Tf then Vr would have to be less than Vw. Vr will have to be less than
Vf. Also because Vr < Vw slippage would occur between the reel and the incoming web on the front roller. The rear roller motor will
have to be sized to provide enough torque to restrain the reel against the friction force on the web material. The required torque that
would have to be applied to the rear roller is:
Tr = x Ff x (Dr / 2)
The wound in tension in the reel is heavily dependent on the weight of the reel. When the reel is started there will be minimum
weight so the front rewind roller may be driven overspeed to wind in more tension into the reel. This over speed then needs to be
gradually reduced as the reel diameter increases. Beyond a certain level of overspeed the material will droop between the front a
and rear winding rollers. If the wound in tension setting is correct there will probably be some droop so this can act as a visual
indicator of the wound in tension. The correct level of tension needs to be found from experience.
The solution is to use FLY move profiles to stagger the Decelerate front and rear roller
acceleration of the front and rear rollers. The resultant velocity MASTERDISTANCE(axFront) = msd4
diagram is shown on the left. FLY(axFront) = msd4 * ( (Vf-Vr)/Vf + (Vr/Vf * 2) ) : GO(axFront))
MASTERDISTANCE(axRear) = msd4
See application note AN00116 for more information on FLY FLY(axRear) = msd4 * ( Vr/Vf * 2 ): GO(axRear))
profiles. Continue to decelerate front roller
MASTERDISTANCE(axFront) = msd5
FLY(axFront) = msd5 * ( (Vf-Vr) / Vf * 2) : GO(axFront))
There is a spectrum of tension profiles to choose from varying from constant torque to constant tension. Some materials are
forgiving and we could simply get away with a constant torque. This would give us a rapidly decreasing tension profile. An
improvement can be gained by trying to achieve a constant tension. To do this we need to re-calculate the applied torque at the
centre as the radius changes. The roll will end up with a constant density profile throughout. If we want a roll that is harder towards
the centre then we want to choose a taper tension profile.
To apply a taper-tension profile we need to be able to measure the reel radius at all times or be able to estimate it accurately. We
could read the radius by wiring the output of an ultrasonic sensor or follower arm into the analogue input of the servo controller.
If we want to avoid using a sensor then the radius can be calculated if we know the material thickness. The reel axis has a position
counter that can be used to measure the amount of material that has been fed onto the reel. The position counter would have to be
reset when the empty core is loaded. To calculate the radius we use a formula derived from the fact that the material would look like
a rectangle in cross section if it were tolled out flat. It would have the same cross sectional area it does on the reel. The formula is:
A disadvantage with this approach is that the material thickness is a guesstimate and must take into account the amount of air
included between layers. Under taper tension control the amount of air is lower towards the centre of the reel.
An alternative approach for measuring radius is to wind the web around a roller fitted with an encoder and read the web velocity. If
another axis on the machine is driven from a servo we can use its encoder feedback for this purpose. If we have a nip roller axis
with a constant radius we can say that the surface velocity of the nip roller will equal the web velocity which will equal the surface
velocity of the reel. We can then use the following relationship to measure the reel radius.
Surface velocity of nip roller = Angular velocity of nip x Radius of nip = Angular velocity of reel x Radius of reel
This is fine when the machine is running but it cant be used in this form when at zero velocity. We need to use a starting value for
the reel radius such as the core diameter. The operator should be able to adjust the diameter and it is much easier to measure than
material thickness. Once the reel speed goes above a minimum threshold, the calculated radius can be gradually adjusted in steps.
This method is shown in more detail in the following section on coding an application.
If surface winding and a taper tension profile is required we cannot use this method of calculating the reel radius. We need an
external diameter measurement.
Each axis in mint has a SCALEFACTOR so that you can use user units like mm rather than encoder counts. In this example it is
convenient to scale the master axis to mm but the rewind axis cannot be given a linear scale as the number of encoder counts per
mm of web changes with the rewind radius. In this example the SCALEFACTOR for both axes is set to 1 and scaling is done using
constants. The rewind is scaled to revs/sec for convenience.
A number of user settings are used in the code. They are controller comms locations which allow for adjustment from a HMI. They
are defined at the top of the program thus:
We will want to read the velocity for both axes. We could use the VEL(axis) keyword however this does not always lead to the
smoothest reading for axis velocity. VEL is calculated from the rate of change of encoder counts in one loop closure time which is
250us but it gives a value in counts per second. Thus the minimum velocity that can be read is 1 count in 250us which would
appear as 4000 Counts per second. Using VELDEMAND will give a smoother reading for the master axis. Unfortunately
VELDEMAND cannot be used for the rewind axis because it is operating in torque mode.
