Design of lateral dynamics control for web Roll-to-Roll systems

In a Roll-to-Roll system, web material experiences lateral motion during the transportation to processes. This paper presents the lateral dynamics control system integration using centered pivoted displacement guide for Roll-to-Roll application. A system apparatus is consisted with four units, namely Unwinder unit, Load Cell unit, Guide System unit and Rewinder unit. Two microcontrollers are proposed to control the four units with signal conditioning circuits. The Guide system dynamics are simulated using first order single degree-of-freedom oscillator model controlled with classical PID servo designs. Lateral error for the system is also applied to the simulation. Results are shown to have reduced the lateral motion when media transport speeds are at 20m/min, 40m/min and 60m/min.