A procedure is proposed for decoupling fabric in alignment during processing from all possible deflection disturbances. The dynamics of lateral deflection for a two-span system is mathematically described and refined to compensate for modeling errors through a parameter estimation algorithm. A disturbance decoupling problem with stability (DOPS) is adopted to eliminate the effect of deflection disturbances on a fabric that is to be fed into a process machine in a desired alignment, while the resulting closed-loop system is stable. The simulation results demonstrate that DDPS enables the fabric to stay in alignment by both shifting and swiveling a guiding roller.Lateral deflection control of fabric during processing plays a critical role in aligning the edge for winding, coating, drying, printing, and other processes [9]. Typically, fabric moving in a desired alignment is an assurance of speedy processing, high product quality, and unnecessary wear and tear of the product. Thus, it is desirable that lateral deflection be corrected so that the fabric is fed into a process machine in the desired alignment. Such a web of material commonly cannot be guided by simple mechanical devices such as flanges, crowned pulleys, etc., because the devices may damage and distort the edge t4l. However, alignment can be corrected by shifting and swiveling the guiding roller, which has sufficient frictional contact with the fabric, provided the longitudinal tension is adequate. Therefore, designing a feedback controller to drive the guiding roller is definitely necessary.Correcting lateral deflection always requires a thorough understanding of lateral dynamics. There are only a few published articles on this subject. Shelton and Reid [4] demonstrated a simplified analysis in their study of web systems and derived transfer functions for several kinds of guides. They. also presented a second-order method, which used the results of static mechanics analysis to describe the lateral dynamic behavior of massless, moving webs [5]. From the viewpoint of static and dynamic analysis, Young et al. investigated [6,7] the interaction between adjacent spans. They extended the work by Shelton and Reid to develop a two-span web system, and designed a state feedback control law for deflection correction [8]., For a two-span fabric system, the fabric at the first roller it passes suffers from any lateral deflection, which is regarded as a deflection disturbance to the system. The second roller acts as a guiding roller, which can shift and swivel to correct the lateral deflection, and the third roller is presumably located at the entrance of the process machine. We have adopted a disturbance decoupling problem with stability (DDPS) [1, 2] to eliminate the effect of the deflection disturbance on the fabric at the third roller..
Mathematical ModelAs shown in Figure 1, the fabric moves from roller 0 to roller 2, which is assumed to be located at the entrance of the process machine. Both roller 0 and roller 2 are FIGURE 1. Two-span system.