A smoother calculation for rewind velocity is done using a timer event called every 100ms. The encoder velocity is the difference
between current and previous encoder counts divided by time. Note that the Wrap function is used here and elsewhere to allow for
the encoder counter to wrap from the maximum positive to the maximum negative count.
TIMEREVENT = 100
Event TIMER
'Tasks to be done every 0.1 Seconds
'Calculate the rewind velocity from the encoder difference
fVelChngRewind = Wrap( ENCODER(_axREWIND) -fVelPrevRewind, -8388608,8388607)
fVelPrevRewind = ENCODER(_axREWIND)
'Use a timer to calculate the number of rewind encoder pulses since the last sample
'Encoder velocity = distance travelled / time
If (tTimebaseRewind > 10) And (tTimebaseRewind < 1000) Then
fVelRewind = Abs( (fVelChngRewind * 1000 ) / tTimebaseRewind)
Else
fVelRewind = 0
EndIf
tTimebaseRewind = 0
End Event
In the same timer event the bAdjustRadius flag is set to re-calculate the rewind radius every second.
A subroutine is called to calculate the reel radius and apply a torque to the rewind servo. The formula Angular velocity of nip x
Radius of nip = Angular velocity of reel x Radius of reel is used to calculate the radius. This is compared with the previous value.
Large changes are ignored. The resultant change in radius is limited to avoid rapid changes in the tension setting. Note the use of
doBound. This is a simple user defined function for limiting a variable between two values.
A tapering torque term fTaperTrq is calculated for low diameters. The calculation will equal the users setting of
hmiREW_TAPER_TENSION when the reel is at minimum diameter and this term will gradually slope down to zero at
the maximum reel diameter.
The constant tension component of torque is then calculated as a percentage of the maximum tension which occurs
at the maximum reel diameter. The fTaperTrq is then added to this to give the final torque setting for the servo.
End Sub
Some means of web break detection is needed. The surface velocity of the master and rewind are compared. If the
rewind is significantly faster than the master then web must have broken releasing the rewind to accelerate and run
away. A further check is made of the master velocity to make sure it is on target. If the web brakes upstream of the
master the re-winder might have sufficient strength to pull the web past the master nip roll and so over-speed this roll.
To stop spurious events being detected, ten web breaks must be detected in a row over 1 second before the
bWebBreak flag is set.
Finally the main loop of the program jogs the master axis and calls the rewind tension routine. If the stop button is
pressed or there is a web break, the machine is stopped.
STOP(_axMASTER)
CANCEL(_axREWIND)
Inertia compensation
th
The inertia of a reel increases with the 4 power of its diameter. If the machine is accelerated or decelerated gradually then the
tension control strategy described above will work. For rapid accelerations and decelerations the inertia of the reel needs to be
taken into account. The reel inertia and acceleration torque may be calculated from the following formulae:
For an e100 system the MOVESTATUS keyword may be used to detect if the master roll is accelerating. The reel acceleration
torque is calculated from the reel diameter and added to the torque applied to the re-winder. During deceleration it is removed.
And the Torque setpoint is modified by the addition of the inertia compensation torque:
Friction compensation
There will be some friction from the rewind reel coupling and windage. This will create a counter torque on the re-winder servo
motor. There is a static and dynamic component to friction. The static friction is the torque that must be overcome to get the reel
moving. It is always present and is constant. The dynamic friction is proportional to the re-winder speed. It will be largest when the
reel is empty and we are winding onto the core. We add two additional parameters for static and dynamic friction as percentages of
continuous motor torque:
And then the following new constants and variables are declared:
And the Torque setpoint is modified by the addition of the friction compensating torque:
To estimate the static torque go online to the re-winder drive in workbench. With the re-winder empty and not webbed up JOG the
axis at 5-10 % of its maximum speed. In the spy window or command line read CURRENTMEAS(0) for the drive current. The
percentage static frictional torque can be found by the formula:
Static friction = CURRENTMEAS(0) * Motor torque constant * 100 / Motor continuous torque
Open loop rewind control cant control torque well enough if the re-
winder has to be the master driver in a one tension zone machine.
In this circumstance and others where accurate tension control is
needed we need to move to closed loop control.
Closed loop control would use a dancer arm or load cell to measure
the tension in the web. Dancer arms have the advantage that they
store some length of web and can smooth out tension fluctuations.
Load cells do not have this smoothing function.
The target tension is applied using the method described in the previous section. For closed loop control we place this code inside
a control loop that monitors the tension and applies corrections to the target tension. We could use a PID loop to calculate the
target tension. In most applications it will not be necessary to use all the gain terms in a PID controller but they can be included if
needed.
Refer to application note AN00208 for information about coding PID loops using the Mint programming language.
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