# Interaction Analysis of Control Systems Employed in Roll-to-Roll Printing

> Roll-to-roll (R2R) machines have been extensively used to manufacture a wide variety of consumer products, such as paper, plastics, textile, etc. R2R machines facilitate continuous processing of materials with minimal stoppage time and provide significant improvement in productivity over batch manufacturing. With recent advances in technology it is now possible to manufacture flexible electronics, flexible digital displays, solar films, etc., using R2R processing. R2R processing of flexible electronics requires better understanding of machine and process dynamics to achieve tight tolerances required in their manufacturing. One of the conventional R2R processes that is critical to enable R2R processing of flexible electronics is printing. In this paper, machine and process dynamics for R2R printing are studied in detail. Specifically two control configurations, depending on the type of control input, are analyzed; a compensator based registration control strategy (CRC) typically used with mechanical line shafts (MLS) and a print cylinder angular position based registration control (PARC) strategy used typically with electronic line shafts (ELS), are compared. A comparison of these strategies is given based on a dynamic model for the print section, which includes governing equations for strain in the material, print cylinder velocities, and registration error (a metric that quantifies print quality). An interaction metric is used to analyze interaction of key process variables between print units. Model simulations are conducted for different scenarios to evaluate the strategies. Results of the model simulations are presented and discussed.

**Last updated:** 2017-08-30

**Source:** https://live-roll2roll.pantheonsite.io/articles/interaction-analysis-control-systems-employed-roll-roll-printing

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### Authors



Aravind Seshadri and Prabhakar R. Pagilla



### Publication Information



Conference: American Control Conference
 Volume:1, June 17, 2013, Pages 4251-4256



### Abstract



Roll-to-roll (R2R) machines have been extensively used to manufacture a wide variety of consumer products, such as paper, plastics, textile, etc. R2R machines facilitate continuous processing of materials with minimal stoppage time and provide significant improvement in productivity over batch manufacturing. With recent advances in technology it is now possible to manufacture flexible electronics, flexible digital displays, solar films, etc., using R2R processing. R2R processing of flexible electronics requires better understanding of machine and process dynamics to achieve tight tolerances required in their manufacturing. One of the conventional R2R processes that is critical to enable R2R processing of flexible electronics is printing. In this paper, machine and process dynamics for R2R printing are studied in detail. Specifically two control configurations, depending on the type of control input, are analyzed; a compensator based registration control strategy (CRC) typically used with mechanical line shafts (MLS) and a print cylinder angular position based registration control (PARC) strategy used typically with electronic line shafts (ELS), are compared. A comparison of these strategies is given based on a dynamic model for the print section, which includes governing equations for strain in the material, print cylinder velocities, and registration error (a metric that quantifies print quality). An interaction metric is used to analyze interaction of key process variables between print units. Model simulations are conducted for different scenarios to evaluate the strategies. Results of the model simulations are presented and discussed.



[Link to the Article](http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6580493)

**Tags:** roll-to-roll, interaction analysis, compensator roller, print registration, electronic line shafting, registration

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Roll-2-Roll Technologies designs and manufactures patented fiber-optic web position sensors and advanced web guiding controllers — the precision measurement and control core of modern roll-to-roll manufacturing. Spun out of Oklahoma State University's Web Handling Research Center and trusted by Fortune 500 medical, battery, and nonwovens manufacturers, our patented sensors work without recalibration at ±0.1mm accuracy up to 760 mpm — typical customer outcomes are 50%+ less downtime and payback under six months. Headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma, our team of PhDs, controls engineers, and industry veterans extends the sensor + controller core into complete web guide systems including stepper-motor-based linear actuators (RLA, BLA, LHS).

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