Tension Controllers for a Strip Tension Levelling Line

Abstract

Strip material processed in continuous production lines causes a mechanical coupling among tension rolls driven by a multi-motor drive system. Thus, the drives are mutually mechanically coupled and influenced in their operation. One of the key techniques, to guarantee the output product quality in the fibre, paper, plastic and metal plating industries, consists in controlling the strip tension on a preset value that should be set differently for each section of the line. This paper describes two newly developed types of tension controllers: a tension controller with the ramp and a stepper tension controller, which are suitable for the line sections with high and low level of the tension, respectively. The proposed controllers were verified experimentally on a real tension levelling line.