Closed loop tension control

Closed Loop Tension Control describes of the systems we use to accurately control the tension of materials running through slitting and winding machines; the simplest description of the process that I can come up with for the purposes of this blog post is thus:

When we utilise Closed Loop Tension Control on a machine load cell (sensors) are installed on key parts of the machine, these load cells measure the actual tension of the materials being wound as it passes through the machine. The information fed back from the load cells is then used by the control system to make precise adjustments to the machine to attain perfect tension throughout the slitting or rewinding process.

Now I'll be the first to admit that the above paragraph is hardly a snappy explanation of a process that is essential to controlling substrate tension, so I'm going to try and simplify even further by explaining why you might want closed loop tension control rather than explaining how it works (I often find that telling customers why a feature is useful is more pertinent than explaining how said feature works). So steel yourself, here comes the summary:

Why you might need Closed Loop Tension Control.
If the material you are winding or slitting stretches, distorts or winds poorly if put under too much (or too little) tension then Closed Loop Tension Control could be the answer to the problem.

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Trim removal on slitters

A trim fan attached to a slitter. As discussed previously on this blog the process of slitting (at its most basic) can be reduced to the one-line description of ' a big roll is loaded on one side of the slitter rewinder, and smaller rolls are loaded off the other side' and that's fine... most of the time. Here comes the example! If a 1000mm wide roll is loaded onto a rewinder and is slit down into rolls that are 212mm wide then four rolls would be produced. If your mental maths is up to scratch you might have noticed that 4x212 does not equal 1000, and that means that from the original / master / jumbo roll there will be roughly 117mm left over. Sometimes this happens because the edges of jumbo rolls are discarded due to damage, print reasons or simply because the material being slit isn't coated all the way to the edges of the roll. So what happens to this waste material? Waste material can be wound onto cores in the same way 'correct' rolls are, ...

We need to talk about how you're handling this...

At the risk of sounding like I'm marketing for them instead of Universal I'd like to mention Package Print Worldwide ( @PackPrintWorld ) again. We contributed to the safe materials handling article in the new issue of Package Print Worldwide, with particular focus given to our roll handling trolley . We have recently expanded the range of material handling attachments for the trolley and have seen the number of enquiries rise considerably. Sadly safety is a subject that is sometimes (thankfully only rarely) overlooked by some companies, and when it comes to safe roll handling the risk of personal injury is one that is easy to minimise with the correct equipment. We have priced our materials handling equipment at a level that should be easily affordable to all, so there's no excuse for lax safety! More roll handling information: Find out more about our roll handling trolley... Reducing roll handling risk and increasingly productivity...

Core Cutter demo video

Core Cutters have been at the forefront of my mind over the last few days, mostly because we have been working with our video team on a new demonstration video for our Automatic Core Cutter . You can view our rather smart new video below, and you can find out more about Automatic Core Cutters (and of course buy one) by contact me directly or by visiting https://www.universalconvertingequipment.com/core-cutters/automatic-core-cutter P.S I'm taking bookings for Core Cutter demos down here in Ipswich at the moment, so get in touch if you want to come and have a go on one of our demonstration machines!

Slitter Man

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