Tension and Speed Regulation for Axially Moving Materials

Abstract

During continuous manufacture of axially moving materials such as fiber, paper, foil, and film, accurate speed and tension control are essential. In this paper, control torques applied to rollers at the boundaries of an axially moving system regulate the material speed and tension using speed and tension sensors for each roller. Given a distributed parameter model, Lyapunov techniques are used to develop a model-based boundary control system that exponentially stabilizes the material tension and speed at desired setpoints and stabilizes longitudinal vibration. Experimental results compare the tension and speed setpoint regulation provided by the proposed control strategy with proportional plus integral speed control and proportional tension feedback. [S0022-0434(00)00203-3]